Darren Sully, head chef at the UK's answer to Silicon Valley in Reading, talks to The Facilities Business about the challenge of working in a kitchen so small there's no room to swing a cat — or, more importantly, store any food
Q: Describe the place where you work
A: I'm the head chef at 100 Longwater Avenue in Reading, Berkshire. This is a landmark building, designed by Foster and Partners. It's part of GreenPark, a business park currently under development. My building was the first one to open in November 1999.

Q:Who's in the building and who do you cook for?
A: The building is occupied by 27 different blue-chip and IT companies, such as Broadvision, Cisco Systems and Frontrange Software. There are 450 people in the building. About 90 per cent choose to eat in and we serve them breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks. We operate a deli-bar (serving sandwiches), a hot counter (serving main meals) and a coffee bar (serving cakes and pastries).

Q: Is there anything special about this site from your point of view?
A: This is the smallest kitchen I've ever worked in. It measures just six metres long by five metres wide, which means there's only room for two other chefs to help me and very little storage space. Because of that I have to think very carefully about the menus. We tend to cook one dish ahead of time each day, such as a curry or Moroccan lamb ragout, and then cook everything else to order, 'à la minute'. We often offer a fish dish, such as sea bass with wilted spinach and herb butter, or tagliatelle with seafood sauce. And stir-fries and warm salads also work well because they are quick to prepare.

Q: What are the most popular dishes with the staff?
A: To be honest, everything sells well because everything is made freshly on site, including our bread, croissants and desserts. We even roast the meats for our sandwich fillings. But one dish that did sell particularly well recently was baked cod with warm potato and spring onion salad. And I know when I offer cheesecake or crème fraiche brulée with summer berries, they'll sell out fast.

Q: What's the average spend per head?
A: £2-3.

Q: Is this an in-house operation?
A: No, it's run by contract caterer Charlton House.

Q: What sort of contract is it?
A: It's a rolling contract and we operate it on a nil-subsidy basis. Turnover is around £350,000 a year.

Source

The Facilities Business