Alex Somerville-Large

Creative chef with over three years’ experience in casual fine dining, with a focus on pastry development. Experienced in developing recipes and dishes from initial idea through to service, balancing flavour, texture, presentation, consistency, dietary needs, and budget. I have done formal culinary training through Leith's School of Food and Wine, and have previous experience in FMCG marketing, product development, and consumer insights at PepsiCo and Tesco.

Keen to learn more about food development that is innovative, commercially viable, and absolutely customer-focussed.

Sous Chef and Head of Pastry at Vanderlyle (July 2023 – Present)

• Training under Alex Rushmer, I develop and deliver dishes for a 10-course vegetarian tasting menu, with regular menu changes driven by seasonality, sustainability and local availability.
• Own pastry development, creating desserts that are within budget, tested, adaptable for dietary requirements, and are balanced in flavour, texture, and presentation.
• Work with the marketing manager to style, photograph and film dishes for social media.
• Present dishes to customers, conveying their concept and story in an engaging way.
• Since joining, we have placed in Harden's top 100 UK restaurants, achieved 4.9/5 on TripAdvisor, featured in Michelin's Dishes of the Month (Dec 2024), and remained in the Michelin guide.

Chef de Partie at Pint Shop (March 2023 - July 2023)

• Ran pastry and larder sections, preparing a wide range of dishes (desserts, breads, meat, fish, veg, starters, and salads), and managed stock control and kitchen hygiene.
• Executed high-volume services (200+ covers), ensuring consistency and quality under pressure.

Marketing and Digital Graduate Programme at PepsiCo (Sept. 2021 - March 2023)

• Ranked 2nd out of 14,000 applicants in the 2021 graduate scheme competition for my new food product idea, presenting my idea to the CEO, Ramon Laguarta.
• Led end-to-end delivery of Winter Wonderland activation, including cocktail menu creation.
• Created premiumisation product concepts, and Away From Home sales strategies.
• Managed campaign budgets, logistics, and post-activation performance analysis.
• Built best practice guides and strategic plans for teams in key European markets.
• Analysed European consumer behaviour across key customers (Amazon and Carrefour).
• Coordinated Europe-wide stakeholder meetings (100+ attendees), winning me an EoY award.

Summer Marketing Intern at Tesco (July 2020 - Sept. 2020)

• For the Health Charities project I devised strategies and campaign ideas to help consumers make lasting healthier decisions, which led to me receiving a graduate scheme place offer.
• Previously did one week's work experience, during which I assisted on the Christmas food shoot.

Chalet Chef at Skiworld (Dec. 2017 - April 2018)

• Prepared breakfast, afternoon tea, and a four-course meal every day for up to 18 guests.

Additional Interests and Activities

Food Content Creator at Food Content Creator (Jan. 2022 – Present)

• Develop, test, film, and present original recipes, driven by seasonal and visual food trends.
• Write comprehensive and clear recipe copy.
• Multiple videos reaching over 30k views.

Head of Food and Drink at Keble College Ball Committee 2019 (Oct. 2018 – June 2019)

• Leading a team of 4 people, I curated the Food and Drink supply for 2,000 guests.
• Negotiated with suppliers, created contracts, organised event logistics and safety.
• Successfully managed the Food and Drink budget of £70k (total Ball budget of £200k).

Leith's School of Food and Wine, Online (2024 - Present)

• Chef Skills Certificate
• Bread & Patisserie Certificate

University of Oxford, Keble College (2018 - 2021)

• BA Hons in Theology and Religion (2.1)

The Perse School (2014 – 2016)

• A Levels: A*A*Ab