My food & drink job: Natalie Burke, product manager, Little Dish

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Name: Natalie Burke

Age: 27

Job title: Product manager

Company & location: Little Dish, Notting Hill, London

Education: University of Leeds, BSc Food Science & Nutrition

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? As a child I wanted to follow in my mum’s footsteps and become a nurse or a midwife!

Why did you decide to go for a career in food & drink? Food has always been at the heart of my family, fuelling my passion for exploring new cuisines & restaurants, discovering unique flavours, and sharing food stories with anyone who will listen. I’m also deeply curious about the why behind everything, which is why I’ve always had a science-driven mindset. Pursuing a degree and career in food felt like the perfect fit!

Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): I’m the one behind the scenes that develops our range of chilled Little Dish and Big Dish ready meals for kids, and makes sure they live up to our high standards each and every time a busy parent turns to us! We are a small but incredibly agile team, so my role is diverse and dynamic, overseeing development projects from start to finish.

“People management, costings, factory adaptations, buyer meetings… unfortunately, it is not all tastings”

What does a typical day look like for you? I start with a gym session en route to the office, then breakfast at my desk while catching up on enquiries from customers. From here on my days are really varied. I could be looking at initial ideation, nutritional scoping and supplier collaboration or packaging development, customer presentations, and scaling up trials for launch.

I normally have lots of cross-functional team meetings and connecting with suppliers. Some days will involve tasting the latest samples, or ensuring the ongoing quality of our products, making sure they remain consistently safe and delicious for all the little eaters.

Tell us how you went about applying for your job: I was actually approached about this amazing opportunity at Little Dish. I had an initial ‘get to know you’ interview with my now line manager over Teams. I then got the call to come into the office and present my response to a development brief in front of my line manager and the CEO, before meeting a few of the other team members.

Big Dish range

It felt like home straight away. Everyone seemed super ambitious and innovative as well as truly wanting to make a difference, which really attracted me to the company.

What’s the best part about working for a food & drink company? Outside of seeing your products on shelf (which will never get old), I would say that the best part is being surrounded by people who are also willing to discuss what they are having for their dinner before they have even eaten breakfast!

In my current role, it feels amazing to be shaking up the kid’s food category with fresh, tasty and veg-packed food that is sold in the chilled aisle (as opposed to the baby aisle where food can sit on the shelf for up to two years). The feedback we receive from busy parents in need of a guilt-free helping hand makes it worth it.

I’m particularly proud of our product credentials… it’s incredibly tricky to create meals that are super healthy and super tasty all without added salt or flavours. But we do it! And we scrabble for spare Little Dishes or Big Dishes for lunch in the office as testament.

And what’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food & drink? I think the biggest misconception is that I put on an apron and a chef’s hat and cook up a storm every day. There is a lot more to it. People management, costings, factory adaptations, buyer meetings… unfortunately, it is not all tastings.

What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food & drink industry? My advice would be that the world of food is incredibly diverse and there is always so much to learn and continue learning. The number one way to excel in the world of food is to learn from the people you work with, whether that be suppliers, customers or colleagues. Don’t be afraid to ask the ‘silly’ questions and absorb all the knowledge you can from the experts you meet!

What’s your ultimate career dream? My ultimate career dream is to work my way across all food categories! I love the idea of working in bakery as that is not an area I have been lucky enough to work in, although, I have managed to sample most of London’s best baked goods. On the other hand, nutrition has always been a keen interest for me, so ‘better-for-you’ products that taste amazing would also catch my attention. Not quite nursing or midwifery.