Shareen Campbell and Phil Saunter, owners of Los Gatos and Bistro Les Chats in Wood Street, and the Swindon Business People of the Year, talk about life in the restaurant business

With news this week in one of the national dailies that the rise of TV food programmes has generated a rise in dinner party competitiveness, it seems a good time to share some dinner party experience.

Our own friendship began in the dinner party phase of our lives – with a group of friends who liked to eat. We all had young families so our eating out budgets were limited. The dinner party exchange became a regular weekend habit.

In each couple in our social network, at least one person loved to cook – and some of us took it pretty seriously. Each occasion brought more interesting ideas, and there was no doubt about our efforts to outdo each other, pretending that the meal we’d spent hours (sometimes days) putting together was “something we’d just knocked up this afternoon”.

I remember attempting to impress with an elaborate fruit salad served in an even more elaborate “ice bowl”, impregnated with flowers and leaves from the garden. It looked fantastic... until the sugar syrup began to melt the ice and the dessert proceeded to flow over the table like the Kumbh Mela!

The science of this was, needless to say, pedantically explained to me by Phil!

Happily our competitive cooking led to co-operation, our relationship and eventually to our restaurant careers.

So what tips would we offer today’s dinner party cook?

First, make a plan. Try to come up with a balanced menu, which, if it includes one thing that takes time and effort to make, has other dishes that are relatively easy.

Try to choose things that are in season – the flavours will be better and the cost probably lower.

Think about how you, the cook, will enjoy the evening. Avoid dishes that need you to be stirring and will cause you to panic at the last minute. Prepare in advance, bung it in the oven, and spend the time with your friends.

As in a restaurant, the atmosphere and the company are at least as important as the food. Just enjoy it, and leave the competing to Come Dine With Me!