Before launching EatFirst, I spent seven years working long hours in an investment bank in London. Like most busy people, I'd become used to putting up with highly processed ready meals or mediocre takeaways that often arrived lukewarm in unsealed, leaking boxes. I often asked myself, in a city as diverse as London with restaurants full of talented chefs, why was it so difficult to get a high-quality food experience delivered to my home or office?
The solution seemed simple; create meals that are 100% designed for delivery, put the customer experience at the forefront of the development process, and work backwards. But as nobody else was doing this in London, I left the City and set up EatFirst.
The result was a premium, online-only restaurant that delivers chilled, fully prepped, fresh meals that are created by a team of top chefs, led by Benn Hodges who has joined us from Roka and The Ivy Grill.
We've seen EatFirst take off this year and we now deliver brunch, lunch, dinner and fine wines, from 10am to 10pm, seven days a week to neighbourhoods in Zones 1-4. We've also developed a technique that allows us to part cook, then blast-chill our dishes to lock in the nutrients and flavours. The customer then quickly 'finishes' heating the meal, in the oven or the microwave, and the result is a delicious, restaurant-quality meal in minutes.
Everyone who works at EatFirst loves seeing feedback on our Instagram feed from customers who, initially sceptical, end up so amazed by the results that they share their experience with the world. This helps us focus our mind every single day on our mission: delivering the very best meal experience.
I became a financial analyst in 2005 and shortly after decided to take my CIMA professional exams to become a qualified management accountant.
After five years working at an investment bank in London I became pregnant with my first child. It was during my maternity leave that I began to question whether I could continue on this high-flying career path within finance for the next 20 years, and sadly the realistic answer was 'no'.
What I did want to consider, however, was something that touched on all of my passion points. Food, charity and wellness are real priorities in my life. I grew up in a large African family and food is at the heart of everything we do. I knew that there was a niche in the market for an exotic snack brand, and that's how CHIKA'S was born.
I wanted to create snacks inspired by the West African culture I grew up with, and to create a product that was easily accessible, for everyone to enjoy. The first product I created for CHIKA'S were the hand-toasted peanuts: they're sourced and created in West Africa, and everything from the type of nut to the packaging was chosen with expert care. From there I developed the range to include plantain crisps, smoked almonds, salt and pepper cashews, and chickpea crisps.
I then went on to create Snack4Change, which is where we are now. It’s a new snack box containing four delicious snacks, available in four flavours. But more than that, Snack4Change involves a partnership with the charity SOS Children's Villages, where 35% of profits from each snack box sold go towards educating children in West Africa, allowing them their fundamental right to an education.
I worked for many years as a showbiz journalist and TV critic before opening The Laughing Gravy in Southbank. At first it was my dream job and I was so lucky grateful that the role afforded me some amazing experiences. There were lots of fun parties and red carpets and I got to meet many famous faces from Simon Cowell to Sir David Attenborough.
Although I enjoyed my job food had always been a strong passion of mine. In the back of my mind I'd always thought about opening my own restaurant. Although on paper my job seemed glamorous the reality was slightly different – I'd often find myself watching endless hours of TV for my weekly column or chasing the latest celebrity quote. I found myself restless.
My decision was made when my local restaurant, The Laughing Gravy, closed. I'd lived in Southwark for many years and it had always been a great place to grab a drink and a bite to eat. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to take the plunge into the world of hospitality.
We were in the middle of a recession when I opened and everyone said I was crazy but I was very determined and knew I could make it work. I decided to keep the name as it has lots of history associated with it and I had such a passion for the original venue.
I also loved that the original building the restaurant sits within was an old Foundry that used to make the type letters for the newspaper printing presses on Fleet Street. It felt like things were going full circle and a nice nod back to my time within in the media.
The start was tough and exhausting. I had hardly any budget and had to undertake most of the roles myself. I found all the old wooden furniture that had been abandoned by the previous owners and painstakingly restored it by hand. I was front of house, accountant, barman and everything in-between.
It's been really tough but all been worth it. We have great feedback from our customers and excellent reviews. We were recently voted best restaurant in Southwark and Waterloo by Time Out readers, which was fantastic. I've managed to build a great team and in the future I'd like to open a second site – watch this space!
Peiran (Ren, my co-founder; pictured right) used to be a womenswear designer, and I used to make jewellery. We got here from a random conversation – we both love talking about food and wanted to set up a street food stall at first. I guess we took it too seriously, and we ended up with a restaurant!
We've both always loved food – we think it's simple and honest. It's a nicer environment to work in. What you see is what you get. For everything you've cooked, you'll have a honest and instant feedback from whoever tasted it, whether it's good or not – it's very clear. That's the biggest difference when compared to fashion.
The best thing is that people in the food industry are happier, more friendly and more honest. On the other hand, we're now spending our days going to the market and grocery shops and cooking in the kitchen, instead of galleries, museums and shops... So I guess we don't look quite as good as before!
Our backgrounds have been helpful though – having a designer's mind helps a lot in the working methodology and the creative processes are exactly the same.
On the aesthetic side, the interior, the settings and the collections of objects are all from our trained eyes I guess. We also have better attention to detail because of our previous experiences, and that always helps with absolutely everything!
Muriel Chatel (left): I grew up in Bordeaux, so you might think that working in wine was something of an inevitability, but it was only when I moved to London – and following a stint in interior design – that I ended up back in the bordeaux business.
I started the stall on Borough Market in 2002, in order to make the bottles from my French family and friends available to wine drinkers here. I soon expanded the range and began to sell wine from the barrel, too. At that time there was this exciting emerging food scene and yet, if you wanted to buy wine, you were stuck with the same selection from a handful of stuffy merchants. I wanted to make Borough Wines different – accessible, but with that sense of excitement and innovation.
Corinna Pyke: My background is in music and arts marketing, shaping successful campaigns for artists such as Soul 2 Soul and Gabrielle. I met Muriel when i was working in regeneration, connecting empty spaces with creative businesses.
I came on board as Borough Wines took that step from market to bricks-and-mortar shop, to guide the branding and communications side of things, which were increasingly important as the company grew. There are a lot of parallels between what I was doing before and my role at Borough Wines; working closely with the local community, sensitively rejuvenating spaces and striving for sustainability – in terms of the business, the community and the environment. I’m not working with bands anymore, but everyone knows food and drink is the new rock and roll!
