HEAD CHEF

FLORIAN LEADS THE CREW THAT COOKS FOR THE PORSCHE LMP1 AND GT PRO TEAMS, AS WELL AS ALL OF PORSCHE’S GUESTS IN THE HOSPITALITY AREA.

THE JOB “I have a team of 17 chefs and, during Le Mans, we cook for about 11 000 people over a three-week period. That includes building up the kitchen with all its equipment and testing it before the team gets here for the pre-testing, qualifying and, of course, race weekend. I would like to cook more myself, but my job is more of a management role looking after the food, drinks, staff and logistics.”

THE CHALLENGES “The kitchen is very small for the amount of food we need to make and prepare, so it’s crucial that everyone knows exactly what they have to do. To give you some idea of the scale, among other things, we cook one tonne of meat, about two tonnes of vegetables, 600 kg fish fillets, another 600 kg of cake and have to stock around 10 000 half-litre bottles of water.

“What absolutely cannot go wrong: if the freezer truck that transports all the ingredients here from Hamburg has an issue with its cooler, then that is a big problem. If my second-in-command is ill, that’s not good, either – she’s my right hand … and often my left hand and my brain.”

THE FOOD HE COOKS “For the hospitality guests, it varies, but for the team, it’s important that at whatever race we are at, there is a little bit of home in the food; in other words, typically German food like spaetze (dumplings) and schweinebraten (roast pork). The drivers also have their own specific requirements.”