Working with Wilson Vale
August Update
Made for Summer!
This summer kicked off with a spectacular lineup of events! We’ve seen rooftop parties, garden barbecues, themed dining, VIP brunches, and everything in between!
Our Fire Cage has been out in full force throughout spring and summer, travelling the country to serve up bold, smoky barbecue favourites for our guests. Across our schools, Speech Days were a real highlight, featuring spectacular banquets that were as beautiful as they were indulgent.
Planning, organising and delivering these memorable experiences takes a huge collective effort. We are incredibly proud of our team for constantly going above and beyond to delight our guests. Thank you to each and every one of you!
Creativity in the Kitchen and on the Road
This spring, our Thai Street Kitchen workshops hit the road! We hosted six workshops across the country, welcoming more than 60 chefs along the way! Together, they explored authentic Thai ingredients and created tasty dishes including Tom Yum soup, banana-leaf steamed fish and Thai beef salad.
Unlocking Potential with FoodOp
We are delighted to announce our partnership with FoodOp. From October 2026, FoodOp will become a standard part of our catering management package for all existing and new clients. This will bring a range of benefits to our sites, including improved allergy management, menu organisation and reporting.
FoodOp is a fantastic innovative technology partner that shares our values. With a genuine care about food, people, and the planet, their culture is rooted in curiosity, creativity and collaboration. The FoodOp digital platform is also designed to support professional kitchens reduce food waste and CO2 emissions. It will allow our teams to significantly improve our tracking and reporting for our clients, giving more measurable data.
112-Miles for Natasha's Foundation
Wayne, part of our Business Development Team at Wilson Vale, has been eyeing up a challenge for some time. No stranger to a bike ride, he decided to push the limits of his hobby by tackling an epic 112-mile, through-the-night route, finishing on the Suffolk coast at sunrise.
Not content with undertaking this feat as a personal challenge, Wayne heaped on the pressure by using it as a fundraising opportunity. He chose Natasha’s Foundation, a charity Wilson Vale has committed to supporting through a three-year funding programme that helps fund its vital research.
Natasha’s Foundation is one of the only allergy charities dedicated to medical research. It aims to understand what is causing the dramatic rise in allergic disease, and to develop ways to prevent, treat and ultimately eradicate it, creating a world that is safe for everyone.
After 9½ hours, Wayne successfully cycled onto Dunwich Beach in Suffolk at 5:10am, just in time for a stunning sunrise. We are amazed not only by Wayne taking on and smashing this physical feat of endurance, but also by his motivation to do good and support Natasha’s Foundation, which is nothing short of inspiring.
If you’d like to support Wayne and Natasha's Foundation, there's still time! Click the donate link below.
UK Green Business Awards Finalist!
We’re so excited to share that Wilson Vale was named a finalist in the Hospitality Firm of the Year category at the UK Green Business Awards 2026, one of just five organisations shortlisted! While we didn’t take home the award on the night, being recognised alongside so many brilliant businesses working hard to make a real difference is something we’re incredibly proud of.
This recognition means a lot because sustainability is a huge part of who we are and how we work. Looking back at everything we’ve achieved as part of the awards submission was a real proud moment for our team.
A Brilliant Supplier – Let's Dive In
At Wilson Vale, great food starts with great ingredients, so we’re delighted to work with Steven Thai and Ocean King, a trusted family business supplying premium Far East Asian ingredients.
Ocean King brings something genuinely special and authentic to the table. They stock quality ingredients, full of flavour, including products you simply wouldn’t find on stocked elsewhere.
For our chefs, that means more inspiration, more creativity and more opportunity to build exciting menus packed with delicious memorable dishes.
The Future of Hospitality
We work with colleges to inspire careers in hospitality and give the talented chefs of tomorrow a taste of the excitement of a professional kitchen. Through our College Connections scheme, our experienced chefs partner with catering students to run college restaurant takeovers, guiding them through a full evening’s service together.
So far this year, we’ve held takeovers at Loughborough College, Shrewsbury College and Leicester College, with more planned for the second half of the year.
Rising Talent Lane Smith
When Wilson Vale Senior Chef De Partie Lane Smith moved to the UK from Australia in early 2020, he had no professional kitchen experience and no clear idea on where his new career path would lead.
Then Lane discovered a passion for cooking and a determination to learn everything he could about the hospitality industry. Just four years later, he has built an impressive career, earned award-winning recognition, and continues to develop through the Wilson Vale Craft Works training programme.
“Wilson Vale has provided me with an unmatched level of work life balance and support. I am excited to continue developing and challenging myself within this company, and with the support that I have received, I am confident I can achieve any goal that I set myself.”
