Office Catering Blog | Fooditude

Do you know about our central production kitchen? | Fooditude

Written by Cristina Covello | 16 Feb 2022

Fooditude is a catering company specialising in delivered office catering. We often get asked what that means and how it works. Unlike other delivery services or providers, we actually cook our own food in a central production kitchen and bring it to our clients’ offices. But we don’t simply stuff food in a box and send it off in a van! Our kitchen plays a huge role in the way we operate and deliver our services. It’s a space we LOVE to show our clients before they come on board with us.

 

Here are 5 facts about our central production kitchen that we like to call, The Mothership

 

It’s MASSIVE

We operate out of a 20,000 sq. foot kitchen, based in Bermondsey, and can cook and deliver at least 5000 meals a day. We have a hunch, this is the largest production kitchen within Zone 1 and 2. It’s just a 30 min drive into Central London. This proximity lets us cater freshly cooked, hot and cold food delivered directly to your office, in time for lunch and in accordance with all food safety regulations. Our large space means we can cook everything from scratch, and at scale –  ensuring our food is fresh and minimally processed. 

 

 

It’s got some cool gadgets

The Mothership has all the equipment you would expect to see in a production kitchen. Several convection ovens, grills, Bratt pans, rows and rows of sparkling clean stainless steel worktops and lots of energy saving equipment. But it also has some really cool gadgets like:

  • Granuldisk pot washing machines, which use half the amount of soap and water as conventional dishwashers
  • Two ORCAs, which digest our food waste on site and help take waste collection vans off the roads
  • State of the art BGL Rieber hot boxes, which help transport food at optimal temperatures

 

 

It’s got barely any fridge/freezer space

Yes, you read that right! We only have two small walk-in fridges and a small walk-in freezer, which limits our capacity to store food long term. So, we only produce the food we need, from scratch. Ingredients for tomorrow’s lunch will arrive at the kitchen today and we start to prep them immediately and cook the next morning. Food goes from the ovens, straight into hot boxes, then into the vans and off to our client’s offices. Nothing is stored, nothing is frozen for another day. We don’t use frozen ingredients to cook your meals. This is great for freshness and makes our office catering super flexible. We are easily able to accommodate increased numbers without much hassle. 

 

It’s got some serious cred

Along with all the high tech kit, we have a huge emphasis on health and safety. Our kitchen is not only accredited 5 stars by the local EHO, we also hold SALSA certification. This means our kitchen upholds the strictest standards in food, health and safety as prescribed and audited by SALSA every year. Stringent quality processes guide our production and processes. From the ingredients we source, how we package and label our food all the way to how it is stored and transported to our client sites. 

 

 

Most of all, it's a fabulous place to work...

Our kitchen is the hub of all activities in Fooditude and we all take great pride in our Mothership. Normally, when people think of delivery kitchens, they picture dark, greasy, run down spaces that just cram in as many brands and chefs as they legally can. Our kitchen, on the other hand, is spacious and clean with plenty of natural light. It can easily accommodate up to 60 chefs as they go about their jobs or relax on their breaks. We prioritise the wellbeing of our teams and have created spaces that our office and kitchen teams would want to work in. It has helped us achieve Caterer.com’s People’s Choice Wellbeing Award and the Mayor of London’s Healthy Workplace Award. 

Would you like to come check out our kitchen? Book a visit with Dean or Cristina today!