Five leading chefs, 25 videos, one goal. Get more people into cheffing.
We partnered with the City of Oxford Guild of Chefs on a campaign to get more people in Oxfordshire into cheffing as a career. After many, many hours of work (including food tasting, obviously) we delivered a series of videos showcasing five of the best local chefs in the business and a press campaign that saw cheffing as a top story on TVs, radios, and phone screens across Oxfordshire.
We’ll get into what we did and why in a minute, but if you want to see some seriously talented chefs share how they ended up making a living through cooking, here are the links you want: full videos – oxfordguildofchefs.co.uk/careers, Instagram reels – @guildofchefs_oxford.
And the really important bit: this is what some of the brilliant chefs involved had to say about working with us. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“100% dedicated not only to the art of filmmaking, but to inspiring the next generation of chefs. Couldn’t have asked for a better crew.”
Ben Gibbons, Master of the City of Oxford Guild of Chefs and Head Chef at St Anne's College, University of Oxford
“You and your team are so talented, and you managed to capture something I never saw in myself before. The music, the shots, the atmosphere – everything feels so moving and special… Thank you again for such beautiful work – I feel truly honored to be part of this project.”
Maria Gonzalez, founder of Maria Bonita Bakery
“A major highlight of 2025 was having the honour of being filmed for the first season of the Oxford Guild of Chefs’ Chef Talks series, sharing my journey in cooking. Although being on camera was completely outside my comfort zone, working with the incredible team at Stone Barrell put me at ease and made the whole experience straightforward, comfortable, and relaxed. The final result was fantastic – glossy, modern, and beautifully styled, with great music to match. I couldn’t be happier with how they represented my story through their immense skill and creativity. It was an absolute joy to be part of, and I loved every minute.”
Sean Ducie, Head Chef, The Queen’s College, University of Oxford
Oxford Chef Talks
How it started:
Guild Master Ben Gibbons came to us with a problem – in his own words, “Cheffing is an amazing career, but there’s a real shortage of people pursuing it.” In other words, we need more chefs. Ben knew from personal experience that working in a kitchen can pull you out from a dark place. He also knew that there are lots of people in Oxfordshire and beyond struggling with next steps, who could really benefit from considering a career in cheffing.
The hospitality industry hasn’t always had the best press, and people (perhaps rightly) can be reluctant to opt into an industry that they think is ‘on its knees’, or where they’re likely to be expected to work 100-hour weeks being yelled at by an angry head chef. Lots of other people, like teenage Ben, have likely never even considered it.
We chatted with Ben about ways to combat the negative image of cheffing, show the (often much better) reality and encourage people to consider it as a career. And thus the idea for Oxford Chef Talks was born.
The vision:
Create a series of five chef profile videos to hear the real (and varied) stories of some of Oxfordshire’s leading chefs – their journeys into the industry, what they love about their work, and their message to people considering it as a career. Then get the campaign into the press.
We also decided to create five recipe teaser videos with recipe cards, so aspiring chefs could cook the dishes featured in the videos. (We made an additional 13 reels too. What can we say, once we start, we can’t stop…)
The filming:
After Ben tracked down four great chefs to feature with him in the videos (shout out to the wonderful Theo Selby, Aimee Collins, Sean Ducie and Maria Gonzalez), and sourced a brilliant location, thanks Aldens, we spent an evening setting up and two days filming five chef talks and cooking demonstrations. We were knackered, but we ate well!
The editing and release:
As ever, this was the most time-consuming part of the project, but arguably the least interesting to read about, so I’ll just give you the basics:
- Cutting five hour-long interviews into five under-five-minute profile videos
- Editing those videos (sorry Jake, I know this deserves more than three words)
- Working with Oxford designer Joshua Mutton to refresh the Guild's brand identity
- Creating the teaser reels
- Cutting hour-long cooking demonstrations into 60-second recipe reels
- Creating a release strategy
- Drafting press releases
- Mailing press releases
- Launch party
The deliverables:
- 5 Oxford Chef Talks videos
- 5 recipe reels (to be released soon)
- 13 Chef Talks teaser reels
- Photo library
- Press releases for local and national media
How it’s going (/how it went in first two months post release of video 1):
- More than 50,000 views of Oxford Chef Talks reels on @guildofchefs_oxford Instagram, with 100+ new followers
- High social engagement - 127 comments and more than 2,000 likes on the Guild of Chef's Instagram
- Story picked up by ITV Meridian (evening news), BBC South (morning, midday and evening news), BBC Oxford radio, BBC News, The Oxford Magazine, Ox In A Box, and the Institute of Hospitality
- Reels on BBC Oxford social media viewed by more than 35,000 people
- Videos shared with local and national charities and educational institutes to inspire those not sure what to do next
- And most importantly: people enquiring through the Oxford Guild of Chefs website for opportunities to get into the industry!
We’ve been so excited to see people responding to the videos on socials, the campaign getting picked up by the media, and best of all, people enquiring about opportunities to get into cheffing through the Guild of Chefs website. It’s safe to say, that’s a brief smashed.
Season Two anyone?
Interested in collaborating with a video team who will care as much about your work as you do? Drop us a message!
