AN award-winning food company has added two new chefs to its development kitchen as demand for its ethnic snacks and ready meals continues to grow.
SK Chilled Foods now has five chefs working in the development kitchen at its head office in Wynyard, near Billingham.
And the new structure has been introduced to mirror the organisation of restaurant kitchen, with an Executive Chef, Head Chef, Senior Sous Chef and two Sous Chefs.
The two latest additions to the team are Sous Chefs Chris Brown and Oliver Parkinson.
Chris, 29, from Durham, has joined the company after various roles including being Head Pastry Chef in celebrity chef Tony Singh’s former Oloroso fine dining restaurant in Edinburgh.
Chris says: “I am excited about joining SK. Working in a development kitchen is very different from working in a restaurant but I am already enjoying the variety of the job and am looking forward to working with the rest of the team to make new dishes which will hopefully end up on supermarket shelves in 2017.”
Oliver, 36, from South Shields, has joined SK after ten years working as Sous Chef at Beamish Hall Hotel.
Oliver says: “My background is in food technology and food development so I am delighted to get back into a development kitchen at a company with such a good reputation in the industry.
“When you are working in a restaurant you tend to make the same things day in, day out, but in this role, you can be even more creative and try new things.”
The SK development kitchen is led by Executive Chef Sean Flint, who can count Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing as people he was worked for the in the past. He is assisted by Head Chef John Connell, who used to work with Marco Pierre White. They are supported by Senior Sous Chef Jane Beesley, who is SK’s longest serving chef.
Sean said: “I am delighted with the team I now have in place and with the new restaurant kitchen-style structure.
“All of us worked in restaurants before we came to SK so we all understand the different roles and we complement each other well. This can only be a good thing as we create new dishes in 2017 and beyond.”
About Neil Shaefer
Marketing & Communications Executive of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.
