Hi, I'm Toby
At a young age I trained to be a commis chef at a luxury coastal hotel on the Isles of Scilly and never looked back.
Working with the freshest possible produce, local fishermen walking into the kitchen with fresh lobsters caught earlier that day and working under an inspirational Head Chef set me on my way!
On my culinary journey I was lucky enough to work within a variety of catering establishments from Michelin star restaurants, large hotels and premium gastro pubs as well as leading the food operation for a nationwide entertainment company.
It was in the Spring of 2018 my time had finally come to create Gourmet Food Direct.
The challenge was that I knew I couldn’t wait any longer and started the business in my tiny home kitchen whilst juggling raising two wonderful children on my own. Many of Gourmet Food Directs early days would consist of some food prep, a school run, lots of cooking, packaging, another school run, my sons football training, food deliveries, family dinner time, more cooking, settling the children, more cooking and so on’. This was tough as I was sometimes working through the night to ensure the highest standards of food were delivered to my customers. Luckily I now have great systems in place to give 100% focus to my customers.
My passion for food runs deep and nothing was going to stop me creating dishes for people when I felt they deserved a step above other options available to them. And us chef’s get our kicks from positive feedback about our food which is what I always try and achieve!
Cooking is so simple, it just needs to be done with care, love & passion