Cork Penny Dinners chef: 'We can serve between 500 to 700 people hot dinners every day'

After serving more than 500 lunches in a day, the new head chef at Penny Dinners, Jack Revell, takes time out to go to the gym.

“It’s a good way to wind down after a very busy morning,” explains Jack, who starts work at the new state-of-the-art facility on James Street in Cork city at 6am every day.

He is a busy man.

“On the first day, a trial day, when I started working in the Penny Dinners kitchen, I thought, ‘this is incredible’,” he recalls.

“I am cooking fine dining and using my skills for the people who most need it. And who really appreciate it,” says Jack, from Carrignavar.

Is he surprised at the amount of people availing of the free services provided at the new centre, named the Catriona Twomey Wellness Centre, that provides meals, alongside expanded services such as recovery meetings, mental health workshops and arts/drama classes?

“The new centre is amazing,” says Jack. “I was blown away by the magnitude and volume of people coming to Penny Dinners. It was eye-opening.

“Hundreds of people make good use of the facility every day.”

Catriona Twomey is amazing too.

“Catriona is a powerhouse,” says Jack. “We can serve between 500 to 700 people hot dinners every day. People from all walks of life come along to the centre for a hot nutritious meal.

“They might have just enough money to cover rent, petrol, etc. But maybe not enough to feed themselves properly.

“We have all seen the rising cost of living these days. Here at Penny Dinners, we don’t judge, we help.”

Jack works quickly and diligently to get through the lines of people queuing up every day for a hot meal. He gets great job satisfaction.

“I like rolling up my sleeves and being busy, getting stuck in,” says Jack. “I like busy. I can handle busy.”

He feeds the masses queuing up for a hot dinner every day.

“It could be any of us,” says Jack. “It could be you tomorrow, or it could be me.”

Having spent his formative years in Saudi Arabia, and spending time working in Holland, how did Jack come full circle back to Cork and work in the career of his choice?

“My mum is a nurse and she and my dad, who was in the RAF, lived in Saudi Arabia where I spent the first five years of my life,” says Jack.

“There was no access to baby food, so my mum cooked everything from scratch for me. I give her credit for my good taste!”

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

“I can still remember the exquisite taste of my granny’s Christmas pudding,” says Jack.

“Growing up, I had a fascination with cooking.”

Coming back to Carrignavar and going to school, Jack developed a love for Home Economics.

“When the pupils got a choice to choose subjects after Transition year, I gave up tech graph and opted for Home Economics,” he says.

“I wanted to know everything about food, even its biology.

“I got enough points in my Leaving Cert to do culinary studies for two years in what was then CIT. It was a great course.”

Jack wanted to be hands-on in bars and restaurants.

“I worked as a kitchen porter in the Wilton Bar when I was a teenager,” he says. “I wanted to be in the environment of hospitality, and I saw that as a stepping stone. I learned a good work ethic there. The place was always busy.”

Mum was always in the background, encouraging her son to achieve his goal of becoming a chef supreme.

“She was my critique when I cooked,” says Jack.

Nice job if you can get it!

Jack laughs.

“She took the job very seriously!”

After graduating from CIT, Jack went to work in Fota Island Resort as a commis chef, working his way up the ranks.

“I got a great insight into a huge kitchen operation where there were between 15 and 20 chefs in one section,” says Jack.

“It was huge, like on TV. I saw how the hierarchy worked. I was hooked.”

“I was totally obsessed with my job,” adds Jack.

“My weekends were Mondays and Tuesdays when I met friends who were also off work the same days as me.”

He brought his work home too.

“I tried out dishes at home,” says Jack. “I tried out new cooking techniques. I was totally obsessed.”

When Jack spread his wings and his skills, travelling to Holland for three years, he missed the food.

“I missed Irish food and I missed ‘the Cork way to be’,” he says.

At Penny Dinners in James Street, Jack rediscovered Irish food and ‘the Cork way to be’.

“I have a great team, three great chefs from around Europe who bring an international flavour to our cooking,” says Jack.

“I am super-excited being head chef here.”

He still likes to be hands-on, feeling right at home in the kitchen.

“We take turns doing the washing-up! Our volunteers are fantastic. We all make a great team who work very well together.”

Cork is a good place to be.

“Cork businesses like Kavanagh’s Fine Foods and Shannonvale Foods are very generous with their donations, as are many Cork businesses as well as businesses further afield,” says Jack.

“All the food is fresh and the vital food supplies are essential to our operations.

“We rely on public donations to stay up and running. Using excess fresh food stock to good advantage is a good way to avoid waste. I hate waste.”

Jack hits the ground running each day.

“Being busy is just great,” he says. “Being back in Cork at Penny Dinners is just great.

“I am always aware that good nutrition for good health is very important.”

Jack knows that he has a very important job.

“Providing good nutritious dinners for people in need is incredible for me,” he says. “It is a win-win.”

Penny Dinners was founded in 1888 and operated in Little Hanover Street for 75 years. It provides a hot nutritious meal every day from 9am to 1pm at 13, James Street.