Meet our Supplier of the Month: Vaughan's Kitchen

Each month we like to get to know a Whitewed member even better and bring you snippets of all sorts of things that you wouldn't know about them from their page. This month our 'Supplier of the Month' is Vaughan's Kitchen, they are hugely talented and experienced Wedding Caterers, based in Devizes, Wiltshire...they offer a unique, tailor-made menu, with service like Champagne - high class and bubbly, what more could you ask for!

Vaughan's Kitchen are the perfect team to bring you and your wedding guests a feast to remember.  Let's hear what they had to say when we quizzed them and find out why 'naturally balanced' ingredients are something you should consider when planning your perfect menu. 

Photography Credit: Chris Greenwood Photography

Who are the people behind Vaughan’s Kitchen, tell us about you and your services

Vaughan’s Kitchen is turbo charged by Peter Vaughan, founder and chef extraordinaire. After spending years in training, working at Michelin starred restaurants, testing the lifestyle of private chef around the world, being lured into bright lights of TV cookery, he never gave up on a dream of running his own restaurant. It became a reality which was exhilarating and fun, we built up a very loyal and supportive community as well as battled extreme challenges and after 15 years it was time to diversify so, Vaughan’s Kitchen and Vaughan’s Cookery School was born.

We are a family run business so behind every good man and all that - we have Jurgita. She wears a lot of hats and is the main person keeping everyone organised. She loves a good spreadsheet and highlighter, never short of pens, carries a safety pin and a bottle opener in her hand bag for emergencies, manages the front of house team, is a sucker for detail and always there to make sure everyone is singing from the same sheet.

Tom is our Events Chef, with a huge passion for music, books and all things sport and fitness. He loves simplicity in food and brings meticulous organisation skills to the kitchen. He likes working with Vaughan’s Kitchen because we are a tight knit, family run business in the truest sense of the word, producing consistent, delicious, honest tasting food.

Emma is the latest addition to our team and she’s our Events Co-ordinator. She completed our Professional Kitchen Essentials course and we snapped her up. We love her caring and ‘can do’ attitude and know that all the guest will be looked after well.

We create feasts; from the day before, the main event, evening party food and survivors’ breakfast / brunch for the day after, and coordinate events in and around Wiltshire. Working closely with venues and other suppliers, we can happily provide just the catering or help with sourcing the items such as glasses, crockery, cutlery, table linen as well as looking after your drinks. Our team will never walk away without making sure, your dress falls perfectly before you walk down the aisle, your Grandma has a seat and a cushion to make her comfortable whilst everyone is standing at your reception, the candles are lit before guests comes in to be seated, your bridal bouquet is placed in water so you can enjoy it the next day – all the details and services that informally fall into our remit of being more than an ‘off the peg’ caterer.

Photography Credit: Joshua Tucker

How would you define your catering style? Who does it typically appeal to?

After years of training in classical cuisine Peter was yearning to experiment and approach the culinary world from different angle. He gained a diploma in Herbalism and Nutrition and developed his own style – Naturally Balanced Cooking. Classical dishes were developed into lighter versions, our food is different, imaginative, lighter, we encourage eating using all your senses, it awakens and tickles your taste buds, we let ingredients shine and our food is full of flavour. We draw our inspiration from the World Cuisine, but always celebrate local produce.

Couples who tend to chose us are usually keen foodies who love the honesty behind our food and all that we do. Presentation and substance goes hand in hand. You won’t find our chefs using kitchen tweezers or plopping dots of sauce on the plates. Whilst there certainly is a place for all styles of cuisine in this world, our couples appreciate real skilful cooking delivered with passion, knowledge and humour to create a proper feast and do it with responsibility to the planet where it’s not just a fashionable phrase and green washing.

Photography Credit: Adrian Travis

What makes Vaughan’s Kitchen different from other caterers?

First of all, we know where your food comes from and that’s what makes Vaughan’s Kitchen different.

We aim to translate the story of every ingredient we use (whether it is organic wheat, foraged wild herbs or outdoor reared Wiltshire pork) into culinary delights by using our extensive knowledge and professional training.

Vaughan’s Kitchen focuses on a Naturally Balanced approach. As a catering company we are steered by nature, utilising its amazing seasonal produce, both farmed and wild. We have a close relationship with our producers and suppliers and personally keep in tune with what they are recommending.

Whether you’re a self-confessed foodie or would rather wash up and leave the cooking for your partner, or could do with some inspiration and a boost of kitchen confidence come over to Vaughan’s Cookery School. Our passionate chefs are amazing teachers too!

Photography Credit: Amber Marie Photography

Why hire a professional catering company?

So that you and your nearest and dearest can enjoy the celebration! As soon as you approach a larger gathering, there is a lot that can go wrong. You may have been at some great parties where catering was done by friends or family, but weddings carry a completely different emotional charge. It is lovely to have the various parties involved in making the magic happen, but why would you want to worry about how to adapt a recipe to feed 100 guests? Simple multiplication doesn’t work - trust us, we have seen plenty of attempts like that! How to judge portion size? How to adjust the time of cooking? How long will it take to get that salad ready? How to keep large quantities of high risk food adequately chilled. Don’t put that pressure and responsibility on your well-meaning helpers. However, if you come from a farming family, what can be more special than using livestock raised at home? It’s always an honour and true joy when we get requests from couples asking if they could get their family involved in such a way.

We aim to create memories and serving up a fabulous feast is our technique of making sure your special day is never forgotten. Always looking for ways to diversify and progress, we are an event catering company who delivers more than just ‘off the peg’ menus of food that is often bought-in and mass produced.

Photography Credit: A Tall Long Legged Bird

What’s the best bit about your job?

Making people happy!

We approach every event with great care and attention to detail where creativity is the main focus.

Just as every event is unique, every menu is created by us to suit you and fit in with your vision for the celebration. We believe that food should act as an extension of a couple’s characters and beliefs and reflect their likes and preferences. We focus on the season that has been chosen for the occasion, couple’s experiences, venue location plus take into account the limitations of the available facilities and how that can be overcome to achieve the desired result. We love a sociable, family style of eating and jump to the chance to get guests involved, as food provides a great point of gravitation. We love mixing it up and always flexible with the format of the service – perhaps canapes are more than just a few tiny nibbles and act as a replacement for the starter; main course could be served as sharing platters or plated option with some sides to share; finish off with a simple and classy dessert or get everyone involved in some healthy competition. All can be refined at your personal menu tasting.

What is your favourite style of wedding?

Where people embrace love and togetherness. Where the food is plentiful and celebrations happen with a true style of abandonment. Where emotions are honest and real. Where, during the planning process, we become part of a gang who creates the magic!

Over the years we have established a close relationship with various local venues (barns, town halls, historic houses) and are proud to be their chosen caterers. However, we would never turn away from the challenge of a field kitchen attached to a fabulous marquee or a tipi. Nature loving, stylish, adventurous, creative couples – we are here for you!

Photography Credit: S2 Images

What is your greatest extravagance that helps you get through the day?

We strive for simplicity, but there’s always a freshly made cup of locally roasted coffee at the start of the day. Sometimes with a warm almond croissant on the side too!

What is your favourite part of a wedding day?

We love it all! The day before though has a special part in our experience. That’s when all the final details start coming together, anticipation is reaching that point of bubbling over and we know that tomorrow will be a wonderful day. Also, the drive home at night after we left you all dancing and partying (if not looking after your bar) often happens to be in quiet. That last hug with a bride and a handshake (or hug) with a groom and a heart full of happiness is just enough to take away and treasure forever.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your work?

From the seasons, suppliers, likeminded colleagues all over the world and ancient ways of celebrating and creating feasts. Whenever we get a chance, we love delving into history of food, often forgotten and neglected ingredients and re-introducing them in creative ways.

Photography Credit: James Harrison Photography

What bit of advice would you love to share with couples?

Be honest to yourself. There is a lot of pressure that comes from various angles – family whose values may be more traditional, friends who love Pinterest and Instagram too much and want you to have every element covered, cousins who have young children and couldn’t bear leaving them behind for your special day, colleagues who think you should definitely have only champagne (and spend a fortune) for the reception – the list goes on. Be honest and open with each other and make sure you have your priorities in the order that is important to you. Then, be honest with your suppliers. We have chosen to work in the wedding sector because we want to make sure you have the most amazing day but, if you don’t share your vision, we may just drift off the track.

Photography Credit: Kitty Wheeler Shaw

What moment are you most proud of in your profession?

Putting ethics and sustainability at the forefront of running catering business and cookery school.

We have always been very ethical and environmentally aware and know that in the catering and hospitality sector there is a huge amount of waste. Apart from what is becoming the norm of glass, paper, cardboard, metal recycling or reusing wherever possible, we are proud that Vaughan’s is now sending ZERO FOOD WASTE to landfill. Beyond food waste, we have also switched to ‘vegware’ packaging, which is made from plants and is completely biodegradable and compostable; so this can also go in with the food waste to be recycled. All gets taken to an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, where it is turned into captured methane that is then used as renewable energy.

The system has been successfully running since June 2019 and is saving about a tonne of waste going to landfill each month.

Also, local produce equals less packaging and fewer food miles and plus a water treatment system removes chemicals and heavy metals, minimizes use of cleaning products with high chemical content, reduces lime scale build up saving energy and extending life of appliances and provides excellent tasting tap water for staff and customers!

Our efforts have been recognised and highly commended by the judges at The Wedding Industry Awards. Also, Peter is actively helping Royal Academy of Culinary Arts with their Sustainability and Ethical Food Philosophy and Independent Cookery School Association with their Ethics Commission and Sustainability.

Finally, when you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Peter - a chef wearing a tall hat; Jurgita – a dancer who could use her skill to move people’s emotions or a teacher who could help pupils grow; Tom – cool footballer and Emma always dreamed of being a Mummy! 

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Wow, we have loved heating about your attention to detail, your understanding and relationship with the food you're serving, your creativity and ethical and environmental considerations.  What better way to create the most wonderful memories on your wedding day than with a fabulous feast tailor-made for you and your guests to enjoy together.  

Hopefully you’ve found out lots of useful information from us on Vaughan's Kitchen, now it’s your turn to introduce yourself to them and find out how they could help with your wedding catering requirements…seriously, you won't regret it, the photos just don't do their delicious food justice!

Happy planning!

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