MAN WITH A PLAN

22 September 2003
MAN WITH A PLAN

David King, 42, Development Chef, apetito joined the company two years ago. Products he has developed include a range of innovative pastry products with ethnic style fillings.

"I've been showing the team the way forward in pastry products and how to take pastry to the next stage, by using my skills to create new pastry products," he says. "We've been experimenting with different fillings like Somerset pork with fresh herbs."

Products vary from items like Spinach and Feta Hand Snack, Curry Vegetable Flap, Mediterranean Vegetable and Mozzarella Lattice en Croute, Thai Chicken Lattice and Roasted Mushroom Parcels to Creamy Vegetable Hand Snack, Cheese and Onion Puffs and Potato, Cheese and Onion Flap.

One of the projects David has been working on for the last six months is developing a new line of six ready meals, due to be launched by apetito in September, aimed at staff restaurants, gastropubs and brewery chains.

"The trends now are ready-meals with global influences from other countries like Morocco, Lebanon and Turkey all mixed together," he says. "As the UK has a multi-cultural society and customers are well-travelled, so different cuisines are coming to the UK and we need to take that on board. At the same time, Spanish, French and Italian classic dishes are coming back but with a slight tweak such as Tarte Tatin with Mediterranean filling or Chinese style lamb with French garlic and wine. We're combining the different cuisines and flavours together."

After qualifying at Thanet Technical College in Kent, David joined the White House Hotel in London as senior chef saucier and after a four year stint, moved to the Waldorf Hotel as chef de partie/saucier.

He made the break from the hotel environment to go into contract catering in 1985 working at Morgan Guaranty Trust in London as head chef.

"The advantage here was that I didn't have to work 365 days a year," he says. "It was 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday - it took me a while to adjust as I had been used to working all hours. Another reason I chose to leave hotel work was that we had started a family and I wanted to see my kids."

But the pace wasn't fast enough for David, so he ended up getting a second job at a restaurant three nights a week. "I couldn't cope with a 9 to 5 job. Cooking's in your blood - it's difficult to slow down," he says.

In July 1986, he became head chef at Salomon Brothers in London at a brand new building in Buckingham Palace Road. He talks about this job with great enthusiasm: "I had to create my own menu and I went back to working long hours, starting at 10.30am to late at night"

With eight dining rooms and a 40-seat boardroom, David was in charge of organising catering for dinner parties (anything from 50 to 80 covers), cocktail parties and even dinner parties at directors' homes.

"It was a great experience and I had to devise new menus virtually every week. I was creating new recipes for main meals and desserts," he added.

In sharp contrast, David then moved to John Rannoch as development chef in Stowmarket, Suffolk, a town which he describes as "sleepy". As a result of the recession in the late 1980s, there had been major management changes at Salomon Bros, so when David saw the position at John Rannoch advertised, he decided to go for it.

He spent the first six months living away from home until he could sell the family house in Kent. "It drove me mad," he says. "We were apart for six months and I only saw my wife and family at weekends."

At John Rannoch, David quickly progressed from being development chef reporting to a manager to running the team. He was responsible for creating product concepts for high street retailers and catering outlets such as Marks & Spencer and Iceland Frozen Foods.

The job meant a return to the 9 to 5 routine with a break for lunch. "It was too boring - I couldn't slow down and I was living apart from the family so I took a second job working at a hotel restaurant three or four nights a week to keep my hand in," he says.

He kept the evening job for three and a half years - eventually the family home in Kent was sold and David's wife Jill moved to Suffolk with his two children.

His next move was to U.B Ross Youngs Prepared Food Division in April 1992, where he developed and launched a wide variety of products in pastry, pizza, pasta and poultry for companies like Alveston Kitchens and Marks & Spencer.

At that time, the family moved house to Northamptonshire so David had a one hour commute to U.B Ross Youngs in Redditch. Two years' later, he was headhunted by the Sovereign Food Group as development chef/manager to head up a much bigger team - so this meant a return to Suffolk.

The only problem was that he never managed to sell the family home in Northamptonshire for the two years he worked for Sovereign. "So there I was commuting from Daventry to Eye in Suffolk every day - it took 2 hours 20 minutes each way. Although I did enjoy the job, the commuting was a nightmare.

"They say that destiny is mapped out for you," he said. "As soon as I had been hired by G W Padleys as development manager, our house in Daventry was sold in two months which meant we could move to Grantham, Lincolnshire, where Padleys is based."

His position at Padleys was challenging as he headed up a team of ten people. "I had an excellent team and more technical responsibility for a far bigger area. I was looking at technical issues, writing specifications, looking at projects and analysing products, as well as being involved in the financial side."

Geest Foods then headhunted David - fortunately they were in Spalding, Lincolnshire, so there was no need to sell the family house.

Here, he was responsible for developing high quality soup, sauce and recipe dish products, working with factories in Europe and the UK.

From here, he joined apetito in Wiltshire in 2000. He says: "I find my position at apetito rewarding - meeting all the challenges in developing new, innovative products. I enjoy working with my enthusiastic team. I put in all the hours needed from Monday to Friday, but I've discovered how to balance work and family life - so the weekends are for me and my wife. We'll go windsurfing or visit our parents, who live on the Kent coast."

His two daughters, who both hate cooking, are Katy, 18, "who wants to work with animals" and Amy, 16, "who wants to be a firefighter".

David also finds time to go running "which I find very inspirational".

apetito

David King

Career Highlights

2000 to present Development Chef, apetito
1998 to 2000 Development Chef/Manager, Geest Foods, Spalding, Lincs
1996 to 1998 Development Chef, G.W.Padleys, Grantham, Lincs
1994 to 1996 Development Chef/Manager, Sovereign Food Group, Suffolk
1992 to 1994 Development Chef/Manager Development Chef/Manager, U.B Ross Youngs Ltd, Redditch, Worcs
1989 to 1992 - Development Chef, John Rannoch, Suffolk
1986 to 1989 Executive Head Chef, Salomon Bros International, London
1985 to 1986 Sous Chef, Morgan Guaranty Trust, London
1984 to 1985 Chef de Partie/Saucier, Waldorf Hotel, London
1980 to 1984 Senior Chef Saucier, White House Hotel, London

Recipes

Lime and LemonGrass Beef

Vegetable Oil 2tbsp
1 in Diced Beef 300g
Diced Onion 100g
Garlic Puree 1tsp
Shredded Galangal 2tsp
Birdeye Red Chillies 4
Green Thai Curry Paste 1tbsp
Creamed Coconut 4tbsp
1cm Lengths LemonGrass
whole cut 2
Lime Zest 1 Whole Kaffir Leaf 6
Water 400ml
Coconut Milk 130ml
Corn Flour [Optional} 2tbsp
Salt 1tsp

Method
Heat the oil, add the beef and fry until brown 4-5 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, lemongrass, curry paste and fry for 2-3 minutes to release the flavour. Cover with the water, bring to the boil and simmer for approx 3 hours until the beef is soft and cooked

Add the Galangal, kaffir leaf, chilli, coconut milk and cream and lime zest, bring back to the boil and simmer for a further 30 minutes to release the perfume flavours .

Serve with sticky fragrant rice or soba noodles and garnish with shredded spring onion.

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