Alumni Spotlight - Neel Shah | University of West London

Neel Shah has short black hair and is wearing his chef's uniform in front of a stone wall.

Alumni Spotlight - Neel Shah

2 March 2023

Who hasn’t bought the occasional ready meal or prepared food from a supermarket? Well, next time you pick up a meal deal, just think it might have been developed by one of the University of West London’s own alumni; Neel Shah.

Neel came to cooking early in life, an interest that was cemented when he took part in UWL’s outreach training programme, Junior Chefs Academy.

Three chefs plating up food for service.

I really fell in love with cooking, and this was my first experience in a professional kitchen. As I was growing up, I used to watch Masterchef and all those cooking programmes that were on at the time. As a kid, I used to love food and it was food tech at school that was probably my first indication that I had a skill in that area.”

The Junior Chefs was the start of a long relationship between Neel and UWL. After school, at just 16 years old, he enrolled on the NVQ 2 and 3 courses, earning a diploma in professional cookery.

An overhead shot of a table full of vegetables, including broccoli, leek, carrots, onions and corn.

It was strange. All my friends went onto sixth form and A-Levels, but I was on a university campus. In all honesty though, the course itself was really good. The chefs that trained us were all friendly, the kitchens were well equipped, and it was a great course. There was a great blend of practical and theory content.”

From here, Neel enrolled in another course at UWL, the BSc in Culinary Arts Management from which he graduated with first-class honours.

It was only a week after graduation when he entered his first job, working for a small catering company that had been advertised on employment services at UWL. Eventually, the company got into a book publishing deal and Neel spent his time developing 70 vegetarian and vegan dishes.

I was probably only about twenty-one. All the recipe development had to be done within three months, so it was a quick turnaround. There’s a lot that goes into it. Researching, planning the recipes, testing them, improving them, styling the food so it looks attractive, writing about them, getting all the food photographed. Yeah, there was a lot to do but it was a great opportunity.”

After this, the company expanded and started selling food at different food markets around London. They eventually started to provide food to chain Planet Organic, which meant moving into a production kitchen. At the age of just 22, Neel was a head chef with a team of chefs working under him.

From here, Neel moved to Alpha LSG, the leading in-flight catering company providing food for a number of luxury airlines.

I was doing recipe and menu creation and development, then presenting these to the airlines and clients like Emirates and Qatar. But aeroplanes and travel are a big obsession of mine, so it was great to learn how airline food is prepared on the ground, then heated and served 30,000 feet in the air. You know, flavour can be compromised at altitude, but they’re developing the ability to cook up in the air.”

After a year, Neel decided it was time to move on to a role in the Development Chef Team at Tesco. Neel spends his days keeping an eye on food trends and trying to predict what might be coming up. It’s important to always have one eye on the future because things move quickly.

With development, it’s a totally different way of planning food. It can take up to twelve months to land a product on shelf and I really enjoy that process of researching, planning and developing the product. With my education and career history it really suits my skillset. There’s so many great products. I did a secondment recently to work on vegan seasonings which can create flavours based on rotisserie chicken. It tastes just like chicken and works well with tofu and other meat alternatives.”

What advice can Neel offer?

College is great to give you skills but working in a practical environment teaches you perseverance. Remember that every industry you step into, however different, will teach you brand new skills. There’s a lot of jobs out there, and you should try a few of them to find something you love doing.”