We are the champignons!

Chefs launch successful gourmet mushroom business

- Thomas Cooper

TWO chefs from one of Stoke-on-Trent's most highly-acclaimed restaurants have launched their own gourmet mushroom business.

Darren Warner and Dean Walley, who both work at The Slamwich Club in Hanley, initially launched Champignon Trent as a hobby from the back of a caravan.

Now they stock exotic mushrooms from around the world at a warehouse and laboratory in Fenton.

Darren, of Smallthorne, said: "It all started with foraging.

"Being a chef and working with food, I've always had that curiosity.

"When lockdown kicked in, you couldn't go in anywhere, so I started turning to foraging.

"And mushrooms are the number one food of the world when you're foraging.

"That interest spiralled into wanting to learn how they grow, cloning the ones I found and things like that.

"Before I knew it, I'd converted my caravan into a lab. It got the point where I had enough to start selling them, and after that I managed to convince Dean to come on board.