Mickaël’s story: bringing entrepreneurial spirit to a thriving Sodexo career
Michał’s story: Food with soul
Michał won the food waste award in our 2024 Cook for Change! competition. The finalists have been announced for this year’s competition. Check out all the participants and finalists here and look out for the final this March!
I grew up in a small village in Poland and for years I believed it would limit what I could do. My own insecurity and lack of confidence kept me in the shadows. Over time, I realized that what I once saw as a weakness was actually my greatest strength.
Growing up close to nature, knowing the real taste of vegetables straight from the field, milk from the cow, bread baked in a wood-fired oven – that wasn’t something to be ashamed of. That was my foundation. It gave me an authentic relationship with food and a deep respect for every ingredient.
I had to learn to trust myself, to accept my own pace, my roots and my path. I knew I needed to step outside of my comfort zone, and a turning point came in 2016.
I decided to chase one of my biggest dreams – to appear on the world’s most famous culinary show, MasterChef.
I beat thousands of competitors in the auditions and reached the final 14, eventually finishing second. I knew that wasn’t the end of my culinary journey.
After the show, I started working at the first Michelin-starred restaurant in Poland. Those two years opened my mind and shaped my culinary identity.
The first role put me in charge of a close-knit team of nine who had been working together for many years. I was the youngest and wanted them to see that I wasn’t a threat, but a new ingredient – one that could bring freshness, energy and maybe a touch of culinary boldness.
I simply showed up as myself, listened, observed and asked questions and, over time, the team stopped seeing me as the new guy. I think that’s one of the key things you need to be able to do to succeed – connect with people. It’s something no cookbook can teach you.
You can master every technique, have the sharpest knife and the finest palate – but if you can’t listen, inspire and be part of a team, you won’t get far.
It was the same with our customers. I didn’t try to impress them with flashy tricks. Instead, I asked what they liked, what they missed, what they were craving.
Those synergies – between the kitchen and the front line, between the team and the guests – led me to take on the role of restaurant manager, without giving up my chef’s apron.
My next role in Sodexo came in 2020 when I took on an Executive Chef position, giving me a chance to have a real impact on shaping food culture, collaborating with experts and implementing modern solutions.
I want to make sure that our chefs have freedom to create and that we all – despite the scale – never forget that cooking is a craft, not a production line. I like to think of my kitchen as a laboratory of emotions, flavors, and ideas. I love that moment when the team looks at me with a bit of disbelief and then says, ‘Alright, let’s try it your way.’ And we do. And then the guests come back, because they feel it’s not food from a machine – it’s food with soul.
Every new plate I create is not just a dish, it’s a story that can move, surprise and inspire. My kitchen begins where flavor is born – in the chicken coop, the barn, the field and the forest. That’s where I find the most honest and best ingredients. So, the true art of this profession lies in taking something like a simple cut of pork belly – often the cheapest and most overlooked – and turning it into a dish that becomes the Rolls Royce of the menu.
