Rising Culinary Star Joe Rozier is ‘Making it Happen’ at Paul Ainsworth’s The Mariners

Being hooked on the job is not the only nautical thing about Joe Rozier who is most definitely one to watch on the culinary scene for the foreseeable. Joe is currently the Joint Head Chef of Paul Ainsworth’s The Mariners in Rock, Cornwall which was recently awarded The Top 50 Gastropub 2020 Best Newcomer under Joe’s reign.

Joe’s beginning, however, was rather unremarkable. He started out like the majority who have worked up through the ranks but it’s his passion for sustainability, community and inclusion that has earned him his current top spot and notoriety in the industry. Gaining his first job at a young age he managed to find his curiosity for the culinary scene at just 16. “I started work with a summer temp job as a KP [Kitchen Porter] in a local pub. I then moved onto the grill section. Whilst attending college and working, I spent one evening a week working for free at a local family run restaurant with a listing in the Michelin guide. After a couple of months, I was offered a full-time job there, and ended up staying for just over 4 years. I then took the next step in my career and decided to head to Cornwall and work for Paul Ainsworth” where Joe accounts that his success, creativity and continuity lie within the close relationships he holds with Paul as well as John Walton and Chris McClurg whom he worked alongside at in Ainsworth’s No6, which holds a Michelin Star. 

Now Joe spends his days at The Mariners, starting each shift with a brisk walk across the beach - the ocean breeze not only awakening his mind and body ready for the day ahead but allowing the British sea-air and coastal landscape in the horizon to inspire his dishes. “My first job will always be making the hand-raised pork pies, then the duck liver paté” Rozier states who thrives off the challenge from a pub location; constructing his own personality into the establishment. “Going from a fine dining restaurant [such as No6.] that was open five days a week, doing 100 covers a day, to going to a pub setting, open 7 days a week, doing up to 470 covers a day was a big change for me” Rozier unashamedly admits – but has found fire in the chaos. “The biggest challenge was maintaining standards in every single service, every day of the week” Rozier notes, who strongly believes he has found the right balance in order to do so. “We have done this by building strong teams and using all our knowledge as a company [as a whole] to keep striving forward. Here at The Mariners, we use the same suppliers as No6. but where they will use a fillet of beef, we will use the short rib… this is where the magic comes in. It’s down to us to maximise everything we can out of that cut of beef.” This attitude of farm to plate, fin to scale and patch to pan is just the gatekeeper into the culinary world that Joe, and the entire team at The Mariners use to experiment with flavours and flourishes and have seen them create an entire spectacle out of every dish. “My love for hospitality is more than just serving food to customers. I like to bring people together with food and get them talking and laughing as a group” says Rozier, who firmly believes that it’s not just consumption of food that makes a meal, but the entire culture; the tyranny and pursuit of snuffling out a good dish plays such a vital part in our day to day lives. “I feel that being a head chef, nowadays, especially in a pub environment, is more than just cooking… it’s about learning what your customers want. People want amazing quality food cooked with love, care and attention, not over complicated dishes… That’s why I love our small plates menu here at The Mariners so much – because you can really bring a group of friends together. I love that.” But that’s not to say there’s no complexity in their dishes. The Mariners have perfectly encompassed a modernity that meets nature in their ever-changing seasonal menus that showcase local produce such as Oysters from Porthilly which are grown only 500 yards from the pass. 

The Mariners

Finding life and soul in each carefully sourced ingredient is what brings Rozier joy, which he will feed his ever-growing returning consumer base who Joe notes are more like friends than customers. “My favourite thing in my job is getting to see [and know] all the locals, and feeling the buzz of a busy pub” He’ll often join the punters after a shift, tuck in to a staff cooked favourite, such as an aged ‘melt-in-the-mouth’ buttery Shortrib of Cornish Dexter Beef with all the trimmings, including crisped dripping roast potatoes, followed by a Golden Syrup Steamed Butter Brown Pudding with Slow cooked Lemon made possible through many hands throughout the kitchen but all united through their appreciation for thoughtfully produced food before settling down to respond to emails, do costings, invoices and to curate the future menus. Joe knows his industry inside and out but is forever hungry for more and will never tire from being able to utilise traditionally grown produce and adding his own spin. 

The Mariners

“I’m lucky to be surrounded by some amazing people in the Ainsworth Family I work for. Paul is contactable 24/7 and has done much more for me than just teach me how to cook. He has guided me on life decisions, has mentored me on how to become a leader and how to get the most from my team, and also how to connect with people and see things beyond a chef’s eye…. Something which is easily missed by chefs.” The new generation at The Mariners, and the entire fleet of Paul Ainsworth’s establishments is armoured with the same kind of innovative fire, learning how to take the conventions and comforts of daily life and leave a sense of familiarity and evoke emotion on a plate. From the start of life at The Mariners, and beyond “Make it Happen” is ingrained into every employee – and something Rozier hopes to impart on his team. “Make it Happen was said all the time at No.6 – we even had a plaque of it under the clock. If you ever thought you wouldn’t be set for service – you would just have to ‘make it happen’” and he always did.  This approach is one Joe holds dear and will keep with him as he grows. But what’s next for this rising super star? “For me, it’s just to keep the pub growing and keeping the team fully engaged” he comments. Who also sees a new era for the hospitality industry post-covid-19. “The hospitality industry is full of very talented and smart people; I see a lot of businesses now diversifying and changing up their offerings, which hopefully will lead to some very exciting times for our industry. I think people will be finding new avenues for the businesses that they may not have explored before – whether it be takeaways or offering cooking masterclasses; selling produce like chutneys or homemade pasta from their restaurants.” Joe also hopes the public engage more with local and home-grown produce and become self-sufficient with their own vegetable patches. “Covid has encourage restaurateurs to think out of the box” a once open free-reign wilderness has been tamed by the staggering downfalls occurred during a time of National distress, but Joe remains hopeful for the hospitality future and its change to regeneration to something bigger and brighter than before.