Charlie Bigham's is a British brand of

ready meal A frozen meal, also called a TV dinner (Canada and US), prepackaged meal, ready-made meal, ready meal (UK), frozen dinner, or microwave meal, is a meal portioned for an individual. A frozen meal in the United States and Canada usually consists ...

s founded by Charlie Bigham.

History

Charlie Bigham, a former

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

from London, started the business in 1996. The delicatessens of

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Self ...

and

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols Group Limited ( trading as Harvey Nichols) is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831 by Benjamin Harvey; it is headquartered at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections ...

, and later

Waitrose Waitrose Limited, trading as Waitrose & Partners, is a British supermarket chain, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. In 1937, it was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership, the UK's largest employee-owned b ...

stocked the meals. In 2012,

Allan Leighton Allan Leighton (born 12 April 1953) is a British businessman, Chair of Asda, former chairman of The Co-operative Group, former CEO of Asda, former chief executive of Pandora, and former non-executive chairman of the Royal Mail prior to the brea ...

joined the board of directors. In 2013, Bigham's created "Swish Pie", the world's most expensive ready meal at £314.16, as a

publicity stunt In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utiliz ...

. The pie contained lobster, turbot, scallops, smoked salmon and oysters, poached in Dom Pérignon champagne, topped with truffles and a gold leaf crumb, and a side of Beluga caviar. In 2016, Bigham's bought

Dulcote Quarry Dulcote Quarry is a disused limestone quarry at Dulcote, near Wells on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. The quarry measures around from West to East and around from North to South, with an area of , which is surrounded by of woodland. ...

, a disused quarry in Somerset, to build a new factory after outgrowing its premises in London. The first phase of the food production campus was designed by

Feilden Fowles Feilden Fowles is an architectural firm based in London. It was formed in 2009 by Fergus Feilden and Edmund Fowles, who first collaborated while studying at the University of Cambridge. The practice has been recipient of several awards includin ...

and completed in 2017. In 2020, Bigham's became a certified

B Corporation In business, a company that uses the “Certified B Corporation” trademark (also B Corporation or B Corp) is a for-profit corporation certified for its social impact by B Lab, a global non-profit organization. To be granted and to maintain c ...

. By August 2020, annual sales had reached £80 million. In 2021, Bigham's launched a £3 million advertising campaign, including radio and podcast adverts voiced by

Richard Osman Richard Osman (born 28 November 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, and novelist. He is the creator and former co-presenter of the BBC One television quiz show ''Pointless''. He has presented the BBC Two quiz shows ''Two Tribes ( ...

Products

Bigham's produces dozens of dishes, including

lasagne Lasagna (, ; ), also known by the plural form lasagne (), is a type of pasta, possibly one of the oldest types, made in very wide, flat sheets. In Italian cuisine it is made of stacked layers of pasta alternating with fillings such as ragù ...

cottage pie Shepherd's pie, cottage pie, or in French cuisine ''hachis Parmentier'', is a savoury dish of cooked minced meat topped with mashed potato and baked, formerly also called Sanders or Saunders. The meat used may be either previously cooked or fr ...

, salmon en croûte, steak and ale pie, and

beef bourguignon Beef bourguignon () or bœuf bourguignon (; ), also called beef Burgundy, and ''bœuf à la Bourguignonne'',''Random House Dictionary'online at dictionary.com/ref> is a French stew of beef braised in red wine, often red Burgundy, and beef stock ...

and dauphinoise potatoes. They are intended to be heated or cooked in a conventional, rather than microwave, oven. The packaging, designed by

Perry Haydn Taylor Perry Haydn Taylor (born 1966) is an English creative director, designer and entrepreneur, who lives in Somerset and works in London. He is the founder of big fish a branding design and marketing consultancy. Career Haydn Taylor founded Big Fis ...

's big fish design agency, uses wooden or ceramic heatable containers instead of metal or plastic, although aluminium foil trays were briefly used during a container supply shortage in 2012.

Reception

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' restaurant critic

Marina O'Loughlin Marina O'Loughlin is a British journalist, writer and restaurant critic. Career O'Loughlin was the regular weekly restaurant reviewer in the London '' Metro'' from 2006 to 2012, before moving to ''The Guardian'', where she took over from Joh ...

wrote: "I've never been drawn to this brand – it seemed like a mix of low-rent ready meal and aspirational boujie, invented by someone a bit posh and, um, chinless," but concluded that the lasagne was "delicious".

Charlie Bigham

Charlie Bigham studied English Literature at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, before working as a management consultant at

Andersen Consulting Accenture plc is a global multinational professional services company originating in the United States and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, that specializes in information technology (IT) services and management consulting. It was founded in 19 ...

and ABL. He also owns the Derreen Estate in County Kerry, Ireland. In 2013, it was reported that Bigham had

insured Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

his

sense A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the surroundings through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. Although, in some cultures, five human senses were traditio ...

s of sight, smell, taste and touch for £12 million. Under the terms of the insurance policy, he was required to avoid dangers such as tasting hot chillies, piercing his tongue or looking directly at bright light.

References

{{reflist Certified B Corporations in the Food & Beverage Industry