Haydn Bettles

Haydn has always had passion for food, knowing he wanted to be in the food industry from a young age. After leaving school, Haydn went to catering college alongside working part time in a 2 Rosette restaurant in Manchester. At the age of 17 he won the ACF (Association Culinaire Francaise) North West young chef of the year. He continued to work in the restaurant for 5 years working in a mixture of sections from pastry, larder and sauce, to also running weddings and functions of up to 500 people. Haydn also went out on stage (staging) intervals in Michelin and multi-award winning restaurants during this time.

In 2015, whilst also working part time in restaurants, Haydn began studies to take him on a journey to become a food teacher. Unexpectedly, this led him into primary schools and whilst he was not teaching food straight away, within a few months, Haydn was provided with the opportunity to teach food at his school which then led to the Head Teacher promoting him to Food Education lead, something rarely seen in primary schools.

Over the last 5 years, Haydn has used his contacts in the food and farming industries to develop one of the most exciting food education set-ups in the country. From inspiring those that he teaches about food and farming, Haydn’s own interests were expanding, providing him with an increased drive and passion to seek out further opportunities to progress with his ideas in food education.  Haydn also writes and advises on resources and ideas for a few different farming organisations to help build and develop their educational set ups.

Haydn’s hard work and the way he has transformed his school has been recognised nationally. From being a guest at the APPG for school food, he has also been invited to be on the BNF steering group for primary school food education (writing and creating documents on how food is taught in primary schools). In addition, Haydn also sits on the BNF EEWG (English Education working group) for food education England, again looking at how food education is taught and what can be put in place to teach food education in England.

Haydn was thrilled to be asked to be an ambassador for Love British Food. “It is an absolute honour to be approached to be an ambassador for Love British Food. I’m really passionate about teaching our future generation about the food that we produce as an island and the hard work that farmers go through in order for it to reach our plates. I hope to work with Love British Food to promote the food we produce and aim to use this as a platform to educate more children on this topic and hopefully for them to think about a career in the food/ farming industry.”