Building a Team That Can Cook With Fire - The People Behind Game and Flames

Every review we get mentions the food. Most of them also mention the team. "The chefs were incredible." "They were so professional and friendly." "The team made us feel completely at ease." Those reviews mean more to me than any award, because the team is the business.

I started Game and Flames as a one-man operation. Me, a fire pit, and a deer. Now we run multiple events per week with a crew of trained chefs, prep staff, and front-of-house support. Building that team has been one of the hardest and most rewarding things I have ever done. Here is what I have learned.

You Cannot Train Fire in a Kitchen

This is the fundamental challenge. I cannot recruit from the conventional hospitality pool and expect them to perform. A chef who has spent ten years in a restaurant kitchen knows flavour, technique, and service. They do not know how to manage a fire pit in wind, rain, or 35-degree heat. They do not know how to cook a whole animal on a cross. They do not know how to butcher a deer in a field.

So I train them from scratch. Every chef who joins Game and Flames goes through a structured induction that covers:

• Fire management - building, maintaining, and controlling different fire types for different cooking methods
• Game butchery - breaking down whole deer and game birds, understanding cuts and applications
• Cross cooking - the Argentine asado technique, timing, temperature management, and carving
• Plancha work - high-heat surface cooking for steaks, canapes, and vegetables
• Event logistics - setup, breakdown, health and safety, and customer service at scale

It takes months before a new team member can run a station independently. There are no shortcuts. Fire cooking is physical, unpredictable, and unforgiving. Undercooked venison at a wedding is not something you can fix with a microwave.

I look for people who are hungry - not just for food, but for learning. Someone who will stand next to me at 4am building the fire and ask questions. Someone who takes pride in carving a perfect steak. Someone who cleans the plancha like their reputation depends on it - because it does.
- Cai

The Standards Are Non-Negotiable

We have a five-star food hygiene rating. Every team member holds a Level 2 Food Safety certificate at minimum. But food safety is the baseline, not the standard. The standard is perfection. Every plate, every service, every time.

That sounds like corporate nonsense, but I mean it literally. If a venison steak goes out overcooked, it comes back. If the presentation is sloppy, it gets replated. If the fire is not right, we wait. This is someone's wedding day. Someone's most important corporate client dinner. There is no room for "good enough."

The team understand this because I hire people who share the obsession. You cannot motivate someone to care about quality - they either do or they do not. My job is to find the ones who do and give them the skills and environment to excel.

What a Typical Event Day Looks Like

Let me give you a real example. A Saturday wedding for 150 guests:

• 3:30 AM - Team arrives at the venue. Unload equipment: crosses, fire pits, planchas, cool boxes, prep tables.
• 4:00 AM - First fire lit. Whole deer goes on the cross.
• 6:00 AM - Prep starts. Canapes assembled. Vegetables prepped. Sauces made.
• 11:00 AM - Site fully dressed. Cooking stations operational. Second fire lit for plancha work.
• 1:00 PM - Canape service begins as guests arrive from ceremony.
• 3:00 PM - Wedding breakfast service. Three courses, fire-cooked, plated and served.
• 5:00 PM - Dessert service. Coffee and petit fours.
• 9:00 PM - Evening food station opens. Venison sliders, hotdogs, loaded fries.
• 11:00 PM - Service ends. Breakdown begins.
• 1:00 AM - Site cleared. Equipment loaded. Leave no trace.

That is a 22-hour day. The team does it with a smile, because they love what they do. And the couple and their guests never see the 3:30am start - they just see incredible food appearing from the fire.

Growing Without Losing Quality

This is the tension every growing food business faces. More demand means more events. More events means more team members. More team members means quality dilution - unless you are extremely deliberate about how you scale.

My approach is simple: I do not take on more events than the team can handle at our standard. We have turned down bookings because we did not have the right crew available. That costs revenue in the short term but protects reputation in the long term. And in catering, reputation is everything.

Every event I do not personally attend is led by a senior team member who has been with me for at least two seasons and has demonstrated they share the standard. They know if something is not right, they fix it. They do not call me - they handle it. That trust takes time to build but it is the foundation of the business.

The team is Game and Flames. Without them, I am just a bloke with a fire pit. With them, we deliver the kind of experiences that people write five-star reviews about, tell their friends about, and book us again for.

If that sounds like the kind of team you want cooking at your next event - get in touch. We would love to show you what we can do.

- Cai