The FoodTalk Show FoodTalk Group Limited
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- Arts
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Sue Nelson and Jane Peyton discuss all things food and drink with experts and producers from around the UK.
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Robert Thompson MBE
Robert Thompson MBE is one of the youngest chefs in the UK to receive a Michelin star and has helped put the Isle of Wight on the culinary map.
At ten, he became interested in food, designing his own restaurant/club as part of a school project. He has worked at several top rated restaurants, from Winteringham Fields to Cliveden, before establishing Thompson's on the Isle of Wight. He was one of the first chefs to work with us at Great British Chefs and cooked a memorable lamb carpaccio at our press launch event and a smoked eel puff in Old Street (London) the day we launched the website. During lockdown, he re-invented his business with a chef-designed food box called You Be Chef, which he continues to run.
In his chat with Ollie Lloyd, he discusses the changing nature of food on the Isle and how people's expectations have changed due to various factors, such as Instagram, home cooking trends, supermarkets expanding ranges, and the cost of living crisis. Making things work in the hospitality sector is not easy, but Robert is committed to making it work. He is incentivising his team so that they are part owners of the business, is about to launch two new restaurants and remains dedicated to working with a growing list of local suppliers.
Edited by Jasper Schofield -
Orlando Murrin - from magazines to hotels and murder mysteries
Orlando Murrin has one of those careers in food that makes anyone who loves food jealous. He edited BBC goodfood, helped create Olive magazine and has also run highly successful hotel / restaurants in France and Britain.
He has now embarked on another career branch by writing a murder mystery novel about a chef who has an unexpected experience running a cooking school in Belgravia.
Edited by Stella Gent -
Ben Davies - Founder of VYPR on research that works
Ben Davies is the founder of VYPR, a consumer research business that is designed to metaphorically put the consumer on the shoulder of brand leaders as they optimise their mix or launch new products.
Ben is a serial entrepreneur and an ex-supermarket buyer who passionately believes that most innovation processes are designed to produce sub-optimal products (and this is backed up data, as 85% of product launches fail after 12 months across Europe). He believes too many run processes that are rigid, take too much time and cost too much money. His platform encourages brand owners to ask lots of little questions, evolve their hypotheses over time and truly understand via A/B testing what is really working. Put another way he wants people to adopt a more agile way of developing products.
He shares with Ollie Lloyd a whole host of examples of categories where most brands are getting things wrong and argues that a new approach can deliver a genuinely more interesting and successful outcome. The truth is that too often brands add too many reasons to believe on their packs, are more focused on what other brands are talking about than what consumers actually need and want. Decisions are made quickly and so brands need to get their messaging at shelf right or products fail. VYPR is a great example of a business that is trying to help brands get things right from the start.
Edited by Stella Gent -
Elin Roberts - making nature better with Tempeh
Elin Roberts is the CMO and one of the Co-Founders of Better Nature, a tempeh company. She is leading the charge to inspire more people to embrace the world of tempeh and eat a little bit more sustainably.
Tempeh is a weirdly neglected Indonesian product that is made from fermented soybeans. Whilst it is a stable of Indonesian cuisine it hasn't been embraced around the world even though it has a higher content of protein, fibre and vitamins than tofu.
Already stocked in a broad range of retailers, from Tesco to Lidl, they have strong momentum and are focused on helping people understand that meat free products don't have to be highly processed. -
Charlie Bighams - creating a beacon food brand
Charlie Bigham, the founder of Bigham's, is one of the emerging giants of the food world. He is passionate about creating a food business that demonstrates the real benefits of long term thinking, a thing he believes we are sorely lacking in the UK at present. To understand his philosophy, all you need to do is look at the award-winning architect designed production facility (aka kitchen), in Somerset, that cooks over 50% of their food.
During his chat with Ollie Lloyd on The Food Talk Show he explained how he is focused on improving their core products rather than getting obsessed by the excitement of innovation. He champions the idea of EFD (Existing Food Development) rather than NPD or NFD (New Food Development) as he calls it. He loves to climb into the metaphorical weeds of his supply chain to find the best possible ingredients. He hates fake meats and believes they are doing immeasurable harm, something it is hard to challenge. His approach is different but it is having a major impact and is winning with customers and retailers. A business that more should be looking to emulate.
Edited by Stella Gent -
Veganuary -aiming for a kinder, greener planet
Toni Vernelli, the head of communications at Veganuary, chats with Ollie Lloyd about the organisation's mission and how it came into being. They discuss what the best of vegan food looks like and how their mission is far from the militant view of veganism that some parts of the press would like you to associate with it. They understand that change is hard and are trying to encourage people to take a step towards more sustainable eating.
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