Heston Blumenthal has announced the winner of a nationwide search for the culinary British innovator of the future set to transform the UK cooking experience.
Since its launch in April the ‘Kitchen Innovation Challenge’, has seen 600 new ideas submitted from across the UK. The top ten finalists from all over the UK presented their ideas in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style pitch to Heston and three other judges, all renowned for innovation in their chosen fields including Paul Pankhurst, Chair of British Design Innovation, Rosie Nagra and Wendy Miranda, Lakeland.
The inventions were as diverse as ‘rotating cake trays’ to ‘easy clean sieves’. The final ten innovative product ideas caught the eye of the judges because their ingenious ways of helping to achieve ‘perfection’ in the kitchen. The ‘Challenge Winner’ will receive a £10,000 cash prize, their idea brought to market and sold in stores nationwide including royalties on any future sales.
The finalists ranged in age from 30 to 65 and came from across the UK – Derbyshire, Sunderland, Shropshire, Kent, Solihull, Essex, Nottingham and Hull.
The winner of the competition is Margaret O’Callaghan, aged 65, a housewife from Bromley in Kent. Margaret’s winning innovation, The Scrudle, is a cross between a scoop, scraper and a ladle which allows sauces, gravies and casseroles to be easily transferred from pot to plate, without even a drop of the mixture being lost. The Scrudle is made from plastic with a measuring device on the side and has a flat edge to ensure smooth scooping of mixtures to catch every last drop for cooking perfection.
Margaret is the winner of a prize package estimated to be worth a staggering £50,000; which includes a £10,000 cash prize from Finish and a business development package that includes the opportunity to work with Lakeland to develop the product, bring it to market and receive royalties from future sales in Lakeland’s catalogues, website and nationwide stores.
Head judge Heston Blumenthal says: “Margaret really impressed us on Judging Day – her presentation was fluent and confident and her product was innovative, practical and something that I can actually see myself using in the kitchen. After her pitch all of the judges came out thinking ‘now why didn’t I think of that?’ because it is such a simple idea, but also something that will be useful and genuinely make life easier.”
