Northants store brings its kitchen showroom to life with interactive cooking experience

One of Northamptonshire’s most renowned kitchen specialists is bringing its kitchen showroom to life with an interactive cooking experience for customers.

Well-known in the county for its popular events calendar, shoppers visiting home lifestyle store Bell of Northampton will now be able to see the range of kitchen appliances in action during live cooking demonstrations alongside sampling the food being cooked.

The introduction of the fully immersive experience in store follows Claire Hunt and Aimee Brown of the kitchen showroom team completing a certified food hygiene course.

“At Bell we have always carried out a lot of cooking using two of our live kitchens,” explains kitchen showroom manager, Claire Hunt. “Previously we have cooked sticky toffee pudding, a puff pastry Nutella Christmas tree and also demonstrated cooking a risotto in the steam oven, rather than on the hob. However, without the hygiene training we were previously unable to allow customers to try the food afterwards.

“Now that Aimee and I have completed our training, customers will not only be inspired with what can be achieved using the kitchen appliances in store, they will also be able to taste the food afterwards, making it a fully immersive experience.

“It’s great that we will now be able to talk to our customers while cooking and demonstrating how to get the best out of the cooking appliances available in store, and they can sample the results for themselves.

“When we cook will largely depend on the availability of time during our busy day, so we don’t have a set schedule of when we will be cooking live. However, we know that customers visiting the store when we do, will be in for a treat!”

The enhancement strengthens the stores commitment to the in store customer experience following a range of changes implemented at the end of last year. This includes a mystery shopper programme in its kitchen and bathroom departments, alongside the introduction of a Bell branded hamper filled with St. Giles Cheese, wines and beers which is gifted to those recommending new customers, who then go on to purchase a kitchen.

The Bell store occupies a 25,000 sq. ft. space, with its kitchen showroom showcasing a wide selection of brands, including designs from some of the biggest names in kitchens including Mackintosh, Nicholas Bell and Hacker.