CATERING
FAD FOODS: TREND OR FOE?
Gather & Gather are the relative new kids on the catering block, but they really seem to know their stuff. I caught up with members of their team to find out what they are all about, and how they keep up with the ever changing world of food trends.
Kate Taylor is the in-house nutritionist and self-professed fitness fiend, not surprising really given that she completed her degree in Human Nutrition and Sport Science. Kate’s role is varied, but includes: running health and wellbeing workshops, talks, forums, twitter sessions, web chats and putting together information for clients on how to live a healthier life.
She is also part of the food development team; finding out what the latest health trends are, which she confessed can be “the bane of my [her] life” because they are constantly changing, Kate has to work to keep up with the high street and the ever- shifting lifestyles of customers.
I also spoke to Jim Norris, Director of Food (best title ever) about his role in the development and design of new concepts and craft training for the company. Whilst Kate makes sure the company and clients are staying healthy, Jim confesses to preferring the more indulgent side of things, he believes Gather & Gather have a “yin and yang approach” to food, and he maintains a balance of naughty and nourishing.
After getting to know a bit more
about the pair, I wanted to know if Kate felt that having a fitness background gave her the upper hand in the catering game, especially in the current fit-frenzy that seems to be occurring nationally:
KT: Definitely, they go hand-in-hand; you can’t really have one without the other. There’s not many caterers with an in-house nutritionist who is also a fitness expert, it means
24 | TOMORROW’S FM
I can relate a bit more. It also means I’m well equipped to meet things like government guidelines on salt regulations.
TFM: Do you think involvement in charity, ethics, and sustainability schemes make Gather & Gather’s produce more appealing to consumers?
KT: Certainly, I’ve been in this business for four years, and I’ve really noticed a change in the education levels of consumers; it differs geographically. In London people are really clued up on this sort of thing. People are interested in whether their fish is certified, if their produce is British, the eggs are free-range etc. We make sure to tell all our customers things like that, because it’s important to them.
As people get more educated about their food we see a change in their dietary choices; they want to know if something is gluten or dairy free, low fat or low GI. A lot of the time it’s not even that people are intolerant or allergic they are just more conscious of what they are putting in their bodies, which is a type of trend in itself.
TFM: So does that me there has been an increase in awareness of intolerances or food allergies? What do you do to combat that, in terms of development?
KT: Definitely, when I’ve been running discussion groups with suppliers and outlets across the country I’ve asked whether they’ve seen a rising demand for this type of thing – gluten and dairy free produce, and they’ve
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