Fantastic Food. It's in the Bag...
Simon Preston speaks exclusively to Whiteleys.
 The hoardings are up. The counters are ready to install. A head-turning bespoke delivery van is being fitted out with refrigeration. A million and one requirements are listed and, one by one, being ticked off. The countdown to the day food retail returns big-time to Whiteleys has started in earnest. Cheese wire, yes. Specialist spoon for olives, yes. Own-label goods, such as jams, chutneys, tea, coffee and quirky surprises. Yes, to 250 newly sourced products. Tubs, lids, straws…yes, ordered. And so it goes on.
You might expect Simon Preston, the man responsible for managing Food Inc.’s arrival in Whiteleys, to be frazzled with his encyclopedic ‘To sort’ list. However, it speaks volumes for the professionalism of the project that he is unguardedly enthusiastic about every aspect of the ever-evolving venture. “It’s a very complicated project with lots of different elements, and it’s unique,” he says passionately.
“What we’re doing – starting a top-quality food market from scratch within the malls of a building - has never been done before in this country. It was an inspired idea from the Whiteleys team. There are lots of learning curves to go through, but there’s very much a determination from everyone involved to get it absolutely right.”
When Food Inc. opens in June, you will find threaded through the aisles and filling the atriums a beautifully designed collective of 16 stalls purveying fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, dried goods and nuts, groceries, wines, spirits, charcuterie, patisserie, bakery, ice cream and chocolate. The emphasis will be on fresh food with a salad bar, sandwich bar and traiteur – tempting each passerby with chilled restaurant food like confit duck, boeuf de Bourguignon and cottage pie that you can take home and heat up.
 You will be served not by sales staff but by Foodies, all keen to share their genuine love of quality food. The wine stall, stocking 500 bottles, can be perused as a wine list in a good restaurant with a sommelier on hand for advice.
Food Inc. was created by Harvey Nichols Foodmarket and Restaurants founder Dominic Ford and his business partner Pat McDonald. Simon has worked with Dominic for the last 10 years after managing Juniper, in Manchester, the only Michelin-starred restaurant in the region. With experience in quality and scale, he also – thanks to his role as director of the Newcastle Gateshead Food Festival – brings an expertise in issues such as sustainability, Fairtrade, organic, animal husbandry and welfare.
“We’re classification-bending,” says Simon. “We’re very much a high-class food hall, but with specialist individual counters. We’ve looked at Whole Foods, Fortnum’s, Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols and so on – we’re always on the lookout for a good idea – but we feel that what we’re doing is quite different and it’s driven by who we are. Restaurant people. Our line is that we’re taking a restaurant approach to food retail.”
“It means that a lot of suppliers we use will be restaurant suppliers. Why? They’re driven by chefs, they stock products that chefs want to buy, that taste good and are good to cook with. And chefs always want good value. The wine shop will be merchandised like a wine list. All the food will be run by a Head chef, not a retail manager. Staff working behind counters will wear chef gear and we’ll recruit people from a restaurant background because that’s what we know and understand. We have a lot of confidence in our own knowledge and our ability to deliver something genuine and honest that customers will really like”.
Dominic Ford and Pat McDonald came in originally as consultants. They helped conceive the idea, commissioned the design and had the opportunity to hand it over to an operator with a paternal, ‘There you go, there’s the business, you just need to run it.’
“But they couldn’t bear to let it go,” Simon reveals. “I think it’s quite telling that they’ve chosen Whiteleys to jump in and be first, because they really believe in it and in all the people behind the regeneration project here.”
Food Inc. at Whiteleys will have 250 own label products, which has been a huge task to source. “That’s been one of the longest-term developments,” nods Simon.
“We want to launch products that people will see on the shelf and think, ‘Wow that is really good!’ It’s a complex process, but I’ve been really enjoying it. I love the fact we go back every week and it’s finished, and we go back the next week and they’ve had loads more ideas, and each product keeps evolving in an exciting way. We’re at the point now where we say, ‘It can’t change anymore, we’ve got to get this label off to the printers!’
“Once we open, I can pick up on leads for great products to expand the range. The name of Whiteleys is a huge draw. I have loads of small producers contacting me all the time. I love the idea that we’re going to be able to bring in niche producers and novel products.”
To celebrate the commitment to harvesting new ideas, Food Inc. have planned a counter called Table of the Month which will be laden with up-to-the-minute goodies. As Simon says: “People walk through Whiteleys every day and we want them to thank us for inspiring them with new ideas.”
And the organic question? What is Food Inc.’s policy?
“We feel most retailers are wearing the eco-thing on their sleeves just now. Logos have trees and things sprouting, everything’s in a basket, presented on a bed of straw. We just thought, no, we feel quality is at the heart of what we do. We want to sell the best. It’s a really simple criterion. So not everything will be organic. If we don’t feel it’s the best, we won’t have it. We’re prioritising quality over organic. For example, in producing our own label jams, we got down to our last two – one was organic, one wasn’t - and we just thought the one that wasn’t was a much better quality jam.
“But we’ll monitor the situation. We’ll listen to what people want.”
You can contact simon directly
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Previous Interviews:
Did you catch our interview with Le Café Anglais' Rowley Leigh? If you missed it, click here.
|
Search 
