Amrita’s Story

Amrita Phull

Royal Academy of Culinary Arts (RACA) Level 3 apprenticeship

Driven to excel with Formula 1

When Amrita finished her A-levels, she planned to go into engineering.

However, she decided to change direction and today, is working in a dream role as a chef for Great Britain's McLaren Formula 1 team - cooking for the likes of drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

The life-long motorsports fan had a rethink after sixth form after realising a career in engineering wasn’t the right fit and life as a chef was her calling.

Completing her Level 2 Professional Cookery at University College Birmingham, she initially looked at following this up with bakery, but then discovered the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts (RACA) apprenticeship.

“I liked that it was an all-rounder and I would learn all sorts of skills and techniques I wouldn’t on a general cookery course, like preparing ducks and rabbits for fine dining," she said. "It was exciting being one of the first cohorts too.”

For the on-the-job part of the course, Amrita was employed at Buckland Manor, a 13th Century hotel in the Cotswolds, returning to Birmingham one day a week for her off-the-job training in the University’s industry-endorsed kitchens.

During her apprenticeship, she got to go behind the scenes at The Ritz and the five-star Coworth Park hotel in Berkshire, and was one of just two students to be selected by lecturers to do an exhibition at Excel in London.

“It was quite scary, I was just 19 and going off to London with a suitcase full of food, but it massively boosted my confidence,” said Amrita, who got to compete five times during her course, winning a gold medal for butchery at the Professional Kitchen Show and silver in the British Culinary Federation’s Young Chef of the Year in 2022.

“My lecturers were always on hand, even coming to see me at my work in the Cotswolds - despite it being an hour away from Birmingham,” she said.

All in all, Amrita’s apprenticeship opened doors to a dream career. On graduating, she went on to work for the Michelin-starred Northcote hotel in Lancashire and the award-winning Chapter restaurant in Edgbaston.

However, her ultimate dream was to combine her love for cooking with her love for motorsports, leading to roles with the likes of the BMW world superbike team. Now, she has been taken on as a chef de partie as part of a six-chef brigade cooking for the Great Britain McLaren Formula 1 team and their guests.

“Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsports, so it’s a dream come true,” she said. “My first races are Miami and then Italy, which I’m so excited about. It’s amazing to get to travel the world through my job as a chef.”

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