Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. Mon to Fri.BRCGS Grade AA certificated01789 224228
TCICulinary Get a quote

How we work

Five moulding routes, one food-contact discipline.

Hand-poured, cast, vacuum-cast, compression, injection. Which one fits depends on batch size, geometry, and how the tray runs.

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Routes5
Food-contactAll grades
UKMade
BRCGS AACertificated

Processes

Five ways we make a food-contact mould.

Five mould-making methods shown as separate physical examples
Five ways a food-contact mould can be made

Every silicone mould is one of five routes. The right one depends on the product, the volume and the paperwork. We'll always recommend the least-tool-heavy route that hits your outcome.

The five routes

How each one works.

01

Hand-poured

Bench-built silicone, straight onto a pattern or an existing object. Where prototyping and short-run food tooling starts. Food-contact grade from cavity one.

02

Cast

Two-part gravity pours around a master. One cavity or a small tray. Decent surface, sensible cost. Workhorse of food-mould work.

03

Vacuum cast

Degassed pours for parts that can't carry a single trapped bubble — high-detail chocolate or fine confectionery cavity work.

04

Compression

Solid silicone pressed and cured under heat in a steel tool. Thousands of parts per tool. Right for scaled dessert or confectionery production.

05

Injection / LSR

Liquid silicone rubber injected at volume. Unit cost dropping as volume rises. Right for national-supply food manufacturing.

Picking a route

Four questions we ask.

01

How many do you need per year?

A dozen a month, or a million a year? The answer shapes the tool spec more than any other single question.

02

How does it demould?

Flex-and-pop, tap-and-catch, invert-onto-belt, warm-water dip. Each drives silicone hardness and cavity geometry.

03

What's the cleandown?

Hand wash, dishwasher, tunnel, caustic. Cleandown drives grade selection more than fill does.

04

Where is the design going?

One dish on one menu, or a range across ten sites. That governs whether one bench tray is enough or a matched fleet is needed.

At a glance

The idea in a picture.

How a food mould gets made

  1. 01DrawingWe agree the shape with you
  2. 02MasterMade to the drawing
  3. 03Proof cavityPoured in food-grade silicone
  4. 04Your testTry it with your own recipe
  5. 05Full trayPoured or pressed to size
  6. 06On recordGrade and drawing kept for reorders

Swipe to see the whole diagram

Nothing goes into full production until you have tested a cavity with your own recipe.

Not sure which route fits?

Talk to us — the enquiry is the routing conversation.

Tell us the product, the volume and the wash. We'll route it.

Send an enquiry 01789 224228

Real people, a real workshop

You deal with the people who make it.

No call centre and no middlemen. When you contact TCI Culinary, you speak to the team who design, build and check your mould.

  • A real Warwickshire workshopUnit 15, Waterloo Park, Bidford-on-Avon, Alcester B50 4JG.
  • Real people on the phoneCall the team on 01789 224228, Monday to Friday.
  • The same team on every jobDesign, production and aftercare come from the people you see here.
  • BRCGS Grade AATechcraft Industries Culinary Ltd. See the certificate details.
The TCI workshop, with moulds on the bench mid-build.
The TCI workshop, with moulds on the bench mid-build.
The TCI design and project office.
The TCI design and project office.
A stack of TCI silicone moulds.
A stack of TCI silicone moulds.
  • Thomas LaneManaging Director
  • George PrestonDesign & Project Manager
  • Kelly BallingerHead of Partnerships
  • Jim AndertonProduction Manager
  • TheodoreEmployee Welfare
Meet the team