7 minute read
Five Minutes With
Charlie Bigham
Charlie Bigham set up shop back in 1996 with the sole aim of creating really delicious dishes for foodies. Jacqui Priestley, owner and editor of Wokingham Local spends ‘’5 mins with Charlie Bigham’’.
WL: Thank you for your time Charlie and welcome to Wokingham Local. So, can I ask first of all, did you enjoy cooking from an early age? CB:Well, I was about 13 or 14 when I started to cook.
WL:Did you have an ambition to become a famous chef and do you have an ambition to be a celebrity chef now? CB:I had no ambition to be a chef, and celebrity chefs had not been invented yet. I describe myself as a cook, rather than a chef. Chefs in restaurants are true professionals to get their different dishes out all at the same time, and hats off to them!
WL:Our special feature is entitled ‘Tastes of the World’, what did you learn and gain from the experience of traveling around the World? CB:I have been very fortunate to do lots of traveling and I learnt a lot about food. What I feel about food in the UK is that we have such diversity from everywhere else in the World because we are so open to ideas from other countries and to incorporating them into our own recipes, so there isn’t just one style of British cooking, and that is replicated in our extensive range of foods.
WL:What gave you the initial idea to start a company selling freshly prepared meals? CB:Well I needed a job, and I like to work for myself, as I was never very good at working for someone else, and I guess I just thought I would take a ‘punt’. My thinking was that there must be more people like me out there, leading busy lives, and occasionally thinking I love cooking, but
could just do with a night off whilst not compromising from eating good quality food. The only real option at that time was the frozen ready meal and I feel life is too short to resort to eating cheap meals from a microwave.
WL:Do you consider your meals to be expensive, and are they therefore targeted at ‘posh’ people? CB:No, they are amazing value for money, and are enjoyed by all types of people up and down the Country, and we gauge this from the consumer research we do. For example, in comparison to a Domino’s pizza, we are cheaper, better quality and we really leave them for dust! So, we are not about posh people, we are about everyday food appealing to a broad cross section of people - and providing brilliant value for money.
WL:What is your all time favorite recipe from your range? CB:I think as a dish that most people like, as do I, our lasagne is a brilliant dish, and very well executed. Some may think it old-fashioned but it is an amazing lasagne, made with the best of quality ingredients. WL:When you are entertaining at home, what dish do you cook to impress? CB:I love cooking and I am something of an inventive cook and I like to challenge myself, and I practically never make the same dish twice. I do love middle eastern food, partly because it is so sociable with the sharing aspect, and a nice relaxed way of eating.
WL:You have sites in London and Wells, and plans for development, to what do you attribute your success, in an industry saturated by similar products? CB:Well, I don’t believe there are similar products, I think we are quite different and that’s why people buy our products. Other companies look to make their products cheaper, whereas we focus on making our meals better, and that is the difference. As consumers I feel we are all becoming more considered food purchasers, as we are now more aware that the food we eat has an impact on our lives, and even our mental health, and also the effect that food production has on the planet, and we are a very considered food producer.
WL:Talking of food production and the effects it has, I believe you are a B Corp registered and certified business, and did it take quite some time and effort to gain that certification? CB:B Corp registration is still quite new for the UK, and what it means is that you sign up to do three things basically, focusing on Profit, People, and Planet. So, all businesses need to make a profit, of course, and then looking after your people and also looking after the planet. All of those things we were already doing, so, we really went through the process as a means of being assessed externally and to see how we could become better, faster.
WL:What is the single best piece of advice anyone has ever given you? CB:Maybe to listen! To listen to our consumers, especially if we have done something wrong, and have their feedback. It is gold dust to us when someone tells us where we went wrong because it gives us an opportunity to put it right. Plus, we have a big team now and now it is important to listen to them. They all have their areas of expertise and know those better than I do, so it is important not just to talk, but to listen to them.
WL:What is the most inspirational thing that has happened to you recently? CB:I have actually been immensely inspired by how all the world has coped through the pandemic and how adaptable we all are. In particular, my team, they can’t work from home and their loyalty and bravery really, especially in the early days of the pandemic when they were frightened, and yet came into work every day showing huge commitment and I am very grateful to the whole team for keeping the show on the road through some very challenging times. We do care about our teams and we work well with them, and do try our best to look after them, and we challenge ourselves constantly to do even better.
The Food Production Campus, Dulcote, Wells
WL:If you could sum up what you stand for in one phrase, what would that be? CB:In business, really I stand for two things. Firstly, we stand for delicious food, and secondly doing business in a better way and because business should be a force for good. So in the making of that delicious food we are always searching for a better way.
We’ve created what we’re calling a Food Production Campus (well, it is rather grand) in a former quarry in Dulcote, near Wells. We make some of our best-selling dishes here including our Fish Pie and Chicken Tikka Masala. Surrounded by the birds and the bees, we’re excited to make food in such a glorious location.
hello@bighams.com www.bighams.com
Tea has long been a British institution but most of us are hooked on lifeless boil-inthe-bag brews – missing out on the quality and amazing oriental flavours found in the dozens of varieties of loose-leaf tea.
Before the advent of the tea bag in New York in 1908, loose-leaf tea was widely consumed and making the perfect pot was a ritual. Tea was a precious commodity traded between East and West and played an important role in the history of the British Empire.
Happy Larder Co. was founded in 2019 with a mission to bring back the ritual and once more increase access to the myriad flavours offered by tea varieties, from spicy Chai to smoky Russian Caravan, named after the 18th century camel caravans that trekked the six-thousand mile tea route via Russia. Or perhaps you’d prefer a refreshing peppermint from the rolling hills of Malawi, or a delightfully delicate Silver Needle white tea from the Fujian Province, China? So many choices!
Happy Larder Co. was founded by Leanne Duffield - an Australian based in the UK - who didn’t even drink tea until she married an Englishman. Now she has her very own specialty tea company! They also happen to be a brand with a big social conscience, working with charities like Berkshire Women’s Aid to support female survivors of domestic abuse.
