Have you ever wondered how a Dinner Ladies dish makes its way into your freezer, and then onto your table? It all starts long before it ever hits the menu.
We work three months in advance, which gives us plenty of time to perfect each dish. First up, the food team gathers for a big brainstorming session. We flick through cookbooks, scroll socials, and discuss dishes we’ve been loving to decide what’s missing from our range or what might be perfect for the upcoming season.
Once we’ve settled on an idea, we get the whole team aligned, from nutritional requirements through to production needs and brand fit. Then we write the first draft of the recipe… and hand it over to Briget. This is where things get tasty.
Briget leads the charge on the first cook. From there, the recipe goes through a few rounds of development, taste testing and iteration. We might tweak the shape of the potatoes, turn the heat up (or down), tweak spice levels or add something unexpected that takes the whole dish to the next level.
Each version is tested for how it looks and tastes after being cooked from frozen or from defrosted, because the most important thing is that it is just as delicious at your place as it is at ours. Once it’s almost there, we do a full team tasting. Feedback is welcomed… and sometimes painfully honest. If it passes the test (and clears everyone’s plates), we hand it off to production with detailed measurements, so every tray that leaves our kitchen is made with care and consistency.
From the first idea to the final stir, it’s a labour of love because that’s what makes Dinner Ladies, well, Dinner Ladies.
Watch Briget in action and take a peek inside the test kitchen here.
