The Outdoor Kitchen Collective
The Outdoor Kitchen Collective (TOK_C) designs and installs bespoke, high-end outdoor kitchens and Renson pergolas, transforming outdoor spaces into fully functioning extensions of the home. The business was founded by entrepreneur brothers Ben and Simon Hawkins, who brought years of prior experience designing and building exquisite high-end gardens with New Form Landscapes before turning their attention to outdoor kitchens. Alongside Emily, they launched WWOO UK a decade ago after identifying a gap in the UK market for premium outdoor kitchen design. That original venture laid the groundwork for TOK_C’s evolution in 2020 into a dedicated collective offering a broader, more tailored service to discerning clients.
At the heart of the brand is a simple but powerful proposition: outdoor living, 365 days a year. Rather than positioning outdoor kitchens as a seasonal luxury, TOK_C frames them as a long-term lifestyle investment — spaces designed for year-round use, entertaining, and enjoyment regardless of the British climate. Central to this is the use of Renson canopies, which create a fully sheltered “outdoor room” — a concept that has become one of the most sought-after additions to premium homes, offering the comfort and usability of an indoor space with none of the compromise on outdoor living.
Clients can experience this vision first-hand at TOK_C’s luxury 3,200-square-foot design barn in St Albans, a dedicated showroom space where bespoke kitchen designs, materials, and finishes can be explored in an immersive, real-world setting rather than through catalogues or renders alone.
Why visit in person
A project of this scale and investment cannot be fully appreciated on screen. Visiting the TOK_C Barn & Design Studios allows clients to physically touch and compare materials, finishes, and surfaces side by side — seeing how natural light plays across worktops, how cabinetry doors feel to open and close, and how different design combinations look and feel together in a real setting. It also allows clients to sit down face-to-face with the design team, talk through their space, lifestyle, and aspirations in detail, and start shaping a genuinely bespoke concept rather than a generic template. For many, stepping into the barn is the moment an outdoor kitchen stops being an abstract idea and becomes a tangible, exciting reality — helping clients feel fully confident in a significant investment before committing to their project.
Education is a core part of the client journey. TOK_C runs outdoor cooking masterclasses, designed to help clients — both before and after purchase — get the most from their new space and understand how it can genuinely enhance their everyday lifestyle. These sessions reinforce the brand’s positioning as more than an installer: TOK_C sees itself as a guide to a new way of living, not simply a supplier of products.
TOK_C’s client base is evenly split between private homeowners and professional referrers, including architects, interior designers, garden designers, and construction industry partners. Heading up Marketing, Brand and Events, Emily — who has been part of the business since the launch of WWOO UK — leads the strategy for engaging both audiences, from brand positioning and client experience to relationship-building with the design community. As part of this, TOK_C is developing an educational seminar series, “Designing Outdoor Living,” offered as an informal Lunch & Learn format to build credibility and trust with architects and designers.
The company’s portfolio has expanded to include prestigious country estates alongside private residential projects, reflecting the calibre of work the team now delivers — growth shaped by key staff who continue to elevate the business’s standards and reputation.
Through its combination of experienced, visionary founders, bespoke craftsmanship, an immersive design showroom, hands-on client education, and close relationships with the design community, TOK_C is positioned as the destination for exclusive, large-scale outdoor living projects — appealing to clients who value quality, originality, and long-term design integration over off-the-shelf solutions.
W: The Outdoor Kitchen Collective
W: Pro page
E: Sales
E: Marketing and Events
T: 01727 743 712
A: The Outdoor Kitchen Collective (TOK_C), Coleman Croft, Woodcock Hill, St Albans, AL4 9HJ
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