A former director at Geest, Andrew Mitchell, has set up True Foods in Yorkshire in a bid to get back to making more creative products.
"My position at Geest was as a director for the Tesco account," he says. "I became very strategic there and got away from what I was best at, which was working in the kitchen. Innovation gets lost at big firms because processors want to do efficient, long runs, whereas I wanted to try shorter, more innovative lines." He adds that many manufacturers are too reliant on retailers pushing them for new product ideas, when it should be the other way round.
True Foods has just taken on the Real Gravy Campaign, made famous by Gordon Ramsay. On his Kitchen Nightmares programme, Ramsay turned around the fortunes of Lancaster-based pub the Fenwick Arms by making staff focus on the importance of using real gravy, as opposed to instant mixes. Such was the success of the project, that a new retail range of four classic gravies will be launched under the Real Gravy Campaign brand.
The products are made by roasting bones for 12h, then adding vegetables and spring water and straining it through muslin.
"It's more expensive to use fresh ingredients and more labour intensive because we strain the stock by hand, but our strategy was to go back to culinary principals and develop a product that chefs would want to use," says Mitchell.
He explains that the gravies may be a life-saver for hotel chefs who have to rely on ready-made stock. "In the last couple of years, legislation means that a lot of hotel chefs are unable to make their own stock because they can't leave a stock pot cooking overnight."
The gravies are available in beef, onion, red wine and poultry varieties in Booths, Selfridges and independent retailers.
Mitchell is also planning to make veal and beef stock with specific origin and species claims, such as British Dexter Beef Stock.