A food lover who catered for Taylor Swift at her Wembley gig is hoping to help chefs from diverse backgrounds succeed in the UK food industry.

Yuru Guo, 27, came up with the idea for her social enterprise, 'Hey! Food Is Ready!' while studying at Durham University.

She wanted to connect with people through food and has since catered for the Royal Family and the pre-event of Taylor Swift's world tour at Wembley Stadium.

The platform connects certified cooks from minority ethnic groups with companies seeking catering for events.

It helps refugee, immigrant, and stay-at-home cooks share their culture and stories while earning money.

So far, the organisation’s chefs are from more than 60 countries, and 80 per cent are women, compared to just 19 per cent in the industry as a whole.

Ms Guo, who now lives in Willesden Green, said: "I think for people coming to a new country they can feel very disconnected from the community and their culture, and one of the main things that we can connect on is food.

"Food is the universal language."

Ms Guo started hosting Friday night potluck dinners with friends from around the world, each bringing a dish from their culture.

This inspired her to create a platform where people could share their native food cultures and family recipes with the wider community.

She said: "Also, I thought why can’t I help people gain a meaningful income through the platform?

"So like the idea of Uber or Airbnb, I was helping people to make a side hustle in the food space."

Ms Guo has already worked with 125 independent chefs from diverse backgrounds and has now been successful in gaining £18,000 from the Funding Futures Programme to grow the platform, with 350 chefs already on the waiting list to work with the social enterprise.

She added: "What I love about working with UnLtd is that not only are you supported financially with your ambitions for growth but you get to network with like-minded people who want to make change in the community and they provide inspiration to thrive."