About The DadVan

Alex Anderdon. Nursling, Southampton

This is my dream.

Back in the 1980s I worked as a McDonalds Manager here in Southampton (It was the huge building on the corner of above bar and Hanover St back then, bottom right in the pic 👉), and abroad.

Back in those days McDonalds had a very different view. Their motto was Quality, Service & Cleanliness. Really there was so much emphasis on Quality. The fries were cooked in Beef Tallow, the majority of the food was cooked to order, the senior kitchen person watching people coming in and guessing what they'd order (and usually getting it correct). The food was mostly hot and very fresh.

The chocolate shake had actual cocoa in it, the orange juice was made from frozen orange, which is the best, and the nuggets were made with chopped breast and thigh, and not mechanically recovered About 1/3 of McDonalds customers would go there for a fries and shake, they were that good. All the food was good, and certainly better quality than any other fast food at the time.

Well, those days have gone. The quality has gone, everything is delivered, arriving old, soggy and cold, and nobody really cares except me. I want to serve the best menu, using the best ingredients, super hot and fresh, and without compromise. Just like McDonalds aimed for back in the 1980s.

I've sourced fantastic ingredients, found the best baker, and amazing coffee roasters, grass fed brisket and steak mince, and I've even grown the Peruvian Aji Chillies for my Huancaina sauce.

I can't find a way to make it tastier.

So I bought a van to convert. An extra long and extra tall Mercedes Sprinter. 

I did the layout on Computer, and got Dan the man to do almost all of the conversion. He's got lots of experience with commercial kitchens, and recruited a gas engineer and an electrical engineer to complete that work.

The van can run on single or three phase, and the griddle and fryer run off propane gas. Everything else runs off the generator.

There's a freezer for the fries, Fridges for storing meat and a fridge for storing dairy and non-meats like salads, milk, prepared vegetables etc.

There is 5G Mifi fitted, and automatic fridge temperature sensors uploading to the cloud. 

We now have a permanent evening location at SETYRES in Totton (SO40 3AA, or what3words: ///wakes.honest.youth)

They are really nice people, who consistently have tyres chepaer than anyone else (even Cosco). It's a great location for DadVan as the car park is huge and the location is easily accessible.

We will be there Wednesday to Saturdays, 5.30pm to 9pm.

The van will also get wrapped on the 8th of August, which is very exciting. Currently I'm a white van man. It'll look like the pic on the right.

All I need now is a website design person.

Alex Anderdon

alex@dadvan.co.uk