LIFESTYLE
means I do have the people to keep it running. And I have a fantastic management team who feel like my family. I just want the clients to be happy and everyone to love and remember the food.”
How did you become involved with Tante Marie cookery school? “I did my training for a Cordon Bleu Diploma at Tante Marie and became a director for the previous owners after bumping into them at an event where they recognised a Tante Marie recipe. Then the opportunity came up to buy the school so I asked Gordon Ramsay if he would like to be involved and he jumped at it. “We also run an Absolute Taste scholarship, which
offers the chance to someone with passion who couldn’t afford to go to Tante Marie otherwise. “I can’t impress enough that a year doing the
diploma stands you in the best position for a fabulous career in hospitality in any area, restaurants (like Gordon) outside catering (like me) and anywhere else where food is involved. We have fab contacts all over the world and can pretty much guarantee a job at the end of the course – it beats three years at university that leaves you coming out with a huge student loan. I have certainly never looked back.”
love the way so many of the areas all match up. “A lot of the ideas for expansion have come from my business
partners. The latest of these is opening up a facility in Geneva where we will be operating a kitchen for our Inflight business as well as being available for local events – a big, exciting adventure.”
‘KEEP THINGS INNOVATIVE BUT
LITTLE DETAILS MAKE IT FUN’
SIMPLE AND WITH THE BEST FOOD AND DRINKS.
Has the party scene been affected by the economic downturn? “Yes, the corporate parties have reduced dramatically. We are lucky as we have a lot of clients who have a product to sell so this is still happening. It has changed, though, and we have had to adjust our approach accordingly. The ‘big money, no problem’ attitude has gone but this just means we need to be more creative and clever to make the details show and prove it is not entirely necessary to throw a lot of money at a party.”
What is the most popular party theme – and the oddest – you’ve been asked to cater for? “Some of the old styles are the best and as long as you are creative these can be amazing. We have just done a fabulous Moulin Rouge party, with a
How is it that the business has expanded into such diverse areas? “We’ve expanded because we have been asked to by our clients. We started doing parties, then we were approached to have a café at the Design Centre at London’s Chelsea Harbour and felt it fitted with our brand; Absolute Taste Inflight evolved as so many of our clients had private planes and wanted our food on board. Then came Harvey Nichols – it’s a dream of mine to be in my fave store – and Quintessentially Soho at House of St Barnabas in London – a not-for-profit members’ club that was meant to be a pop-up thing but which is still going strong. Mercedes-Benz World – we know them well and it’s local to McLaren. Now we are actively looking at future projects as I have the team to take the company forward and we just
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vintage feel, which I love, as well as a raunchy feel, which is always fun. “There are some other odd requests that I couldn’t possibly repeat – even after many years I still get shocked.”
What’s your idea of the perfect party? “I am always keen that the perfect party be designed specifically for the person hosting it, keeping things innovative but simple and with the best food and drinks of the best quality. Little details that make it fun are great and these don’t need to be expensive.”
What’s your favourite type of food and ideal way to relax? “I am quite fussy on food, I don’t see any point of eating something that doesn’t taste great and of a certain quality. Probably my ideal
t
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