In the third part of our menu development series, Nicola Harper-Bennett, Group Executive Chef for ESS, describes how our colleagues work together to develop exciting recipes that meet a variety of tastes and dietary requirements.
Recipe development is led by our regional and group executive chefs who collaborate with our registered nutritionists, marketers and culinary teams from across our business.
Everyone works together to create innovative, appetising dishes that meet a variety of tastes – from traditional to contemporary cuisines, including healthier and more indulgent options and covering a range of dietary requirements.
The input and expertise of our unit-based colleagues is vital. These chefs are the ones who speak to our customers every day – they know what will be popular and when, and this knowledge is invaluable when it comes to creating dishes that people will buy, enjoy and come back for.
Once we’ve agreed on the new concepts and dishes that we need to develop, we team our head chefs and unit chefs with colleagues working in different locations or at different levels to generate a cross-pollination of ideas. We provide a structure and brief for them to work to, for example design meat-based and vegetarian dishes prepared in a Korean style, and let them work their magic!
We test our newly created recipes with a similar multidisciplinary team, gathering feedback on a variety of characteristics including flavour and presentation.
As well as enabling us to leverage a broader spectrum of skills and experience, this approach empowers our people to have a genuine impact on our food offer and helps them to build their networks within the organisation. We receive great feedback from our unit teams on their involvement in the process.
