Chef’s Connection was the deserved winner of the JP Fresh Foodservice Supplier of the Year award. Despite its growth and success, Chef’s Connection has remained entirely dedicated to its core ethos - supplying friendly, personal customer service of the very highest degree.
Recent highlights at Chef’s Connection includes a £300,000 plus investment in technical and commercial innovation. Some £161,000 was spent on the design and implementation of a warehouse and temperature controlled storage facility that has already paid immediate dividends for its potato business and also incorporates ripening rooms for avocados, pears and mangoes. Specialists walk-in storage space for herbs and exotics and a walk-in freezer have also added to the firm’s ability to store all manner of produce in optimum conditions.
Another £31,000 has been invested in the design and construction of dedicated preparation kitchens, masterminded by another of the company’s ex-chefs operations manager Stuart Busby. Fully operation now, the facility supplies peeled and cut vegetables, fresh-cut chips, fresh-cut fruit, ready-to-eat prepared salads and fresh fruit juices. Recognising that communication is a key factor to any growing organisation, a further £120,000 was ploughed in to upgrade the company’s computer hardware and a bespoke software system.
At the helm, managing director Danny Murphy is the third generation of his family to work in Covent Gardens, where the company is based, new and old. He has been involved at the market for 41 years, starting as a barrow boy and taking in spells as a banana cutter and porter. He cut his teeth in the catering sector by setting up the first Café Rouge in the UK with his wife and, while he admits it was a baptism of fire, he adds that memories of the steep learning curve give him a close understanding of the day-to-day pressures of the chefs he supports.
Prepared to invest heavily in new technology, resources and its staff to continually improve its service, Chef’s Connection constantly strives to be the best and goes out of its way to ask customers how it can be better.
Finalists in this award category included Fresh Direct and Pauly’s.
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