What is Eat Well Glossop?
Eat Well Glossop is a community interest company run by James Bouchier and Vicky Murphy, both trained chefs from Glossop. We decided to set up Eat Well Glossop to tackle the issues of Food Poverty, Food Waste and Social Isolation. We both realised how much food was being wasted from supermarkets and high street stores and saw how much potential there is for nutritious and, most importantly, delicious meals to be made from produce which though within its “Best Before” date is commonly sent to landfill. That’s where Eat Well was born.
When did Eat Well start?
Our first Eat Well event was on November 20th 2017 and we had 15 customers. We now run 3 sessions a month with an average of 50-60 customers per meal.
What does our future look like?
Our aim is to hold at least one Eat Well session per week in various locations around Glossop. We are funded by grants and with the support of our diners. We are helped by our wonderful volunteers and hope to recruit more as without them we would be lost!
All donations go straight to providing future meals. We are not a “charity” but we have charitable objectives and the more money we raise, the longer we can keep running, the more people we can feed and the more smiles we can share.
If you or anyone you know would like to volunteer, please contact Jayne on: 07590839421
Or email Vicky on: Vicky.murphy@bewellglossop.co.uk
Meet The Team
Vicky Murphy
I moved from my hometown of Glossop at 16 years old to train on a Specialised Chef Scholarship at Bournemouth and Poole College. Whilst at college I worked and trained at Langans Brasserie in London, completing my Scholarship and cooking for some famous names such as Tom Jones and Chris Evans.
After 5 years in London, I moved back to Glossop and started working at The French at The Midland in Manchester under Simon Rogan. Following this I worked in various restaurants in Glossop, managing the Kitchen at Pico Lounge and running a number of kitchens. Unfortunately, in 2016 I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease and contact dermatitis to flour and after many months of trying to fight it my health sadly meant I could no longer work in kitchens.
After leaving cheffing I was stuck without work as I had no previous experience in anything else. However, Mick Owen from Be Well offered me the opportunity to work within the CIC and I quickly progressed and flourished in my role. I moved from Admin to Intergenerational Work, creating projects involving local schools and residential homes for older people. I still work in this role and the job satisfaction is incredible – very similar to serving a beautiful plate of food and it being appreciated.
I met James whilst working at a local restaurant in Glossop and we quickly built a friendship from there. We spent a few afternoons in the pub and soon realised our business ideas and community ambitions were very similar. I was already running projects funded as part of Feeding Derbyshire within Glossop notably Pay It Forward and Super Kitchen both of which James was very interested in and volunteered his time. Both of these projects saw me working with local restaurants to provide funded meals for those who would benefit. From these projects we saw that there was a huge gap in the market for a local community café and that’s when Eat Well was conceived.
James Bouchier
Knowing that I wanted to work with food from an early age I attended the local catering college and soon started working in professional kitchens. After working in my home town and a winter season in the French Alps I started as a commis chef for the Heathcotes group and worked my way up the ranks there, gaining experience in fine dining.
I returned to Glossop to work for local award winning butcher J.W. Mettrick and Sons, it was a great opportunity to work with quality ingredients and have a hand in some exciting product development, winning multiple awards around the country. Owner John has strong ethics around the use of good local produce and sources his meat from local farmers and only uses his own abattoir.
With an increasing interest in health and nutrition I enrolled on the Human Nutrition Bsc course at Manchester Metropolitan University after gaining an Access to Higher Education Diploma at Derby University. Combined with gaining more experience in two rosette kitchens in the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District I achieved a 2:1 and finished first in the final year project to design and create a sustainable food product.
After settling back in my home town I started my own company JB Nutrition. We offer consultations and fully catered personal meal plans to suit the goals of the individual. We have had great success already and the testimonies speak for themselves.
Being from Glossop, I was aware of Be Well fantastic community work and after discussing ideas with Vicky and Mick from Be Well It was clear that we were on the same page and looked to pool our experience and set up a food based initiative to benefit our local community. The Eat well pilots have been a big success and are growing in popularity; we are all very excited about the potential and the future of the project.