When did the Staff Canteen hit 10,000,000 video views?

During those crazy days when The Staff Canteen was a simple, off the shelf PhpBB forum, it was clear our audience had a demand for rich media content to fuel their appetite to learn, be inspired, to seek more knowledge or to just be plain curious as chefs are! They wanted video - real chefs in real kitchens.

This was 2009, this thing called Facebook was throwing snowballs at us if you had an account, The Black Eyed Peas spent 17 weeks in the charts with "I got a feeling" Lady Gaga had two numbers ones with Just Dance and Poker Face, and we lost the Verve; so a sad year for music. Avatar was the biggest grossing film. Chelsea won the league and England won the Ashes on home soil. Phones connected to the Internet via WAP and the iPhone and IPad were on the drawing board table of Apple where Steve Jobs worked his magic creating a device that the world didn't even know it needed - do you think that shows the true value of market research?

Our challenge was to fund the request of our audience, at a time when, The Staff Canteen was simply not a commercial success. However, we knew that if we looked after our members, everything else would fall into place. So, off we went, found a film crew and created a vision of what we wanted to deliver.

It was paramount in our minds that we needed to create a pilot video that we could showcase to potential sponsors, imagine how amazed we were when Gary Jones invited us to film at the amazing Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons and just to top that, we managed to get a cameo by the inspirational Raymond Blanc.

I still remember trekking around all the usual suspects with this video, the look of 'it will never catch on' still makes me smile!

We owe such a debt of thanks to Andrew Fairlie who agreed to be our first video for the featured chef, Scotland's only

Close Message - I might contribute in the future

I love what you do, let me contribute right now

two star chef, and I think it's fair to say that Andrew has never overly sought the attention of the media, so this was a huge privilege. I think it's fair to say the quality of our video has dramatically improved, however the format of real chefs in their natural environment, ie. their kitchens, is very much still our ethos.

Jump forward 7-years and we've filmed the world's great and good, created advertising solutions for companies that bring their products to life and videos made in 2010 are still generating huge views each year - please ask your print publication account manager how many times a printed advert you ran last year was viewed this year and watch their face, it will make you smile.

YouTube, Twitter, Snap Chat, Instagram and Facebook are building and investing on their video content. Facebook has openly taunted YouTube in a head-to-head battle for video, and many agencies now have their own video creative departments.

>>> Related: Chefs and social media, what's the story? By Mark Morris

Yes video is a great medium and 10,000,000 views later The Staff Canteen is not only well placed to create some creative content solution but we'll get your video watched, a huge factor when all companies are looking to understand ROI. YouTube is a massive platform, so getting your video seen over the thousands that are uploaded every minute is a huge challenge, and it's why we have a dedicated YouTube account manager to work with us to get our content into their algorithms. We create great content, we also get it watched, that's our USP. Anyone can make video now!

Watch this space for more exciting additions to our video offer, a media format we've been pioneering since 2009.

For more information contact our Senior Sales Manager, Jennifer Farrell at [email protected]

Small Contribution. Big Impact.

The Staff Canteen has always been more than a website—it’s a community, built by and for hospitality. We share the wins, the challenges, the graft, and the inspiration that keeps kitchens alive.

We believe in staying open to everyone, but creating this content takes real resources. If you’ve ever found value here—whether it’s a recipe, an interview, or a laugh when you needed it most—consider giving just £3 to keep it going.

A little from you keeps this space free for all. Let’s keep lifting the industry, together.