CHEF Alex Hindson is getting into gear for a new approach to catering with a vintage French twist.

Alex has converted a 1976 French van to house his new street food enterprise offering fresh deli food at events, markets, weddings and corporate events. He believes there is a gap in the market across the North East and North Yorkshire for a top quality food offering.

Passionate about food since a youngster, he qualified as a professional chef in 2003 and has worked in award winning gastro pubs, country house hotels and has had international experience in Barcelona.

For the past seven years he has worked for multi billion pound turnover company’s Compass Group and Sodexo which provide facilities management and catering services.

During this time he was named junior chef of the year for Compass Group which employs more than 470,000 staff and his team was awarded a gold medal in the Parade de Chefs, the most prestigious competition in the industry. Last year he was nominated as Sodexo Prestige unit chef of the Year.

But now Alex is keen to drive his career in a different direction and believes street food and Hatch 76, as the van has been named, are the way forward.

He said: "This is a new challenge for me, but I feel really passionately about street food, I think we can offer high quality, and innovative Hot Deli Gourmet Food and Sandwiches.

"It’s all about artisan food, the smell the look, the reality of seeing it produced in front of you. We’ll be cooking up speciality sandwiches such as Slow Cooked Duck, Spiced Lamb or Local Fried Fish alongside our hand cut seasoned fries, menus will change regularly, we’ll be using seasonal produce and catering to our audience depending on where we are and what’s happening around us.

“That’s the most fascinating thing, we can move around the region, not only to markets and pop ups, but to events and weddings, catering for up to several hundred people and offering a bespoke, unique dining experience.”

“We’re testing it out over the winter and have already got bookings for next year. We bought the van from an artist in Bordeaux France and brought it over to be specially converted, it has been a labour of love for the past six months and now we’re keen to get on the road and get cooking,” added Alex, who was born in Newton Aycliffe an d lives in Newcastle.