Dylan McGrath’s Secret Service is a cooking series that wants to make a difference. John Byrne talks to the chef about his new show and why the kitchen is an ideal place for people to find or reinvent themselves.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, once said that "if you want something done, ask a busy person". He was probably thinking of Dylan McGrath.
One of Ireland’s best known chefs, the 45-year-old Dubliner is a bit of a dynamo when it comes to the dining world. That’s how these guys are built - the hospitality industry is demanding, unpredictable and extremely tough. Only the strong survive.
As well as his day job in the kitchen, Dylan’s no stranger to showbiz as he’s featured in several TV shows since his debut on RTÉ One’s Guerrilla Gourmet in 2008. Now he’s back on the box with Dylan McGrath’s Secret Service on Virgin Media One, and the premise of this series is fascinating.
Basically, McGrath mentors five characters with an interest in cooking and a hunger for work in his professional kitchen. Through the series it is revealed that due to their identity or ethnicity they’ve experienced social exclusion and struggled to access training and employment.
Dylan has just four weeks to hone their cooking and hospitality skills so that they can produce a meal for a fine dining charity event to raise awareness for the charities and organisations that support them.
Working with Dylan and his team they are pushed out of the their comfort zones through an intensive foundation in cooking and service skills. With zero cooking experience in a professional kitchen, the rookie chefs face a massive challenge under Dylan’s perfectionist eye.
Here’s what he had to say about the show, himself, and the five kitchen contenders . . .
"I’d worked previously with ShinAwiL with MasterChef. They do some of the bigger shows in the country and I’ve a brilliant relationship with them. From time to time, people come to me with ideas for programmes and this one seemed like a good one.
"With the pandemic, the restaurant industry was in crisis with staff. And staff is our biggest issue. Part of my role as an employer is to bring in people, to see if thy fit in to what we’re doing. Are they dedicated? Will they make an effort? Will they turn up on time? Will they have a good attitude? All of the things and characteristics we look for in our staff. I’m always doing that.
"So the idea that we would take people from challenging backgrounds - that weren’t allowed to work, for whatever reason - or work was kind of ‘off the table’ for them.
Fiadhnait Canning (24) has Down’s Syndrome and zero cooking experience. Fiadhnait struggled as a teenager to make friends and fit in at school.
]Despite her academic abilities her ‘difference’ was targeted by other teens, making her feel excluded and destroying her confidence.
Since leaving school, she has been supported by the organisation WALK who help people with disabilities access the workplace and live self-determined lives.
"I suppose we all processed work during the pandemic and what it meant to us. Were we going to go back? Do you want to go back in the office or do you want to change jobs? Were we going to throw that in and start something new?
"I suppose we all re-evaluated what work meant to us. And then I thought: I wonder what it would mean to me if I couldn’t work, or if my work was taken off me. So I was interested in it [the show’s concept] for that reason.
"Then when I saw the back stories of the individuals - I wasn’t privy to it before. They were just a team joining me and I knew what backgrounds they had, but I didn’t know the ins and outs of their backgrounds.
Lisa Marie Joyce (18) is a settled traveller from Finglas in Dublin. Despite the staffing crisis in Ireland she, like many from the traveller community have experienced discrimination when it comes to being offered work.
As well as breaking with stereotype, she’s also breaking the mould amongst traveller girls who leave school early to get married young and have a family.
Lisa Marie has sat her Leaving cert and wants a career as a chef.
"And then when I saw the individual work that the charities did, and their commitment to building self-esteem in these young people, I thought this is only a good thing. We all need self-esteem. "We all need to feel like we have value. We’re all motivated to do better - well, at least in my life I need to know where north is. The work is very important to me.
"I’m always taking on a new challenge, or I’m always seeing if something will work or won’t work, and not being frightened of it.
Rosine Meheguep Noufeme (37) was forced to leave her home and family in Cameroon, suffering both trauma and torture before arriving in Ireland five years ago.
She has been living in Direct Provision ever since and is eager to get her life back into gear.
Rosine has some cooking experience and desperately wants to get a job as a trainee chef.
"The way the programme was explained to me, that this bunch of people were from all sorts of backgrounds, it would’ve been interesting to see how the cope in the mix - and then my team were great as well.
"They brought them in, they tried to make them fit in, they were definitely able to lean on them for support and we got through it.
"I learned a good bit from their backgrounds, from meeting them and speaking with them. From the challenges that they faced. Take Lisa Marie. She found that she couldn’t get work because of the community she came from.
Luke Barry (22) learned to cook from watching YouTube videos.
He has Asbergers and an intellectual disability which makes it challenging for him to apply for and commit to training and education.
As viewers will see, Dylan is so impressed with the chocolate fudge cake that Luke presents that he tells Luke he would be willing to pay for it.
"I was like, come on in here! We are all from different backgrounds. If I was relying on just Irish people to run my business, I’d have no business. They’re from everywhere. From Romania, from Poland, from Venezuela, from Brazil, from France, from Italy - just everywhere. You name it.
"Lots of people are from challenging backgrounds and, I suppose, whether you have the temperament or love for hospitality, whether you really enjoy hospitality . . . hospitality’s one of those professions. You’ve got to love it. It’s constantly facing you with challenges.
Stephen Boylan (51) is a baker by trade and left school at 14.
He’s currently serving a prison sentence and is hoping that the experience with Dylan will help him secure a job once released from prison next year.
He prides himself on being a grafter but accepts that the stigma of being an ex-con could be a barrier to getting a job.
"When I think back to covid, I don’t know how we survived. Every day was just a mountain of challenges. 40% of the staff had left and gone back to their own countries, you had landlords who were looking for rent, and there were no customers. It was a hell of a challenge. You either keep a positive mindset or hold your hands up and say ‘I don’t want to do it. I’m quitting.’
And we don’t do that.
"When ShinAwiL asked me to look at these people and their backgrounds, meet the charities, and wondered could I do something with them, I said let’s bring them in, we’ll look after them, and we’ll see how they get on.
"I suppose we’re exploring the conversation of what work means to us."
Dylan McGrath’s Secret Service, 9pm Wednesdays, Virgin Media One
