BEFORE THE FINAL COURSE.
Some supplier relationships begin with a product search. Others begin years earlier, inside the kitchens where your standards are first shaped.
Our relationship with Strawberry Red belongs to the second kind.
Calleubaut chocolate pallets
WHERE IT BEGAN
Yannis first encountered Strawberry Red’s products in 2021 while working at Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Mayfair.
The opportunity to work there came through Simon Attridge, who was Executive Chef at Gleneagles at the time and is now Culinary Director at Claridge’s.
During his final five months at The Connaught, Yannis moved into the pastry section. There, he learnt new pastry recipes and techniques and developed a much deeper understanding of chocolate—how it behaves, how carefully it must be handled and how much the quality of each component affects the result.
Strawberry Red supplied the kitchen with products including high-quality cream, cocoa butter, colourings and specialist pastry ingredients. It was an introduction to the company through use rather than advertising: the products simply became part of the daily standards expected in a three-Michelin-starred kitchen.
CREATED FOR PASTRY CHEFS
Strawberry Red was itself established in 2021 by Samuel LeJolivet and Chris Knowles, who brought together more than 25 years of experience in the fine-food sector.
The company was created around a straightforward idea: provide excellent pastry products with knowledgeable, personal service. Its range spans professional chocolate, cream and vanilla alongside technical ingredients, nuts, pralines, moulds, equipment and the smaller tools that pastry kitchens depend on.
It is less like a conventional wholesaler and more like what Strawberry Red calls a pastry chef’s concierge—a team that understands both the products and the people using them.
Chocolate tart with a raspberry abd dark chocolate ganache, homemade vanilla ice cream, sable, burnt orange and berry compote
A SUPPLIER WE REMEMBERED
When we launched Greek Tings and began developing our own supplier network, Strawberry Red was one of the companies Yannis remembered.
The quality was already familiar, but that was only part of the reason we wanted to work with them. They are flexible, knowledgeable and genuinely kind—qualities that matter enormously when running events and working with menus that are rarely identical from one occasion to the next.
Professional kitchens need consistency, but small independent businesses also need suppliers willing to listen, advise and occasionally help solve an unusual request. Strawberry Red gives us both.
WHAT THEY SUPPLY TO GREEK TINGS
Today, Strawberry Red supplies many of the ingredients and tools behind our pastry and chocolate work.
That includes professional moulds, piping nozzles and release sprays, as well as the high-quality cream Yannis first became familiar with during his time at The Connaught. We also source selected nuts, specialist ingredients and premium vanilla through them.
Chocolate remains an especially important part of the relationship.
Strawberry Red carries a wide selection of Callebaut chocolate, including dark, milk and white couvertures, more distinctive flavour profiles and complementary cocoa products. Different chocolates behave differently and bring their own balance of sweetness, bitterness, creaminess, colour and fluidity. Choosing the right one is part of building the dessert—not merely decorating it.
Cocoa butter, colourings, moulds and precision tools then give us the freedom to shape, finish and present those ideas properly.
THE DETAILS BEHIND THE DESSERT
Guests usually see the finished result.
They see the shine of a chocolate shell, the shape released cleanly from a mould, the texture of a mousse or the final detail piped onto the plate. What they do not see are the ingredients, tools, testing and careful decisions behind it.
Pastry is exacting. A small change in chocolate, cream, temperature or technique can completely alter the final texture. The equipment matters too: the right mould or nozzle can turn an idea into something that can be produced consistently and served confidently at an event.
This is why specialist suppliers matter. They support the part of the process that happens long before dessert reaches the table.
Sokolatina - Traditional Greek chocolate cake with chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, sponge cake, spiced syrup and chantilly
CARRYING THE STANDARD FORWARD
There is something meaningful about working with a supplier that Yannis first encountered during such an important stage of his career.
The recipes at Greek Tings are our own, and the experiences we create belong to the guests and occasions in front of us. But the standards behind them have been shaped by every serious kitchen, chef and supplier we have learnt from along the way.
Working with Strawberry Red brings part of that journey full circle—from the pastry section at The Connaught to the desserts, chocolates and final details we now create for Greek Tings events.
Because the final course may be the last thing served, but its story begins much earlier.
