Meet the Team

Meet the Team

Our friendly team is looking forward to welcoming you to the cafe!

RECRUITMENT SPRING 2023

We are now searching for exceptional people to join our team!

We have the following vacancies at present:
a) Warm, friendly and efficient front-of-house staff, to take orders, look after our customers and help run the cafe. Part or full time, starting April and May. 2-3 roles available; for more information and how to apply please click here.

b) A cook with passion for food and some catering experience to join our kitchen team. Part or full time, until the end of October (it’s possible than an opportunity for year-round work may open up later in the spring). For more information and how to apply please click here.

Further job openings will follow during the spring – watch this space.

In principle we are always keen to hear from experienced chefs and baristas. Please email us at recruitment@guardhousecafe.com if you are interested in working with us.

  • Amy Chef Amy has worked with us since 2016. During her time here she decided it was time for a challenge, shortly after starting she got training in the kitchen and became a great chef. Except from being a fast learner and a friendly team member, she always enjoys a laugh and singing along with the music when closing the cafe at the end of the day.

    Amy thinks she wants to become a teacher, she will soon be going down to work part time at the cafe to follow her dreams and study History and English.
  • Laila Barista Laila joined our team in the middle of the summer 2019. She learnt fast how to make beautiful coffees and is now one of our baristas. She also has a great handwriting which you can see on the specials board!

    Laila loves travelling Europe in her van with her boyfriend, they are planning on going as often as they can. Whilst they were in Spain earlier in 2019, they fell in love with a 5 weeks old rescued street dog and ended up bringing her home with them.
  • Jackie Front of House, Manager Jackie started working with us in the beginning of summer 2019. You will usually find her front of house making everyone feel welcome and happily chatting to our customers with her charming Midlands accent. She enjoys going out for walks with her grumpy old dog!
  • Stacey Chef, Manager Stacey is our Head Chef. She joined us in 2018 after working in a number of local restaurants. She is passionate about food, a great cook, and a fantastic leader for our kitchen team. As head chef she’s in charge of every aspect of the kitchen, from our supplier relationships to training new chefs, to developing the menus for our themed evenings and the specials board. Luckily we have a great team of chefs who give her a lot of help!
  • Jo Barista Jo joined us in 2017 but first worked in the Guardhouse over 25 years ago, well before the modern extension. She was a school girl and helped Marjorie at the weekends. Do you remember the amazing apple cake Marjorie was famous for?

    After a career in London, Jo and her husband moved back to Brixham to raise their family. Jo found a part-time job with us and was promoted to Head Barista at the start of 2019. She is passionate and determined in her mission to bring fantastic drinks to all our customers!

    Outside of work Jo loves to make unusually-decorated cakes. Some of them are like nothing we have ever seen. No doubt Piper is in store for some wonderful birthday cakes as she grows up!
  • Emily Chef Emily is from New Jersey and moved over to the UK in 2016 after meeting and marrying Aaron (at the time they met, he was in the navy, but she maintains that his uniform didn’t make a difference…).

    She loves living in Brixham and taking coastal walks, but says that some things just aren’t the same in the UK, in particular Macaroni Cheese just doesn’t have the same synthetic taste.

    She joined us in 2017 and over the next 12 months she turned her passion for food into her job, becoming one of our wonderful chefs. However in 2019 she will be taking a break as she and Aaron will be having a baby boy, the third cafe baby of the year!
  • Alex Senior Manager

    Alex moved down to Brixham with Lucy in 2014; previously they were based in Milton Keynes (but he is really a northerner). He enjoys wearing shorts every day and being able to walk along the coast path, and strangely doesn’t miss the roundabouts and concrete cows.

    Alex graduated as a chemical engineer and worked for seven years as an improvement consultant helping mostly industrial companies to make their processes faster, more efficient or less wasteful. This took him to varied locations around the UK, Australia, Germany, Holland and Belgium with clients ranging from chemical plants to hospitals. With Lucy he decided to completely change his lifestyle by moving down to Devon and being based in the same place each week. The Guardhouse offered the perfect opportunity at the right time.

    In the café Alex is responsible for keeping out of everyone’s way as much as possible so that they can get on with their amazing work without him causing trouble. He has an unhealthy love of spreadsheets. 

    In 2017 baby Rosalie came along, and in 2019 she was joined by Matilda. Strangely Alex doesn't seem to get much time to himself any more.
  • Lucy Manager Lucy moved to Brixham in 2014 when she and Alex wanted a change of life and to spend more time together. After studying German and Italian at university she worked for several years in Italy and the Alps in jobs involving walking, skiing and cooking. The most recent role involved taking groups on incredible walking tours around various parts of Italy. Her favourite spots are Sicily, where she studied for a while and where the rugged scenery is unspoiled by tourism, and the Dolomites where she first met Alex in 2010.

    Lucy was born and grew up in Northern Scotland on the side of a sea loch. The local community was so sparsely populated that there were only 12 children in her entire primary school!

    Her passion for food developed through her childhood and eating plenty of fresh fish, scallops and oysters surely played a part. When travelling abroad she learned a lot about the regional food in Italy and always loves to experiment with new flavours and ingredients. She is one of the people who always chooses the item off the menu which she has never heard of, just in case it is the best thing ever.

    Since 2017 Lucy has played a less visible role at the Guardhouse, as her daughters Rosalie and Matilda arrived. However she still plays an important role behind the scenes and along with head chef Stacey she is the driving force behind our food, from the local and seasonal specials board to the themed evenings.
  • Diane Senior Manager Diane started working at the Guardhouse in spring 2014. Perhaps the friendliest and kindest person in the world, it is hard to imagine why she is known as ‘Dragon Lady’.

    Despite taking the job on the condition that she didn’t have to cook, Diane is adept in the kitchen and is responsible for introducing our homemade American pancakes and Paella evenings. Her passion for quality and consistency requires occasional sampling of cake and (especially) checking that the wine is not corked.

    Sometimes she gets to enjoy her tea while it is still hot.

    For many years Diane worked on long-haul British Airways flights and it is rare to find a country she has not visited. She has since  tried a wide range of careers, including running a sandwich van and a hotel, teaching, and was responsible for importing Ugg Boots to the UK for the first time! She lives in Brixham but travels a lot, often chasing her two delightful daughters across the world on their travels.