Charlie Bigham's

The Bighams King of the Month for May

May 2009

The King of Month for May has been awarded to Mayank in the Purchasing Team. Mayank first joined Bighams two years ago as a member of the Packing Team, before applying to an internal vacancy to work under Jamie, our table-football obsessed Purchasing Manager.

We launched several new dishes this month, which always piles on the pressure to the Purchasing Team. Mayank received a huge number of votes through his fantastic work with our suppliers, ensuring all the right ingredients arrived into our kitchens on time, and in the correct quantities. The quality of the ingredients sourced was also excellent; easily high enough to get a green light from the likes of Laufti, our King of the Month for April from Goods In.

Mayank proudly says his biggest challenge was to source 200kg fresh button mushrooms in four hours, a task where his charm and negotiating skills really saved the day for Charlie and the chefs. Mayank wishes to say how proud he is to be part of the Bighams Team, and how happy he is to win this coveted title.

The Bighams King of the Month for April

April 2009

Every month at Bighams, the employee of the month is proudly crowned as King or Queen of Bighams. Everyone is encouraged to vote for their winner, based on our key behaviours of passion and pride, involvement, mutual respect, achieving goals and to be daring or different.

Laufti is currently the Bighams King after raking in the votes for the month of April. Originally from Paris, Laufti is part of the Goods In Team, and is responsible for carrying out quality checks on all the fresh ingredients before they enter the kitchens.

As well as operating the fork lift, Laufti is the eyes and ears of Rebecca, our Quality Manager. Attention to detail is extremely important in his role, as he gives valuable feedback on even the smallest of issues. Laufti also looks after the new ingredient samples for the development chefs, and is regularly seen running to and from the New Development Kitchen with armfuls of fresh herbs. Laufti is a very popular member of the Bighams Team with his ‘can do’ attitude and smiley face – he is a very worthy King.

Sushi Masterclass

27th February 2009

On Friday our Danish development chef, Torben, hosted a Sushi Masterclass for the lucky winner of the Charlie Bighams raffle for all Ocado staff members.

Alex Stanbury, a member of the Ocado IT team, had three friends join him to learn the art of Sushi in our New Food Development Kitchen. Torben managed to source, amongst other things, a 2 foot long Snow Crab leg, which he proudly paraded around the office before showing everyone how to prepare it.

By lunch time, the table was covered with Nigirizushi: individual pieces of Tuna, Halibut, Mackerel, Prawns and squid on top of the carefully molded sushi rice, Makizushi rolls: (seaweed on the outside) Samaki rolls: (rice on the outside) and Temakizushi: (hand held cones) The masterpiece was the Sashimi of beef fillet and Tuna, which was also tasted by a few of the more sneaky office members who ‘happened’ to find themselves in the New Food Development Kitchen.

After lunch Alex and his friends were shown around the Production Kitchen to see our own chefs in action. We also gave them each a cool bag filled with an assortment of our dishes made fresh that day. We all felt the day was a great success, and Torben was extremely impressed with the first time Sushi students!

Barbecues at the ready

4th February

As Charlie the Snowman slowly melts in the Bighams Garden, could this be the beginning of Summer 2009? After all, we are due a good long one. At Bighams the Chefs are already developing our Summer Sizzlers for this year, and judging by the turnout for the tasting sessions, they are pretty tasty.

Due to adverse weather…

3rd February

As the heaviest snow in two decades descends upon the London Transport System, ‘adverse weather’ has become the phrase of the week. If you are lucky enough to stumble upon a train, bus or airport in the swirling arctic blizzards, you might be told that ‘due adverse weather conditions,’ your train has uncontrollably slid down the tracks all the way to Brighton and is suffering from severe delays, or your plane has glided off the runaway at Heathrow and boarding is now taking place in Hounslow, or your bus has been cancelled as it is blocked in by a group bendy buses stuck together up at Willesden Junction. Whatever mode of transport you choose, it is probable that you will hear the phrase an average of sixty seven times.

At Bighams, several of Charlie’s robust staff heroically overcame these dilemmas and successfully struggled to work: Dennis dodged bus cancellations and train delays to arrive early for work, and selflessly worked far beyond his hours. Yim and Savitabai took matters into their own hands and walked nearly four miles to overcome the phenomenon known as ‘adverse weather.’ Our Technical Manager, Poupak fearlessly drove her car around Wembley to collect stranded chefs and drive them safely to work. On Monday afternoon the Helens were allowed to take a lengthy break from the office to build a large snowman called Charlie, all in the name of ‘adverse weather’

It was a fantastic team effort on a day where everyone exceeded expectations, firstly in their efforts in getting to work, and once here, seamlessly covered the work left by their colleagues stuck at home. Well done!

Christmas Decoration Competition

7th January

Now the twelve days of Christmas have passed, there is little evidence that Christmas ever came to Bighams. The more superstitious members of staff have solemnly removed the red flashing tree, the edible Northern Star and the giant inflatable Father Christmas. All that remains is the odd blob of blue tack, in an impossible death lock with a few strands of purple tinsel high in the rafters, and one little bauble, clinging with dear life onto the potted palm near the Sales Team desks.

At lunchtime on Christmas Eve, the office was filled with apprehension, as Charlie stalked round the office, admiring the efforts of his wonderful, creative team, in our 5th annual Christmas decoration competition. The competition was fierce and the stakes were high ….

The Sales Team went for a modern minimalistic approach with just a red flashing tree, but their hopes were dashed after the tree was deemed to look dead. The Production Kitchen Team were eliminated on the grounds of violating the environment with their enormous flashing light display. The Purchasing Team were one of the favourites with their inflatable Father Christmas and edible nativity scene, but were narrowly pipped to the post by the Food Safety Team, who like the Finance Team, opted for an aerial display - theirs a Persian inspired array of carefully chosen baubles, lights and tinsel to give that all important Magi feel – it was almost as if Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar where there with us. The winners ensured victory by dressing as ‘sexy santas’ which exponentially helped their chances. After the prize giving, everyone enjoyed a festive lunch of Christmas Square Pies and glass of port.

Happy New Year!

Charlie’s Peleton

24th December 2008

If you have read the last blog you will know that at Bighams all the staff do a lot of eating, tasting, sampling and testing of all our dishes. In order to avoid the ‘Bighams Bum’ many of us have taken to Charlie’s example of cycling to and from work in order to burn off those extra few hundred calories.

We have quite a collection of bikes at Bighams, from the neat little fold ups owned by Jamie in Purchasing and Helen in New Food Development that skedaddle the 800 metres to the train station, to the big chunkies that crash around the New Forest at weekends with Torben, our Danish chef. Waitrose Team members Nicola and Victoria opt for a more upright ladies bicycle for their 10 mile daily commute, and our Commercial Director, Guy needs a Tour de France style lightweight bike for his exhausting commute of 20 mile round trip to Balham each day.

For the majority of us here at Bighams, cycling is faster than the public transport on offer, keeps us and the environment in good shape, and of course means we don’t have to keep adding a tenner here and there onto our Oyster Cards, keeping pounds in our pockets and pounds off our bodies!

Daily Tasting Session

24th December 2008

At Charlie Bighams all members of staff are actively involved in the daily tasting session, where everyone is encouraged to give feedback to our Quality Manager, Becca. Every afternoon Becca selects eight dishes, either picked by random, or through suggested tweaks by our customers or simply that the chefs want some internal feedback on the dishes they have created.

At 4pm the New Food Development Kitchen is filled with foodies, palettes at the ready, armed with forks and feedback forms ready to assess appearance, aroma, texture and taste. Taste Panel is the source of intense debate amongst staff. The IT Manager might embroil himself in a heated debate with the Head Chef on the number of mange tout in the Malaysian Chicken Laksa. Our HR Officer, Helen might iterate, between mouthfuls of Salmon and Tiger Prawn Pies, that a dash a lemon juice infinitely improves a béchamel.

The great thing about Taste Panel is that we can really see how our comments contribute towards making positive tweaks in the recipes. After each tasting session action points are drawn up and agreed, and everyone’s opinion is listened to, from the three month placement all the way up to Charlie himself. At Bighams, it is fair to say everyone is food obsessed, something which we all consider to be a compliment!

Party On!

Autumn has arrived in all its colourful glory, and we at Bighams have been celebrating the change in season! On Monday the 3rd of November we held an Autumn Banquet for the whole Bighams team, and a fabulous evening was had by all. An abundance of delicious food and some fairly lethal homemade mulled wine (there was no short supply of ‘quality testing’ volunteers!) ensured the party went with a bang.

Our HR Officer, Helen, and Supply Chain Controller, Jamie, manned the bar, and they both did an absolutely sterling job providing refreshments to thirsty revellers throughout the evening!

Two of our chefs, Torben and Mikey spent hours preparing all the food for the banquet and the result was fabulous! Simple, delicious food cooked to perfection. We had hearty chicken & vegetable pie, rich beef goulash, spicy three bean casserole, mountains of creamy mash potato and fresh, roasted root vegetables. We finished off the meal with a real classic; a simply superb apple & sultana crumble and cream.

Our New Food Development Manager, Helen, and National Account Manager, Stewart transformed themselves into games masters’ extraordinaires! They organised games of Halloween Bingo, Pin the tail on Charlie, Apple Bobbing and a Canapé eating competition, all of which went down a storm. The Canapé eating competition was a breathtaking spectacle… it defied imagination how one man could fit 10 cheese straws in his mouth in 30 seconds!

The highlight of the evening was the Country Dancing Band who were amazing! Shoes were abandoned at the edge of the dance floor as the whole team threw themselves into action and gallantly did the doce-doe and swung their partners. The energetic dance routines soon had everyone up and dancing and only left a few of our team mildly stiff and sore the next day… yee hah!

Lots of the team helped set up for the party, but I feel I should especially mention Boris, Michael, and Tony who all risked hernias carrying the enormous hay bales that I had ordered as decoration up all the stairs… well done guys!

Eton Excelsior Rowing Regatta

15th October 2008

Team Bighams: AKA Booze Cruise enjoyed a day of mixed success on a somewhat swollen and fast flowing river Thames at the weekend. Bigham's fittest and finest ladies, including Nicola Greenall, our Waitrose Account Manger, and Inge de Jong, our Purchasing Manager, kitted themselves out in classic 118-118 costumes, following the mandatory fancy dress theme of the age old regatta.

Early nerves of capsizing into the Thames allowed 'Babes on Waves' to narrowly squeeze victory from the black-wigged, running-vested foursome in their opener. However with the experience of our HR Officer, Helen Cruise whose was competing for the second year running, Team Bighams: AKA Booze Cruise eased to victory in their second heat, propelling them to the dizzy heights of the Plate Final.

Here, as Helen Vaughan, the New Food Development Manager at Bighams describes, 'we were beaten by a country mile.' However she is quick to point out the weakest link in her team; 'it was our 118 moustaches, they were to blame, they were far too itchy and just got in the way.'

Yes, Helen, a little black stick on moustache is the only difference between you and Steve Redgrave...

Mini Food Festival

22/07/2008

On a lovely summers evening last week, it seemed as though a Mediterranean market stall had sprung up at Coriander House. We were lucky enough to enjoy an impromptu tasting session with a couple of our suppliers. We were treated to a vast range of their products from creamy cheeses to colourful antipasti to succulent olives.

We were spoilt for choice with a selection of award winning cheeses from Harvey & Brockless Foods. We tasted some stunning Bufala di Campana (Buffalo Mozzarella), creamy Cropwell Bishop Stilton, Spanish Manchego made from ewe’s milk, some crumbly Bleu D’Auvergne and some fantastically more-ish goats cheese. They rightfully boast one of the most impressive ranges of Europe’s finest hand-crafted cheese.

Considering many of us thought that olives were simply green or black, a whole new world was suddenly opened up to us. The Fresh Olive Company of Provence supply over 50 authentic olive varieties, flavoured and stuffed olives. They have tracked down the very best products in the world, and each one has a fascinating story to tell. The flavour and texture of their olives is unbeatable; I know several of us are now truly converted. Olives are rather like wine, once you’ve tried the finest, you’ll find it hard to go back to cheap plonk!

The antipasti tasting was equally impressive. It is difficult to know where to start, we tried grilled aubergines, capers, semi-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers stuffed with feta, sweet garlic, gorgeous artichoke hearts and roasted Cardoncelli mushrooms to name but a few. They also brought a wonderful range of vibrantly coloured pestos and mustards. The intensity of flavours was truly incredible, and washed down with a glass or 2 of red wine you can imagine it turned into a very fun and very filling evening!

Bighams 'News' is back by popular demand

14/07/08

We decided that a good old spring clean was long overdue at Bigham's. I am sure many of you have noticed our exciting new look, not only have we spruced up our website but we also have some stylish new packaging. We have finally ditched our plastic trays and moved to a more environmentally friendly cardboard tray.

Several of you have already kindly written in and mentioned that the instructions on the reverse of pack are difficult to read. Thank you for letting us know, we are amending this on the next print run – we do listen!

We would like to hear your thoughts on our new look. Please click on "Your Feedback" fill in a feedback form and we will get back to you promptly.

A spot of rugby

15/07/08

At Bigham's we like to throw ourselves wholeheartedly into everything whether it is creating culinary masterpieces or getting muddy on a rugby pitch. Last week as the ‘monsoon’ swept across the capital we battled the elements to play our first mixed touch rugby match of the season. Considering our previous 20 minute crash course in the Bigham's garden, we put in an admirable performance.

A few hidden talents quickly emerged and we got off to a cracking start. Stewart our strapping young Irish account manager was quickly appointed the role of coach and kept us in order. Helen from HR rallied the troops and Guy our resident marathon runner (and Commercial Director) soon had the opposition flustered with his boundless energy. After two successive tries we stormed into an early lead, but despite our enthusiasm victory somehow slipped away from us in the second half. Perhaps too little practice and too many pies...

I think another throw around the office, in between canapé tastings, will soon have us back on track for the next game!

Bighams, Coriander House, 2 McNicol Drive, London NW10 7AW | T 020 8453 9890

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