Mark Sargeant partners with Brakes to develop its service for chefs

Mark Sargeant is to work with Brakes to develop the foodservice supplier's range and enhance its appeal to chefs.

The chef, who cooked at the 2015 Cateys, will be working with Brakes' development chefs on new recipes and products as well as undertaking masterclasses with customers.

Sargeant, who opened Rocksalt restaurant in Folkestone in 2011 and Soho site Morden & Lea last year, said he was keen to get his hands dirty.

"My primary focus will be to make the food the centre of attention, inspiring chefs through innovation, quality, locality, sustainability and provenance - words which really mean something to them - and to help Brakes build an outstanding reputation in all of these areas," he said.

"Rest assured I'm here to get my hands dirty, not just to act as a figurehead at product demonstrations and corporate events; I look forward to working with chefs at the sharp end and helping to shape their businesses going forward."

Brakes operating board director Raj Tugnait added that the partnership was an exciting prospect for the business.

He added: "Our business is built upon the principle of ‘for chefs, by chefs' so we are all very excited about working with Mark and seeing how his approach to 'great food kept simple' will further improve our range and bring greater success for our foodservice customers.

"What attracted us to Mark in the first place is that he remains actively involved in the day-to-day running of his restaurants. As a result, he understands the challenges facing modern foodservice operators and, having achieved so much at such a young age, is a dynamic role model for aspiring chefs up and down the country."

Founded in 1958 by three brothers from Kent, Brakes now supplies 200,000 operators across Europe with a range of 1.5m products.