A business based on Weston-super-Mare’s Oldmixon estate has hit the big time as its products have appeared in a Hollywood movie.

Weston Mercury: Clifton Food Range water bath Nickel Electro, Oldmixon Cresent, Weston. Melvin Dickson and Charlotte Dickson.Clifton Food Range water bath Nickel Electro, Oldmixon Cresent, Weston. Melvin Dickson and Charlotte Dickson. (Image: Archant)

Clifton Food Range, based in Oldmixon Crescent, makes high-end kitchen equipment used by chefs across the world.

But its father company, Nickel-Electro, started off making equipment for science laboratories.

Charlotte Dickson is the third generation of Dicksons to work in the company, which has been in Weston for more than five decades. She said: “Our science equipment specialises in temperature control for keeping chemicals at a certain temperature in labs or storing blood samples in hospitals.

“Chefs vacuum pack the food and then cook it at a very low, specific temperature. They like the consistency, you always get the same result.

“My dad Melvin said we ought to produce a range for the kitchen and we did. They just took off.”

Experimental chefs like Heston Blumenthal started using the technique and before long the Oldmixon company had famous clients including Tom Kerridge, the Ritz Hotel, the Houses of Parliament and Michel Roux.

The fame did not stop there, as the Dicksons were approached by a film company wanting to feature the water baths in the latest Bradley Cooper movie, Burnt, about the pressure of being a top chef.

Ms Dickson said: “Our equipment had been recommended to make the film authentic.”