Factory food requires a human touch

I was delighted this year to be invited to the Cateys. What an evening. It was outstanding and makes you truly proud to be a caterer. To provide hospitality in a marquee for 1,200 caterers and their friends is quite a task, and I have to say the Chester Boyd team, even with power failures, did the industry proud.

The pace is now quickening at Peter Jones. Those of you who shop there will know that we have moved the coffee shop to a temporary location where the carpets department used to be. It took our catering manager, Philip, his team and the builders many moves to get the refurbished counters in just the right place. In fact, in the past few months Philip has moved his department and his team eight times to suit the changing needs of the builders and ourselves.

As we all know, even the best plans can get altered at the last minute. So, sorry Philip, I think we will have a few more moves to do before the end of the project in three years' time.

I spent an enjoyable morning at a factory producing ready-meals and sauces for Waitrose, the supermarket division of the partnership. Expecting to see many metres of stainless-steel pipework and an automated production line with few staff, I was surprised to see very little of this. Basically, the operation was a replica of many large kitchens, but all the cooking equipment was much bigger.

The quantities of fresh ingredients used in standard recipes were huge. Vast drums of peeled tomatoes, raw diced onion and other fresh ingredients (no additives) waiting to be made into 500kg of provençal sauce is quite a sight; but the amazing thing was that it required a person to actually cook the onions first and then add the remaining ingredients, albeit with a hoist, at the right time. For some reason I was not expecting this.

Specific catering skills were definitely required. It was explained to me that the cooling process was a fundamental difference between one of our operations, where foods are cooled in a blast chiller, to cooling large quantities of fresh produce in equipment similar to a very large washing machine filled with freezing cold water. This was the prime reason for the longer shelf life. So next time you look at the shelf life of a chilled sauce, don't assume it contains preservatives. Some do not, and I can guarantee they are made with the freshest ingredients - by real people.

CAROLINE MORTIMER is general manager, catering, for the John Lewis Partnership

Next diary from Caroline Mortimer: 3 August