Claudia Ferreres

London, United Kingdom
Davies and Brook at Claridge’s Hotel, #MakeItNice

Instagram: @claudia.ferreres @daviesandbrook

*Changemakers is a Cross Cultures series spotlighting inspiring women who are creating and doing in the F&B ecosystem; eading the way and helping better the world.

Born and raised in Barcelona, Spain– but now based in London, England– Claudia Ferreres is the Guest Relations Manager at Daniel Humm’s Davies and Brook at Claridge’s Hotel. She has been working in the F&B industry for 10 years now, starting out as a waitress at Albert Adrià’s Tickets before being offered the position of his personal assistant as he expanded his elBarri group of restaurants– a position she held onto for almost seven years.

In the light of Covid-19, Claudia and the Davies and Brook and Claridge’s teams supported the NHS and frontline workers by cooking over 600 meals a day for different hospitals in London. They also launched Davies and Brook To-Go boxes.

One of Claudia’s biggest advice is to remain humble. “Talent opens the doors but humility keeps them open, always,” she says. She was recently nominated as Claridge’s Hotel Rising Star and Leader of the Year.

Tell us about you. Where were you born, raised, and what you are making or doing at present?

I was born and raised in Barcelona, Spain. I am currently Guest Relations Manager at Davies and Brook, the newly open restaurant by Daniel Humm at Claridge’s Hotel. Since the opening last December my role has been quite flexible: Not just because that what’s an opening requires but also because at Davies and Brook the Guest Relations role does not just focus on the Reservations / Booking process but supports and collaborates closely with the dining room team during service to nurture and establish meaningful relationships with the guests.

With the current situation, Davies and Brook had the chance to support Claridge’s in the task of supporting our NHS and frontline workers so we had the chance to cook over 600 meals a day for different Hospitals in London. This has been undoubtedly one of the most fulfilling experiences I’ve ever had the chance to take part of, something that embraced completely our Hospitality passion, at service of an honorable cause.

After the NHS volunteering, Davies and Brook adapted the business into a Take Away “To Go Box” project. It was our way of getting closer to our guests without being open and has been another incredible experience that has taught us so much to us as a restaurant. What I enjoyed the most about this project was the process of figuring out how to implement to make it extra special for our guests with the limitations of a Take Away Business Model. We had the opportunity of reconnecting with our own guests as well as making new. The love and support we’ve received from all the guests has been nothing short of extraordinary.

How did you end up working at your present career? How long have you been doing this/ When did you start?

I’ve been lucky to be in this industry for over 10 years now (scary) and to always work with extremely passionate and talented professionals. My career started by chance at age 18 when I was in London for a gap year to improve my English. It was at age 21 that I inevitably ended up falling in love with Hospitality and Fine Dining and that was the year in which Ferran and Albert Adrià announced the opening of Tickets in Barcelona. I didn’t think it twice and sent my CV straight away. After working as a waitress there for quite some time, Albert started giving shape to his current project, elBarri (which holds seven restaurants in the same neighborhood area) – he needed someone with good English to support him with his external projects, travels, PR, openings… so I started working as his PA and doing a little bit of everything. After almost seven years, it was time for me to move on so decided to move back to London. I still supported him with the opening of Cakes and Bubbles (check it out for the most delicious cheesecake, exactly the same one served at Tickets!) and then by chance I found out that Daniel Humm was opening in London. I’ve always admired Eleven Madison Park and Make it Nice so much – by that time I had met some of their team members in the past and always thought they were one of the most inspiring and professionals in the restaurant world. It was like a dream come true and I sometimes can’t still believe I work with them now.

Although my role working with Albert was not as much in the operations as it is now, I’ve always loved working in the dining room, the connection with the guests, being able to look after someone, to be part of creating memories for someone else is something truly special. PR, events, openings and being part of “Headquarters” when I was working in Barcelona was incredible and I learned so much for many years, but at the end of the day what makes a restaurant their raison d’être is the day to day, the guests, the service, the relationships you build by being there… and the identity the restaurant builds up by working there day after day. I am of the idea that if you love Hospitality, when you are not on service for too long you might forget why you are in this industry in the first place.

What was the biggest challenge you have faced?

There is one episode that always makes me smile but at the time it really was a turning point for my career: I was one year in in my role as a PA of Albert doing all sort of things and we had a private event for 200 people which was a huge deal. I was in charge of the entire event’s organization and coordination between the different parties and of course stakes were very high. I thought I did quite a decent job (although admittedly it was the first time I was in charge of a private event, let alone of that calibre) and we were all ready to fly where the event was taking place. At the last minute (literally, the day before we were traveling and 2 days before the big event), Lluis Garcia, the former Director of elBulli, got involved in the project and asked me for  a full debrief of the event. Now, you have to know that Lluis Garcia is possibly one of the best Hospitality professionals currently alive: his attention to detail and knowledge are second to none. He worked at elBulli through the ranks for over 20 years and there is nothing he hasn’t done or know. A true institution of this industry…. I was ready to debrief him and had all my timeline of how the event was going to take place… and then he started asking questions: the most specific, detail-oriented questions I could have ever possibly expected (if it rains, where are we leaving the umbrellas?) it followed 15 minutes of the most strange and unexpected questions and an awful shame and fear (panic) from my side because I realized I didn’t know half (all) of the event!

How/ what did you do to get over it?

That evening after the meeting I didn’t sleep. I worked through the night and went through all the event, minute by minute (literally) and did the most detailed timeline with all (ALL) the details written down from the moment the event started until it finished. There was nothing that wasn’t thought of. It was possibly the time I’ve been more prepared in my life: the event went through my eyes before things were happening – the moment something wasn’t going according to script I knew already where, how, why and how to fix it. It was a total success and possibly one of the best events / works I’ve done in my life. That day I learned that no detail is too small, to never make assumptions and that success is never left at chance: it’s the result of hard work, detailed planning and focus.

What is the best advice you can give to anyone wanting to get into or excel in your field?

I think often about this question and I ended up with 3:

1) You never know who is looking, do your job at your highest standard– always. My life changed the moment Albert gave me the chance to become his assistant. He did so (he told me, that’s why I know!) because he saw how much I cared when I was waiting tables at Tickets: I loved it and I always made sure I was at my 110% when I was on service – that’s the bare minimum the guests coming at Tickets waiting for 3 months for their booking deserved. If he would have seen someone demotivated, “just” doing their job, he would have never seen me as a candidate for the incredible things we did from that moment on. And quite possibly I wouldn’t be here today.

2) Be patient, don’t rush things. Sometimes– and I’ve been guilty of it– we get impatient because for two months in a row we are doing the same things. And we don’t see the promotion coming, we don’t see how we are improving, we get upset because our employer is not giving us what we deserve….. Things take time: Take your time to master whatever you are doing. There’s always room for improvement and nothing good can come from rushing into things. Give yourself challenges every day, every week, that keep you engaged and motivated. And do it because you want to; do not wait for someone to tell you. When the promotion or your next step in your career will arrive (and it will, if you are consistent and mature enough and wait for your time) you will have all the skills and tools to perform at your best.

3) Learn. Learn. Learn. There are always new skills to learn that can help to become a better professional – if not where you are now, in the future. Everybody needs to master and work on their leadership skills if one day they wish to lead people, same goes for public speaking, resilience, Finance decisions, communication… There are so many skills that we can benefit from when one works with people and we expect that this will be learned once we are in the position… far from the truth, you should master all those skills before you get there. Quite possibly, all what you learn today will bring you were you want to be tomorrow.

And the last one… be humble. I know it’s a cliché but I will never get tired of saying how important is not to be ahead of yourself. There’s nothing less motivating that working with someone or for someone that think they know everything already. Talent opens the doors but humility keeps them open, always.

What is your favorite thing about your culture or living in your city?

London has always stayed in my heart and I will never get bored of it. There’s something about this city I haven’t found anywhere else… What struck me from the first time I moved here is how open people are. Most of us are not from London and have different backgrounds and pasts and for one reason or another have ended up living here. I love how everybody makes you feel at home, there’s a level of understanding, camaraderie, friendliness that the people that live London have. You might arrive in London alone and by yourself, but who you meet here (in the most random ways) enrich you and stay with you forever.

How did you spend your days during this COVID-19 quarantine period? As your city is recently opening up, please feel free to share a little bit about how things are these days.

Claridge’s Hotel and the Maybourne Hotel Group took action straight away after Lockdown was announced and gave the the hotels at disposal our wonderful NHS and key workers that have worked so much throughout this unprecedented crisis. As Davies and Brook, we contributed by cooking meals for the key workers and this project kept me busy throughout the months. Once we concluded the NHS volunteering we reinvented ourselves with a Take Away project which I mentioned earlier and I took over that project which again was a big challenge that kept me quite busy! Throughout lockdown we also maintained a busy schedule of trainings for our team members to keep them engaged and connected with the restaurant: We learned about History of Fine Dining (from Careme to elBulli), Beverage basics (Spirits and Wines) and had the chance of listening some incredibly inspiring personalities In our Guests Series like Jeremy King (from Corbin and King), Jose Avillez (Belcanto), Ago Perrone, Giorgio Bargiani and Maura Milia from the Connaught Bar… This is been so inspiring and important to cultivate our knowledge and keep the team united.

On a more personal level I’ve taken the time to work on my learning and development: I am fascinated about Social Psychology and Human Behaviour so I caught up with all my pile of books by my bedside. I did some online free courses on EdX and Coursera on Finance and Modern Art which are not related at all on what I do but I’ve always been curious to learn more and I’ve forced myself into running, meditation and yoga. Now I want to make sure I keep up with this new (needed) habits as we go back to normal life.

Please tell us about Davies and Brook To Go—please share how you made the to-go experience special for each guest—and as the restaurant is getting ready to open up, please feel free to share what changes you will be implementing, and also future plans, projects you are working on.

As I am writing this I know how the Davies and Brook To Go will stay in a special place in my heart for a long time. As we decided to shift our business model into something that none of us had never done before, the Management team and Chef Dmitri Magi put their trust on me for the design of the guest experience in our newly created To Go box. Since the beginning we knew we wanted (and we had to!) do something special. Something so thoughtful and well done so that if someone had come to our restaurant already would think “Of course it’s them!” and if someone had never had the chance to visit us would feel that they couldn’t wait to visit us. Stakes were high and of course we also had to be financially responsible and not do something incredibly expensive and prohibitive.

Luckily, we have the most incredible team in our dining room that supported us in the brainstorming process of the To Go experience to make it incredibly nice. We ended up with the most special (I know I might be biased!) Box with delicious food, compostable and sustainable packaging, handwritten labels for each one of the items, freshly cut flowers, a fun easy instructions letter as well as the most amazing soundtrack put together by one of our team members! I am of the opinion that one of the most beautiful things about working in a restaurant is the beautiful connection that occurs between server and guest during the experience: That je ne sais quoi that complements the delicious food, ambiance, occasion… We knew that the take away experience would inevitably penalize that human connection so we committed to bring that extra special touch by acknowledging and handwriting personalized letters to guests that had visited us in the past, or guests which had to cancel their booking because of the current situation or those who were celebrating a special occasion or were repeating their order with us. Thinking back to it, I am personally so proud of what we achieved in such a short time and in such exceptional times and it reaffirms my conviction that restaurants go beyond “eating out” and now more than ever the personal interaction will not only be needed but also extremely valued.