Working Man's Kitchen
Working Man’s Kitchen (WMK) started as a street food business, operated by Paddy Sneath from a van at the Nottingham Forest football ground. In October 2024, Paddy secured a unit at Sneinton Market Avenues, solely producing and selling pizza. Working in collaboration under the Nottingham City Council Talent and Innovation Fund, the University of Nottingham’s Food Innovation Centre (FIC), and Nottingham Trent’s Design Matter supported Paddy with two projects. The FIC developed a hot honey pizza sauce, for Paddy to use in the restaurant, and for sale to consumers in the future. The Design Matter team created a DIY pizza box, for Paddy’s customers to take home and make their own pizzas.
Working with the teams at both the Food Innovation Centre and Design Matter has been brilliant. No stone has gone unturned. Working directly with Jess to create the hot honey and then learn about HACCP, as well as so much more fascinating information and knowledge about various processes along the way. Thank you both teams, and hopefully we get to work together in the future.
Project Brief
The FIC was tasked with developing a hot honey pizza sauce for Paddy to use in the pizza restaurant, which improved upon competitor products, and was stable over a 12-month ambient shelf-life.
The Design Matter team was asked to create packaging for a DIY pizza kit, using off-the-shelf solutions (rather than bespoke packaging) and recyclable or reusable materials where possible.
The Response
The Food Innovation Centre carried out benchmarking to identify competitor products and evaluate sensory characteristics to include or avoid in Paddy’s hot honey product. The FIC carefully sourced ingredients, and worked with Paddy through practical development days to develop a recipe with a delicious flavour profile that stood out when drizzled on pizza. The technologist analysed the physicochemical properties of the product, and used this information to assess the microbiological risks of the product. The process was designed to reduce microbial load, and produce a hot honey with an optimal flavour profile. This information was given to Paddy in a clear report, to develop understanding and equip him with information and contacts to enable him to produce the product himself.
Finally, Paddy was introduced to the principles of HACCP, and began developing a HACCP plan for this product, using the myHACCP online tool. This knowledge and experience will enable him to develop HACCP plans for products in the future, ensuring product safety and traceability. The FIC team worked closely with the Design Matter team throughout, providing administrative support and expertise around vacuum packaging of pizza dough.
The Design Matter team conducted market analysis to identify similar products already being sold, and evaluate what format DIY pizza kits were being sold in. They identified various off-the-shelf packaging solutions, many of which were supplied by local companies, and worked with Paddy to select the best options – a cardboard pizza box as the main vessel, and reusable plastic pots for sauces and toppings. The team used computer aided design (CAD) to produce prototypes, which were trialled by Paddy. After some small changes, the finalised design was produced, with seven variants for different customer needs, such as a couple’s box, a family box, and a pizza and dough balls box. Paddy designed the artwork for the box, and wrote the messaging for the kits, using fun emojis and local Nottingham terms. The team connected Paddy with a local printer who can produce the inserts for the boxes, enabling him to start production imminently.
Benefit to the Business
As a result of these projects, Paddy has at least two new products to sell to consumers. Paddy was involved throughout the projects, and now has the necessary skills and information to continue developing both products. Through the hot honey project with the FIC, Paddy gained insight into new product development, from the identification of key product indicators, selection of ingredients, hazards to manage through processing and packaging, and the creation of HACCP plans.
The development of the sauce will reduce the cost of purchasing pre-made hot honey, and could create a new stream of revenue for Paddy in the future, through sales direct to consumer and to other restaurants in the local area. The DIY pizza kit project will enable Paddy to expand out of foodservice and into the at-home consumer product space. He is also considering expanding the product range to include PizzaDog™ kits.