- How did you get into NPD for manufactured food? **
Manufacture is a key area to look at from a food point of view. In contract catering a lot has been deskilled, a lot of manufacturers prepare the food that goes into catering.
- What's the biggest challenge you face in your role? **
The frustrating thing is that you can have to send things back and forth tweaking them - you really have to understand and listen to customers. Hitting price point is also a challenge.
- How does food manufacture NPD compare with working in hospitality? **
It's quite a culture shock to move into manufacture from a hotel. Some people are quite blasé when they start, but a lot don't last the distance.
- Who are the most influential chefs? **
Gordon Ramsay, Tom Aitkens and Michel Roux Jr are really inspirational. I also like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's style. I like to indulge in the nice things, but it's important to remember that not everyone can live by his means. Nevertheless, there's more to be gained from watching celebrity chefs than some of the rubbish they show on TV.
- What's your favourite dish? **
The best dishes I've tasted are at Michel Roux Jr's Le Gavroche, but I'd never eat the same thing twice. If there's something I've never seen before, I'll try it.
- Is provenance a long-term trend? **
Everyone talks about provenance and customers don't always understand it. I think you can get provenance overkill. You go into stores now and almost every product has a story on it.
The trend for provenance isn't going to last forever because there's only so much story you can give - a supplier isn't always going to supply you exclusively. The biggest challenge is to be first to market - that's what we constantly strive to do.
- What advice would you give to a newcomer? **
There's a lot of taking the rough with the smooth. Qualifications are key and then it's a case of beating down the door to get into the business.
- What skills are most important in this line of work? **
You'd struggle if you weren't organised because things crop up on a daily basis that can throw everything out of sync and you have to be able to cope.
- Where do you get inspiration from? **
In this day and age there's a never-ending scope for inspiration: from the high street; to the internet.
There's nothing better than getting a kitchen full of ingredients and messing around with them.
- Foodwise, what do you find most frustrating about today's consumers? **
I'm absolutely disgusted by how narrow minded some people are when it comes to cooking.
Kids parties are on my bug list - it's all sausages and burgers and nuggets. For a lot of kids, it's how they are brought up and it infuriates me.
- How does the NPD process work? **
An internal taste panel tries kitchen samples. Then the engineering team gets involved, so that we don't stumble at the final block
- How is the NPD process changing? **
It's not 'a pinch of this' any more - ingredients are all measured out. Also, I have to learn about the entire factory process to make sure we're not developing something in the kitchen that's unachievable on a larger scale FM