ABOUT THOM
Thom started his career working at a Latin American restaurant, where at just 18 years old he was made the head chef.
SCROLL DOWN
Thom’s culinary career journey is not a typical one, it started when he was made the head chef of a Latin American restaurant at aged just 18 with no previous experience.
This was a tricky period for Thom who suffered with mental health struggles due to the scenario he found himself in, this eventually led to turning his back on hospitality at 23.
For the following 10 years Thom worked within his own family business mainly in a commercial role, this was crucial is developing an understanding of the working world.
In this period he was able to travel all over the UK and throughout Europe visiting high level customers within the agricultural sector.
In 2019 the itch for hospitality started to scratch again and Thom launch a food blog page first on facebook then shortly after on Instagram known as “bbox food” this quickly received a lot of attention and the follower numbers started to tick up. Just under 1 year into the journey and 10,000 instagram followers later it was time to make a choice when the same family restaurant Thom started in became available.
He leapt at the chance to work on his first solo project, September 2020 saw the launch of The Flintlock at Cheddleton – a fine dining restaurant set alongside the canal in North Staffordshire. The restaurant quickly rose to popularity and critical acclaim receiving 2 AA rosettes in very quick time.
Despite challenges with lockdowns and the turbulent nature of the industry Thom and the team forged on, social media continued to boom and 10,000 followers quickly became 100,000 then 200,000! Thom also launched his TikTok in this period which quickly rose to a huge 2.5 million followers.
Now on the national stage Thom has headlined many food festivals and done demonstrations at some of the best events in the UK.
2023 saw Thom’s TV debut and saw him fulfil a lifelong ambition to appear on the BBC’s Great British Menu, eventually losing out to Main Course Banquet Champion and now close friend Tom Shepherd.
2023 also saw The Flintlock included into the Michelin Guide the first ever restaurant in the area to do so.
2024 holds an exciting future for Thom as he launches his second restaurant at the same site as The Flintlock, Apres will offer a different style to The Flintlock but maintain the same excellent standards. This year also sees the launch of Thom’s new business “Collision Course” with great friend and business partner Sabrina Gidda.