Instant caterer with
a 3-course meal?
By Duruthu Edirimuni
Imagine dishing out a three course meal in 20
minutes? Food Factory will just show you all the possibilities coming
to your rescue as a professional ‘instant’ caterer.
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Preparation underway. Pix by M.
A. Pushpakumara |
Conceptualised and executed by Michelle Saelen,
a Sri Lanka- based culinary food consultant who came to the limelight
when he launched the Deli Market 10 years ago, this new model in
‘chefing’ aims to introduce a fully functional, professional
commissary kitchen offering the convenience of standardised quality
fresh, ready to use and ready to serve solutions for the modern
chef and home maker.
Aptly named the Food Factory, the 205 Vauxhall
Street space in Colombo 2 is any fanatical cook's or for that matter
any incurable food addict’s fantasy come true.
“We strive to bring the benefit of locally
grown specialty produce ‘ready to use’ and its own creations
of fresh, naturally produced gourmet foods, ‘ready to serve’
to as many consumers and chefs in Sri Lanka,” Saelen told
The Sunday Times FT.
He said that it is important to recognise that
today's consumer is more conscious and knowledgeable about their
food with an increasing amount of customers now insisting on fresher
quality, convenient to use yet cost effective ingredients.“The
food factory conceptualised on this basis, providing premium quality
fresh produce and food products, ready -to- use and usable to the
last gram’, while eliminating the tedious procedure in selecting,
purchasing, processing and also waste,” he explained, adding
that the Rs.17 million venture is entirely financed by him without
any financial assistance.
He said that the Food Factory addresses several
needs of chefs of leading hotels and restaurants, such as meeting
the growing demand for unique ready -to- use freshly made products
and produce, which are at times, not readily available. “There
is also the convenience, which allows the chef to focus on the intricacies
of creative food preparations rather than the cost and control of
wastage, training, supervision and the control of payroll,”
he explained.
“People are smarter about the food they
eat these days and more customers have turned to fresh food and
consider the convenience.
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Bread |
The food factory will provide convenience for people
who are to busy to slush about food preparations, but care about
what they eat,” he added. He also said that there is a tremendous
shortage of professional chefs in many hotels and restaurants at
any given time and the Food Factory aims to fill this gap.
“We already supply the bakery products to
some hotels and also specialty products are provided at times. We
plan to extend this line gradually,” he added.
He added that the entire ‘factory’
has a ‘show cooking’ concept and anyone can visit the
factory at any time. He said the staff strength of 40 has all ages
ranging from 18 years to 70 years. “Some of them started their
careers at the Deli Market 10 years ago,” he said, adding
that the company’s strength lies mainly in sound training
recognising their potential.
Saelen has many other plans in mind such as opening
up a hotel school with an international collaborator. “This
is a long term plan, but at present I aim to create more awareness
in the ready to use and ready to serve solutions,” he said.
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