Simon is in charge of six staff serving around 500 customers a week. "Getting this promotion has been a massive highlight for me," said Simon. "Another proud moment was coming runner-up in the Sussex Young Chef of the Year 2010 competition. Next time, I'm going to come back fighting and try to win it out-right! I have to give City College a lot of credit when it comes to my work ethic. I found that I was able to reach a level of maturity at the College because there's mutual respect between the students and the staff. My tutors had all worked in the industry and were really up-front that it was going to be hard and that you had to put the hours in. I also learnt loads from them and they were always there to help. "I was much more inclined to come to City College to learn a vocational skill rather than going to 6th Form College or University because I'm the type of person who concentrates best when I'm enjoying something and just sitting in a classroom and writing down notes wasn't for me," added the chef. "I really wanted to get stuck in, learn skills in a hands-on way and start earning some money. I'd been in a little debt in the past when I bought a car and that was only a couple of thousand pounds so the thought of getting into tens of thousand pounds worth of debt studying for a degree didn't appeal to me at all. I'm already thinking that in, say, 10 or so year's time when I've got some money behind me, I'd love to run my own restaurant. Maybe I'll even come back and study Business part-time at City College to get prepared!" City College is still recruiting for Catering courses starting in September. For more information, see www.ccb.ac.uk or call course information on 01273 667759.