The Mustard Food Journey: Raffaele Didone

Get to know the Mustard Foods crew through our latest feature, Your Journey, where we introduce you to Raffaele Didone, a football-following weekend-relishing member of the purchasing and planning team.

Raffaele joined the team in 2015, after working as a kitchen porter in St Georges Hospital. He arrived as Mustard as a packer before moving into the warehouse with boxing and dispatch. Trained on LV when it was first implemented, Raffaele is now part of our purchasing and planning team.

With a Spanish girlfriend in his corner the UEFA matches are a big deal in the Didone household and can lead to a few tense evenings as his beloved Inter Milan, based just north of Varese where he was born, take on Leticia’s Spanish giants.

And while our once-bored Italian – the reason why he says he crossed the pond seeking “new experiences” – admits “weekends off” are his favourite part about working as Mustard Foods, there are some other perks to the job.

Unlike many in the food industry, whether that be in manufacturing or hospitality where weekends are the busiest time of the week, for Raffaele and our purchasing team it is time for a well-earned rest.

“Food, free lunch!” he said of the other perks at working for Mustard. “I’m Italian and it is well known that we love our food.

“But working here fulfills many other needs in my life as Mustard Foods offers great benefits to all staff as it is company that truly believes in taking care of its people.

“I started in packing and, thanks to the company’s belief in me and their commitment to bettering staff, I’m now in purchasing and planning.”

His immediate supervisor, purchasing manager Kyle Richards, added: “We love having Raffaele on board. While the cliches of hard working and dedicated apply to him, it is his desire to improve himself as a personnel and a team member that really endure him to us.”

As for where Raffaele sees himself in five years, he hopes to make “continual progress” both on a personnel front and in life with Mustard Foods but admits Brexit is a “concern.”

“But,” he added, “having been here for more than five years the plan is to become permanent and stay.”