My catering career began at the age of 15, working part-time as a Saturday grill chef at the Wimpy Bar in Portsmouth, while also cooking for ex-Admirals at a residential home in Southsea on Sundays.
Catering wasn’t originally my first choice. For a long time, I wanted to be a gamekeeper. However, I went on to enjoy a fantastic career as a chef and have seen the industry change enormously, from a largely behind-the-scenes profession to one where chefs have become household names.
It is a career I would recommend to anyone who loves people and loves cooking. It still surprises me that catering is sometimes seen as a second-class career in schools, particularly when a head chef in a local hotel or pub can often earn more than a teacher.
After leaving school, I went to Highbury Technical College, where I completed a three-year full-time course and gained a Diploma in Professional Cookery with distinction. From there, I worked in a private conference centre before moving into hotels, eventually becoming Second Chef and then Head Chef at hotels in Chichester and Tonbridge.
While working in Chichester, I became involved in company training and quickly discovered how much I enjoyed teaching. In 1983, I took a year out to train at Roehampton Institute, gaining a Certificate of Education to become a college lecturer.
I had always loved Salisbury and had visited many times, so when a catering teaching role came up at the college, it felt like the perfect opportunity. I applied, got the job and planned to stay for a couple of years before looking for promotion elsewhere. As often happens, life had other ideas. I got married, was promoted, had two children and stayed for 22 years.
Over time, my role changed and, as I took on more responsibility, I found myself doing less of the thing I loved most, teaching young people. Eventually, I decided to take my own advice, make a change and start my own wedding and event catering company.
That was how Forkingout was born.
Now, 25 years later, I am on the verge of retiring, not completely, but mostly. Forkingout was created with a clear ethos: to use local produce and local suppliers wherever possible, many of whom have become friends over the years. Our menus have always been written with this in mind, long before it became such a widely followed approach.
The other important part of our ethos was that we would make everything fresh from scratch, including the bread. In the early days, alongside the catering side of the business, we also ran a shop called The Food Emporium, a deli selling our own homemade goods and local produce.
Mike, my business partner and good friend, joined from the college as a chef and also worked in The Food Emporium. It soon became clear that his enthusiasm, hard work and contribution in those early years were vital to the business, so I split the company shares between us. We have worked together ever since, building Forkingout into a thriving business based in our purpose-built kitchens and offices in Old Sarum, Salisbury.
With the Forkingout team, we have also been proud to work alongside Larmer Tree for the past 18 years, catering events at their beautiful venue.
Today, Forkingout employs eight full-time staff and has more than 30 part-time team members on the books.
Looking back, many of our earliest weddings were held in marquees in customers’ gardens, from the New Forest to Marlborough. Some of our first regular venues included Burcombe Manor, Salisbury Guildhall and the City Hall. Over the years, we have continued to work with many of these venues while adding many more, including Barford Barn, Manor Estate, West Barn Lodge and Bower Chalke Barn.
Alongside weddings and events, we have supplied nursery schools, catered for memorial gatherings and provided food for the Country Landowners Association hospitality marquees at the Bath and West Show, Devon County Show and our favourite, the wonderful Royal Cornwall Show. We have also catered for many local military events and worked in countless village halls across the area.
