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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCharlie Bigham is set to launch a new range of premium ready meals, costing up to \u00a330, aimed at consumers increasingly deterred by the escalating price of eating out.<\/p>\n
The entrepreneur’s ‘Brasserie’ collection will debut in Waitrose this Wednesday, offering dishes such as a pre-prepared beef wellington for \u00a329.95, a salmon wellington at \u00a319.95, and coq au vin, duck confit, or venison bourguignon, each priced at \u00a316.95.<\/p>\n
Mr Bigham stated that the rising expense of restaurant dining was the primary driver behind the creation of his new line. <\/p>\n
He explained: “Dining out has got more expensive \u2013 we love eating in restaurants but you look at the bill at the end of the night now and you think \u2018ooh, this has gone up\u2019.” <\/p>\n
He added, acknowledging the industry’s challenges: “And that\u2019s not to criticise our wonderful hospitality industry at all. Their costs keep going up.”<\/p>\n
Ultimately, he believes consumers are seeking the “dining-out occasion” but are “happier to do this in, rather than out,” reflecting a broader shift in spending habits.<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>The new Charlie Bigham\u2019s \u00a329.95 beef wellington ready meal (Charlie Bigham\u2019s)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nD\u2019s new venison bourguignon uses wild-caught venison from the Scottish Highlands, including the royal Balmoral Estate. The salmon wellington is made with sashimi-grade salmon fillet and the firm claims that every beef wellington is hand-rolled.<\/p>\n
The company hopes consumers will consider the range to be an alternative to a meal out in a cafe or restaurant. Hospitality businesses have been forced to put up prices as costs such as labour, energy and tax soar.<\/p>\n
At the top end, the new meals will be almost three times as expensive as Charlie Bigham\u2019s traditional offerings, which cost around \u00a310 for a two-person serving of dishes such as chicken tikka masala, chicken ham and leek pie, and lasagne.<\/p>\n
Despite the cost, Mr Bigham said he expected the range to have broad appeal among consumers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think about it, you get a pizza for two delivered for \u00a316. And these are not just eaten by rich people in certain London postcodes.\u201d<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Charlie Bigham ‘Brasserie’ collection will debut in Waitrose this Wednesday (Charlie Bigham’s)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe average restaurant meal cost 4.9 per cent more in August than it did a year earlier, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).<\/p>\n
Rising grocery price inflation has also hit consumers hard, with shoppers also increasingly seeing their favourite items altered both by \u2018shrinkflation\u2019 and cheaper ingredients.<\/p>\n
Mr Bigham said his firm had turned to neither, with portion sizes and ingredients remaining unchanged in an effort to protect its reputation as a higher-quality producer.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cMaking high-quality food is our mantra, so if we have to make the choice, we\u2019ll put prices up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Bigham\u2019s firm turned a \u00a35 million profit on sales of \u00a3144 million last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Charlie Bigham is set to launch a new range of premium ready meals, costing up to \u00a330, aimed at consumers increasingly deterred by the escalating price of eating out. The entrepreneur’s ‘Brasserie’ collection will debut in Waitrose this Wednesday, offering dishes such as a pre-prepared beef wellington for \u00a329.95, a salmon wellington at \u00a319.95, and coq au vin, duck confit, or venison bourguignon, each priced at \u00a316.95. Mr Bigham stated that the rising expense of restaurant dining was the primary driver behind the creation of his new line. He explained: “Dining out has got more expensive \u2013 we love eating in restaurants but you look at the bill at the end of the night now and you think \u2018ooh, this has gone up\u2019.” He added, acknowledging the industry’s challenges: “And that\u2019s not to criticise our wonderful hospitality industry at all. Their costs keep going up.” Ultimately, he believes consumers are seeking the “dining-out occasion” but are “happier to do th…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7368"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}