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Dream Menu began as a creative side project for civil engineer Gordon Best. Since launching, it has grown into a platform where chefs, venue owners and people working across food and hospitality can share the stories, experiences and pressures shaping the sector today.
By day, Gordon works in civil engineering, surrounded by numbers and technical detail. Outside work, Dream Menu provides a very different outlet.
The project began in September, inspired by the Off Menu podcast and Gordon’s desire to bring a more local perspective to its familiar format.
Speaking with Larder Magazine, Gordon said: “It came from the Off Menu podcast, which is very London-centric and broadly English in its recommendations.
“I was hearing about places in Covent Garden and Soho, so I thought: why not do something similar but make it local?”
Gordon began by speaking to people in his own area, but the project soon expanded to include contributors from across the country, including established chefs, hospitality figures and others with stories to share.
“At its core, it is about telling people’s stories through food.”
Growing through Scotland’s food community
Although Dream Menu began in Glasgow, its growth has largely happened organically, with one conversation often leading to another.
Gordon said: “I do not necessarily go out searching for people now; it is more organic. People refer me to a friend in Edinburgh who owns a venue, and that person refers me to someone else.
“It has become a chain of people passing the project on to friends in food, hospitality, or who run their own places.”
The format itself has remained close to Gordon’s original idea. Guests answer a standard selection of questions alongside prompts tailored to their role, giving chefs and hospitality professionals space to discuss their own experiences.
As Dream Menu has grown, however, Gordon has increasingly seen its potential to offer something beyond food recommendations and entertainment.
He said: “Hospitality is cyclical, and a lot of people are struggling to make the finances work just now, even when their food and customer experience are going well.
“Dream Menu can give people space to say what they think and to build a sense of community.”
That platform has also given a voice to people Gordon feels have not always received the recognition they deserve.
On giving greater visibility to women in the industry, Gordon said: “There are many excellent female chefs and head chefs who have not necessarily felt promoted or able to tell their stories.”
From entertainment to industry insight
Speaking to people across the sector has also changed Gordon’s understanding of hospitality and the work behind the food diners see on the plate.
He said: “It has made me much more grateful. Behind every dish, someone has ordered the ingredients, prepared them, peeled the potatoes, cooked the food and made the experience happen.
“Even a simple dish involves a huge amount of work that diners often take for granted.”
Gordon is currently working on a wider hospitality insights report, drawing on information, trends and recurring themes from his Dream Menu interviews. The project aims to provide what he describes as an overall “pulse check” on hospitality.
He added: “It started as entertainment, but the more I learned about how hard people in hospitality work, especially chefs, the more I realised it could be useful.
“It is still at an early stage, and I am working out how to present and use it, but people who have seen it have said it could be genuinely valuable.”
The aim is to explore insights that could help people opening and operating venues, from structuring menus and deciding how many dishes to offer to identifying trends without becoming gimmicky.
For now, Dream Menu remains Gordon’s creative outlet alongside his career in engineering, but he is open to where the growing project could eventually lead.
“It began as a low-pressure project, but you never know what it could become.”
Find out more by following Dream Menu on Instagram.
