Meet the Makers: Gary and Sukh of Farro Kitchen Meals
Getting to know Gary Dalhousie & Sukh Singh
Pictured: Gary Dalhousie (left), Sukh Singh (right).
Tell us a bit about your background and how you both landed your roles as Head of Culinary Production and Head Chef of Farro at the Village?
GARY:
“One of my first jobs when I moved to Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland from Ōtepoti/Dunedin in 2000 I was running Zarbo in Newmarket, the lone foodie mecca of Auckland at the time, which was a New York Deli style boutique grocer started by Debroah Chait and Mark McDonough (now closed).
Interestingly, Zarbo had a connection with the Jewish community, so every Friday we used to sell Challah (a plaited bread). At lunchtimes, there would be massive queues out the door! It was a great place to be, especially given there wasn’t anything like that in Auckland at the time.
In this role I was exposed to so many wonderful ingredients that were unknown to me at the time. I loved learning about the Middle Eastern pantry items, the pulses and grains of the world, what customers like to eat, and how willing they are to find and try new things! It totally piqued my interest in learning more about food.
I then went on to run Dida’s Foodstore for Glengarry (Foodstore is also closed). The Foodstore and wine lounge were connected and the Foodstore kitchen made all the tapas for Dida’s Wine Lounge. Funnily enough, the head chef I worked with at Dida’s ended up being Sukh’s chef school tutor. New Zealand is just too small! It was there that I discovered my passion for cheese and charcuterie.
I then went into Commercial Partnerships and Operations at Auckland Zoo. I joined the team to improve the food as at the time it was very lowbrow. We managed to get Montana Catering & Events on board while we built two new restaurants. We re-created the Old Elephant House where they hosted the Auckland Zoo overnighter (Zoofari) into a really amazing restaurant space. Then we went on to build Te Puna restaurant, the amazing new jewel in the crown which overlooks the South East Asia precinct. While I was there I learned all the operational skills I took into the next two jobs.
I met Josh, the owner of Daily Bread, on a boat. He had just posted an Operations Manager role and so I applied and was successful. That was pretty cool. With building a distribution model we increased the turnover of that business by 3x while I was there. A lot of that was getting into Farro as a wholesale business as well as a successful manufacturer and retailer. It was here that I got a Sourdough and Patisserie education.
And now to Farro, where I am fortunate to head up the Culinary Production team. I like how I’ve kind of come full circle - back to Remuera from the Zarbo days. I can see my pathway to this now. At the time it felt like a jungle.”
SUKH:
“I grew up in Punjab, North of India and learned to cook with my mum. It just so happens, my dad doesn’t eat spicy food at all, so every time she had to cook for him she would make a separate meal for him! Most of the time my dad was offshore working so it was just my mum, sister and I. If mum wasn’t feeling well, my sister would jump into the kitchen and create our own inventions. We really enjoyed cooking chutneys. From an early age I got a good understanding of how spices and ingredients work together.
I went on to study a Bachelor of Science in India and completed it, but deep down I wasn’t really passionate about it. I kept circling back to my biggest passion - food. I decided to move to New Zealand and make it my new home.
When I arrived in New Zealand in 2015, I started a diploma in Culinary Arts learning from Vincent Marshall while I worked part time at Farro in the Produce Department. During this time I grew my knowledge in vegetables. There were a few things here I didn’t know about produce - it’s totally different to India.
Within Farro I moved into the kitchen at the Epsom store where I was working with a team of 3 Chefs making fresh sandwiches and salads. In 2017, the Production Kitchen in Ōrakei launched. It was designed to provide all Farro stores from a central location and I was really excited to come on as a full time cook after completing my studies alongside about 6-7 people across the Farro stores who were chosen.
In 2019, I supervised the production of our new Ready to Go meal range which consisted of four meals. Covid saw exponential growth of the range and I stepped into the Head Chef role in late 2021. I think what people really loved about this offering was that they could get restaurant quality at home. During Covid the demand for meals increased significantly and around that time we started online as well. This allowed people to be able to order online for delivery or pick up from their nearest Farro.
I’ve now been in NZ for almost 8 years. I’m currently in the Head Chef role for Farro’s Production Kitchen and am loving it!”
“There’s a perception that we’re an expensive supermarket, but we’re actually not a supermarket. We’re a store that provides exceptional ingredients and grocery items. We curate the best of the best and we want people to have access to that.”
You develop the Farro Kitchen Meals, Sides & Desserts right from your OBV based kitchen. How often are you creating recipes and where does your inspiration come from?
GARY:
“We are part of a Farro panel who determine which meals should be developed and launched.
Our Category Manager, Jemma, is always staying on top of global trends. We look to the likes of Marks & Spencer for inspiration and generally our recipes are classics with a Kiwi twist. Global food trends influence our direction and also local producers and seasonality are big factors.
Sukh and I will also come up with ideas we present and from there it’s a matter of looking at what’s in the range currently to decide where we need to drop in new products or increase the range. Take the curries for example, if we find there are meals that aren’t selling very well, we would probably replace it with something better. But there have been very few that haven’t hit the mark with our customers!
Meals are selected seasonally, and if they sell well, they might stay longer and potentially turn into a perennial favourite. But ultimately, it’s the Chilled Category Manager who makes the final call on which meals are going into production and how long they stay on the shelves.
There’s other factors that can heavily influence though such as weather events and freight challenges - both of which have caused us to (at least) put a hold on certain meals and in some cases stop production altogether. All of our chicken and pork at Farro is free-farmed and our meals use the same quality ingredients you will find in store.”
What are your favourite brands / products you stock at Farro?
GARY:
“I’m very proud of the fact that we push free-farmed, so Bostock Brothers is right up there for me. If I’m going to eat meat, I want to know it’s as natural as possible. Bostocks stands out as a beacon of hope. Antibiotic free, free farmed, compostable packaging. Companies like that are the way of the future really so as a shopper they’re a really good brand for me personally.
I really love the Farro Kitchen meals, including our new Frozen Pizza range, as a close second. Our produce is amazing, Kuldeep, our produce hero, goes to market every morning to buy fresh at auction. That’s why our produce beats everyone. It’s such a good offering and we’re really proud of that. We know that if it’s not presenting well at the market - Kuldeep will not buy it. We have no requirement to range things that are not going to provide 100% satisfaction for the customer.
I also love All Good Oat Milk & Bananas, because the challenges that come with running an ethical consumer business are still way harder than they should be, and I truly support what they’re all about.”
SUKH:
“I really love the fresh, organic, free farmed range too. Maybe because I grew up that way back home. We would hardly go to the market to buy the things we ate, like eggs or vegetables. We tapped into friends farms, mum had a herb garden and dad took care of the vegetables. We even used to have turkeys when I was a child but our neighbours said they were too noisy!”
We love the convenience of being able to pick up or have a meal delivered with minimal effort, but also knowing they’re filled with the best ingredients and crafted by your in-house chefs. Tell us a bit about why you’ve developed this range and who it’s been created for?
GARY:
“The range has been developed to appeal to our core Farro customer base. People who want beautiful food served at home but don't have the time to put it together. The focus for us is to create dishes that our customers would make themselves at home.
Farro Kitchen was initiated before lockdown but because we couldn’t sell serveover items from the deli cabinet during Covid, it’s clearly gone from strength to strength. It’s a fantastic way for us to use and showcase our wonderful local supplier ingredients and pair them with world class imported goods. We are always looking to expand the range and keep it relevant/interesting/seasonal. One of our current goals though is to expand into new demographics.
There’s a perception that we’re an expensive supermarket, but we’re actually not a supermarket. We’re a store that provides exceptional ingredients and grocery items. We curate the best of the best and we want people to have access to that.”
Leading the cook team who make 1,000s of meals every week at the Orakei Production Kitchen sounds like a huge job, Sukh. What does this entail?
SUKH:
“It’s been a really good challenge for me. I have had to learn and pick things up quickly and through my own research. I have a great team, but across three shifts, 24/7 there’s a lot of admin to cover! There have been huge labour challenges through Covid so I’m glad we’re through that now.
I’m always walking a fine line between keeping things really positive in the kitchen and maintaining strong boundaries in terms of Quality Control and performance. I have great organisational support with Health & Safety and QC but the tone of the kitchen comes down to my standards and I like to set these quite high.
We’re lucky to have a really good balanced team. The wonderful Susana runs the team that makes all the cabinet food day in, day out, and does an incredible job. Our chefs come with decades of experience, one even used to cook for a Sheikh! A big shout out to Ruby and Nav too - these legends run the evening shifts where the meals are made!”
What are the top selling Farro Kitchen Meals in 2023 and why do you think customers love these?
GARY:
“The top selling meals - in terms of units sold - are the classic comfort meals - Beef Lasagne, Chicken Tikka, Smoked Fish Pie, Mac n Cheese, Lamb Shank Pappardelle and Beef Cheek Cottage Pie.
I think these meals are the most accessible for a range of palettes - in terms of adults and children. So it’s all about quick, easy, delicious meal solutions that are also nutritious for the whole whānau.”
Have you got any new products incoming or promotions we should be aware of?
GARY:
“The next few meals are all of a wintry, ‘comfort’ nature, and the first cab off the rank is Braised Fiordland Venison on a Creamy White Bean Mash. A delectable mouthful by name and by nature.
It is a bit of a collaboration with the guys from “With Wild” who are harvesting Wapiti (venison) from the native forests in fiordland. Dariush from Cazador and Tom from Kingi work with ‘With Wild’ to find interesting but easy ways to get NZ wild ingredients onto the plate. It was through that connection that they approached us with the Wapiti idea, and we were up for the challenge!
Sukh has created a beautiful ragu with mushrooms and puy lentils and it sits atop a delicious Bean Mash which makes for total and utter sensory transcendence. You can see the With Wild story coming out in June on Country Calendar.”
Tell us a bit about your most frequented spots at OBV?
GARY:
“I like Ampersand for a formal meeting, Brothers Beer for a celebration and Moustache for a naughty interlude.”
SUKH:
“I like Ampersand and Brothers Beer too! Also, Junoon is very good Indian cuisine and I like going there on occasion.”