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How Nova Chef Became Hilton's Endorsed Night-Time Room Service Partner
The short answer
Overnight room service is the shift most hotels quietly give up on — the kitchen is closed, the chef has gone home, and guests are left with a dried-up sandwich or nothing at all. After a 2025 multi-property trial run at Hilton Supply Management's invitation, Nova Chef was confirmed by Stuart Duff and Florence Cornish at Hilton as an endorsed supplier for night-time room service. It now runs across 12 Hilton and Hampton by Hilton properties in the UK — delivering restaurant-quality hot food, up to 70% gross margin on orders, and zero night kitchen or chef team.
Key takeaways
- Hilton Supply Management invited Nova Chef to run a multi-property trial in 2025 to fix the 24/7 through-the-night food gap.
- The trial completed successfully and Nova Chef was confirmed as an endorsed night-time room service supplier with Hilton's support.
- Participating hotels saw increased room-service revenue, up to 70% gross margin on orders, and excellent guest feedback.
- No night kitchen and no chef on shift — any team member finishes a chef-crafted meal in a Nova Chef smart oven in minutes.
- Nova Chef now serves 12 Hilton, Hampton by Hilton and DoubleTree properties across the UK.
The gap: quality food, 24/7
Every hotel knows the overnight problem. Guests check in late, land from a delayed flight, or finish a long shift and want something hot in their room — but by then the kitchen is closed and the brigade has gone home. Keeping a chef on through the night to cover a handful of orders never adds up, so most hotels fall back on a cold sandwich, a packet of crisps, or an apologetic "the kitchen is closed."
For a premium brand, that is a nightly gap between the experience guests are paying for and the one they actually get. Hilton set out to close it — without asking every property to run a night kitchen.
The trial: an invitation from Hilton Supply Management
In 2025, Hilton Supply Management invited Nova Chef to run a multi-property trial across a group of UK hotels. The brief was simple: deliver genuinely high-quality hot food, at any hour, that the existing overnight team could serve without a chef, a full kitchen, or specialist training.
Nova Chef's model fit the problem exactly. Meals are crafted by chefs in our North West London kitchen, kept at their peak, and finished on-site in a countertop Nova Chef smart oven. A night porter or reception team member loads the dish, presses a button, and plates restaurant-quality food in minutes.
"There's a gap in the market, certainly in the 24/7 through-the-night food. It just wasn't hitting the mark with the quality of food — it was either a dried-up sandwich, nothing of high quality. With Nova Chef we found that really bridged that gap and we got the quality of the food. It tastes amazing, it's zero labour, and it's so easy anyone can just put it in the box."
— Stuart Duff, Hilton
What the trial delivered
The multi-property trial completed successfully. Across the participating hotels it delivered:
Trial results
- An increase in room-service revenue — capturing orders that previously went unserved.
- Up to 70% gross profit margin on room-service orders.
- Excellent guest feedback on food quality and consistency.
- No night kitchen or chef team required to run the service.
Becoming an endorsed supplier
Following the trial, Nova Chef was confirmed by Stuart Duff and Florence Cornish at Hilton as an endorsed supplier for night-time room service — a solution the wider group can adopt with head-office support behind it. For a hotel's F&B and operations teams, that endorsement removes the usual risk of trialling something new: the model has already been proven across multiple Hilton properties.
Where Nova Chef runs today
Nova Chef now supplies night-time room service and hot food across 12 Hilton, Hampton by Hilton and DoubleTree properties in the UK:
- Hilton London Heathrow Airport T4
- Hampton by Hilton London Croydon
- Hilton London Wembley
- Hilton London Metropole
- Hampton by Hilton Luton Airport
- DoubleTree by Hilton West End
- Hilton London Paddington
- Hilton East Midlands Airport
- Hilton Cambridge City Centre
- Hilton Nottingham
- Hilton St George's Park
- DoubleTree by Hilton London
How it works for your hotel
The Nova Chef model is deliberately simple, which is why the overnight team can run it from day one:
- Chef-crafted meals arrive ready. Dishes are prepared by chefs off-site and delivered to the hotel, kept at their peak.
- Any team member finishes the dish. Load it into the Nova Chef smart oven (or your existing combi oven) and press start.
- Restaurant-quality food in minutes. The guest gets a hot, high-quality meal at any hour — with no chef on shift.
No night kitchen, no extra chef wages, no compromise on quality. Just the overnight revenue and guest experience that most hotels write off.
Frequently asked questions
Is Nova Chef an endorsed Hilton supplier?
Yes. Following a 2025 multi-property trial run at Hilton Supply Management's invitation, Nova Chef was confirmed by Stuart Duff and Florence Cornish at Hilton as an endorsed supplier for night-time room service. It now operates across 12 Hilton, Hampton by Hilton and DoubleTree properties in the UK.
How does night-time room service work without a chef?
Chef-crafted meals are delivered to the hotel and kept at their peak. When a guest orders overnight, any team member finishes the dish in a Nova Chef smart oven in minutes — there is no night kitchen and no chef on shift.
What did the Hilton trial deliver?
The trial delivered an increase in room-service revenue, up to 70% gross margin on orders, excellent guest feedback, and no need for a night kitchen or chef team.
Which Hilton hotels use Nova Chef?
Properties include Hilton London Heathrow Airport T4, Hilton London Metropole, Hilton London Wembley, Hilton London Paddington, Hampton by Hilton London Croydon and DoubleTree by Hilton West End, among 12 UK properties in total.
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