How Midshire’s craft team is reinventing workplace catering

When David Flesher first walked into the kitchen at United Utilities’ Lingley Mere Business Park in Warrington, he was the onsite chef. Today, he is back on the same site, but this time as the man behind the technology that is transforming how more than 3,000 people are fed there every day.

His journey, from onsite chef to Midshire’s Business Systems Manager, captures something essential about the family-owned, independent caterer: people grow here, and the business grows around them.

David is one of four members of Midshire Signature Services’ craft development team, a small, multidisciplinary unit that has quietly become one of the most important cogs in the £12.5 million business. Operating across more than 65 sites in workplace, education and extra care settings, Midshire’s craft team works closely with businesses to create a bespoke solution, train onsite chefs, raise food standards, sharpen the look and feel of service areas, and work hand in hand with operations, sales and marketing.

From a team of one

For years, the craft team was one person – Anthony Liddy, now Executive Craft Development Chef. First spotted as a young trainee by Midshire director, Phil Bradwell, who sponsored him through college, Anthony built a career spanning fine-dining hotels, stadia catering and head-chef roles before Midshire’s managing director, Sue Bradwell, brought him in. He grew the function organically, leaning on the company’s strongest catering managers and setting the brand standards the business now runs on.

“For a long time, it was just me, dipping in and out of sites, lifting standards wherever I could,” says Anthony. “But the business kept growing. The team we have now built means that we can be in more places, doing more, without ever losing that hands-on, personal touch.”

In 2025, Kirsty McAndrew joined the team, leading on developing Midshire’s education menus. Kirsty originally joined Midshire through a TUPE transfer from her role as a primary school catering manager. Since joining Midshire, she has won two regional school chef awards.

Next, David Flesher transferred in via Midshire’s United Utilities contract. David came on board to drive technology and back-of-house systems, tripling the craft team in a matter of months. Finally, Steven Balding, now Senior Operations Manager, completes the team, having risen from catering manager and supported the craft team’s new-business food presentations along the way.

What unites them is that each of them has grown within the company. “We know the business, the standards, the vision, and the expectation, because we’ve helped to shape them,” says Anthony. “That’s very different to a big contractor parachuting in a consultant who’s gone again by lunchtime.”

Innovation that earns its place

For the craft team, innovation and the ability deliver large volumes while not compromising on quality are the heart of the team’s success. With a background in high end hospitality, Anthony’s technical cooking ability is evident in the consistently high quality and variety of food delivered across all Midshire’s catering outlets.

Nowhere is that clearer than in David’s plant-protein work. Using an Eat Curious pea-and-fava-bean base, he has built a recipe bank now used across the business: dishes that can run at 60% meat and 40% plant protein, or go fully plant-based, while cutting saturated fat, removing common allergens and coming in at around half the cost of meat. In a sector squeezed by food inflation, it is a neat answer to a hard question: keeping food affordable and nutritious without resorting to shrinking portions.

Technology is the team’s other frontier. Midshire has developed its own pre-order apps, Cre8te for its primary schools and Graze for further education and workplace sites, alongside allergen and kitchen-management tools. For facilities teams the appeal is obvious: skip-the-queue ordering, clear dietary and allergen information, loyalty schemes and promotions, all under the operator’s own brand.

A workplace catering blueprint

United Utilities is where it all comes together. Since winning the contract in 2023, Midshire has refurbished outlets under the Graze brand, introduced a new deli bar, and has invested significantly in kitchen upgrades and a new outlet. The Graze app – a further investment by Midshire – launches on site this summer, supported by Friday incentives, including a 50% off meal voucher, designed to make the workplace a genuine draw for hybrid workers rather than an afterthought.

It is, in miniature, Midshire’s whole philosophy – read the site, build around its people, and invest for the long term. Sustainability runs through it, from free-range eggs sourced within 2.2 miles and local vegetable suppliers to recycled cooking oil, compostable coffee grounds offered free to staff, and naked products and digital signage that cut packaging and print.

“Workplace catering has changed,” says David. “People expect the high street at work now, the quality, the choice, the convenience. Our job is to give clients exactly that, but in a way that’s bespoke to them. Coming back to United Utilities with the tools to do it has been a huge privilege.”

Strengthening the foundations

The team’s priorities now are about depth as much as flair: standardising best practice, aligning counters, equipment and menus, and elevating food presentation across the estate. Longer term, the ambition is regional craft teams supporting clients and upskilling onsite chefs directly.

For Midshire’s managing director, Sue Bradwell, the craft team embodies what sets an independent apart. “We’re small enough to care and big enough to make a difference,” she says. “Our craft team is proof of that – real chefs, who know our clients and their people, getting stuck in and raising the bar every single day.”

In a market dominated by national operators, that personal, hands-on approach is increasingly rare and, on the evidence of Midshire’s craft team, increasingly valuable.

As featured in Tomorrow’s FM: Facilities Management Industry News & Magazine (July 2026)