With 30+ years’ experience of working within, (with Hilton, Pret A Manger, Compass, Albert Roux), then developing, analysing and commentating (with Allegra and MCA Insight) on the UK foodservice/hospitality industry, Simon is acknowledged as the leading analyst of the market and recognised as an expert in making sense out of all the data and insight available. Simon founded Future Foodservice in 2019, using his foresight to advise on what will happen in the future.

Caroline Ottoy is the Managing Director of WatchHouse, with nearly 30 years of experience in hospitality and retail. She has a proven track record of scaling brands, having helped grow ASK Italian and Zizzi from their earliest days, and later expanding Wildwood and dim t with Tasty. Before joining WatchHouse in 2023, she served as Operations Director at Planet Organic. Since then, she has led WatchHouse through significant growth, doubling the estate and launching its first international location in New York.

Culture isn’t a buzzword—it’s hospitality’s secret weapon, and Kieron has spent three decades proving it. From scrubbing pans to founding ventures that reimagine service, he’s turned restaurants into hives of leadership excellence and staff rooms into labs of human potential. As the mind behind campaigns for hospitality mentor campaigns events such as EXP101 and Service!, Kieron crafts training, events, and strategies that transform not just businesses, but the people within them. With ground-up wisdom, a scalpel for excuses, and empathy sharper than any steak knife, he shows leaders how culture becomes competitive edge—and why unforgettable experiences always start backstage.

With 20 year leadership experience in hospitality and retail, working with high quality aspirational brands, Tom has become an expert in developing food and drink propositions for growth. His experience across operations, commercial, supply base, and most recently international enable a holistic understanding of what is needed for a new format or concept to be successful. Tom’s speciality in coffee product and preposition development as an SCA diploma holder, and recently becoming a UKBC judge.

Guy Meakin is President and Managing Director of Krispy Kreme UK & Ireland. He was appointed in November 2024 to lead the brand’s operations across the UK and Ireland as it aims to deliver its joyful experiences to more customers.

Guy brings extensive experience in the quick-service restaurant sector, having spent seven years at Pret A Manger in senior roles including Interim Managing Director for the UK & Ireland and UK Shops & Franchise Director. Guy is passionate about foodservice and retail, having also worked at major brands including Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Gu.

Andy took over as CEO of Tortilla in April 2024. An accountant by background, Andy joined Tortilla in 2017 as Finance Director (later becoming CFO and Commercial Director). Andy led on business development, forging successful franchise partnerships with SSP and Compass Group. In 2021, Andy took the business through an initial public offering and now Tortilla trades as a public company, listed on AIM.

With 30+ years’ experience of working within, (with Hilton, Pret A Manger, Compass, Albert Roux), then developing, analysing and commentating (with Allegra and MCA Insight) on the UK foodservice/hospitality industry, Simon is acknowledged as the leading analyst of the market and recognised as an expert in making sense out of all the data and insight available. Simon founded Future Foodservice in 2019, using his foresight to advise on what will happen in the future.

Julian Metcalfe, OBE, is the founder and group CEO of itsu – the UK’s leading Asian-inspired food brand. Prior to founding itsu in 1997, Julian had already made a name for himself having founded the UK’s best-known sandwich shop, Pret a Manger, in 1986.

Julian, a leading figure in the UK’s food and drink industry, is determined that health[ier] food is a right for the many, not a privilege for the few.

itsu restaurants offer fresh & nutritious hot & cold noodles, rice, sushi and salads at similar, if not better, prices than neighbouring fast-food deep fried giants.

Many of itsu restaurant’s ingredients are supplied by Metcalfe’s highly innovative itsu [grocery] company. itsu [grocery] has over 70 products across ambient, frozen, and chilled in over 56,000 supermarkets and health food shops across Europe.

Alongside nurturing award-winning seaweed’thins, gyoza & broths Julian and his grocery team continue to innovate on their journey to becoming the number 1. Asian-inspired brand in the UK, Europe & the USA.

There are currently 100 restaurants across the UK and Europe, with plans to open hundreds more company owned and franchise sites over the coming years.

Julian lives in London with his wife with his seven children.

Adrian Frid has over 40 years’ experience in the hospitality Industry as the Operations Director for some of the biggest brands in the country. In a career spanning over 23 years at Mitchells & Butlers, Adrian’s multi-site expertise oversaw the opening of over 100 pubs in the Premium Pub sector, before his role as Retail Director of Miller & Carter focused on shaping and redefining the brand for future growth while ensuring operational excellence was maintained. After joining Caffè Nero as Operations Director in 2014, Adrian spent 11 years leading over 600 UK stores, and consulting into four other brands.

Joining 200 Degrees Coffee as its Commercial Director during the pandemic Will brought with him 20 years of experience in the coffee sector having held senior positions in the industry, including his prior roles at UCC Coffee and Matthew Algie previously. Will manages all commercial aspects of the business; particularly its wholesale offer, green coffee buying and the online sale of beans and coffee machines. The Nottingham based roastery business is part of The Caffe Nero Group and has 23 distinctive coffee shops, six barista schools, as well as wholesale, subscription, and ecommerce elements.

Bharti Radix is the founder of BloomsYard, a growing café wine bar brand known for its feel-good spaces and community-driven ethos. With over 16 years’ experience in hospitality finance, including scaling Jamie Oliver Restaurants and leading major brand acquisitions, Bharti brings both structure and soul to every venture. A proud British Asian entrepreneur, mentor and speaker, she built BloomsYard from scratch with no outside investment while raising two young children. Bharti now uses her platform to champion diversity, mentor rising founders and show what’s possible when you lead with purpose, grit…and a strong flat white.

With 30+ years’ experience of working within, (with Hilton, Pret A Manger, Compass, Albert Roux), then developing, analysing and commentating (with Allegra and MCA Insight) on the UK foodservice/hospitality industry, Simon is acknowledged as the leading analyst of the market and recognised as an expert in making sense out of all the data and insight available. Simon founded Future Foodservice in 2019, using his foresight to advise on what will happen in the future.

James has more than 15 years experience in Marketing, with specialist experience in Partnerships, Loyalty, and CRM. Working for two famous brands in his career: HMV and now at Caffè Nero where he leads the marketing team in the UK. Architect of the some of the nation’s most popular partnership campaigns and an industry leader in digital loyalty and customer relationship management.

Culture isn’t a buzzword—it’s hospitality’s secret weapon, and Kieron has spent three decades proving it. From scrubbing pans to founding ventures that reimagine service, he’s turned restaurants into hives of leadership excellence and staff rooms into labs of human potential. As the mind behind campaigns for hospitality mentor campaigns events such as EXP101 and Service!, Kieron crafts training, events, and strategies that transform not just businesses, but the people within them. With ground-up wisdom, a scalpel for excuses, and empathy sharper than any steak knife, he shows leaders how culture becomes competitive edge—and why unforgettable experiences always start backstage.

Romy joined Knoops as CMO in 2024 to realise the ambition of creating a new category – doing for chocolate drinks what has been done for barista coffee. Romy’s has extensive experience delivering fame and commercial results for iconic brands. Romy’s favourite Knoops is a 54% Iced Chocolate.

Simon Peck is a seasoned Marketing Director with 20 years of experience leading innovative marketing strategies that balance creativity and commerciality, consistently delivering profitable brand growth and enhanced customer experiences. Currently serving as bp’s Marketing Director – Mobility and Convenience, Simon has been at bp since September 2024. Prior to joining bp, Simon held marketing positions at major retailers including Tesco, Currys, Ralph Lauren and Starbucks

Jo brings almost 20 years of hospitality experience to KAM, across agency, operator and supplier businesses within the industry. Building her expertise across multiple projects and disciplines including research and insight, marketing and PR, sales driving, guest experience and operationally focussed projects.

Jo joined KAM at the end of 2022 in the role of Account Director, to help the support the team with their plans for the future development of the business, and work closely with our existing and future clients.

William Gordon-Harris is an Experienced Entrepreneur, early stage seed investor and incubator. He first discovered Knoops in 2017 as a single shop in Rye on the south coast of the UK and since 2019 now leads this ultra-fast growth, omni channel international brand building the chocolate drinks category as a disruptive first mover.

Christian has over 20 years of experience in retail and food service. He has worked extensively in manufacturing and, over the last 8 years, exclusively in the food service area, working for YUM brands in the Middle East and, most recently, for Burger King UK, where he has been for over 6 years. Christian is a passionate food leader who enjoys nothing more than creating big-tasting innovative menu platforms to keep the guests returning for more and more. In his current role, Christian is responsible for the whole menu, from ideation to execution.

With over 15 years’ experience in the food and baking industry, Rachel brings a wealth of expertise from some of the UK’s most renowned brands. Having joined Paul UK in the summer of 2024, she is responsible for leading the bakery’s food strategy, overseeing product development, and ensuring the highest standards of quality across all offerings. Driving the creation of new and exciting products that align with market trends and consumer preferences and collaborating with production teams to enhance processes and maximise efficiency, without compromising quality.

Rusty has worked in the food service/ QSR industry for the past 15 years.

In this time he has held various roles across operations, marketing, commercialisation and most recently as the Senior Innovation Manager in Subway, overseeing the menu development for 31 countries across EMEA.

With 30+ years’ experience of working within, (with Hilton, Pret A Manger, Compass, Albert Roux), then developing, analysing and commentating (with Allegra and MCA Insight) on the UK foodservice/hospitality industry, Simon is acknowledged as the leading analyst of the market and recognised as an expert in making sense out of all the data and insight available. Simon founded Future Foodservice in 2019, using his foresight to advise on what will happen in the future.

Gareth has over 15 years of experience in out-of-home food & drink research and insights, specialising in consumer tracking, understanding changes in behaviour and attitudes and ultimately helping clients to take action, ignite innovation and unlock business growth. Gareth has spent the last six years at Circana, the leading adviser on the complexity of consumer behaviour, where he heads up the Foodservice Receipt Panel, SnapMyEats, which is the gold standard for tracking and analysing out-of-home GB Food & Beverage buyers and their purchase behaviour.

Peter Linden is an Associate Director at Circana, a global data & insights agency. In his role he helps foodservice operators and manufacturers navigate the market and identify growth opportunities through data and insights.

Robyne is Head of Operations at The Salad Project, one of London’s fastest-growing QSR brands. Passionate about blending operational excellence with a culture where teams thrive, she leads multi-site operations, turning strategic goals into everyday success. With a hands-on, inspiring leadership style, Robyne has helped expand the brand’s reach, create experiences customers love, and build teams that take pride in their work — always keeping people at the heart of every decision.

Jack Brewitt is the founder of 92 Degrees, a UK-based chain of coffee shops and roastery. Under his leadership, the company has expanded to 20 locations in 5 cities and plans to double its footprint.

Most recently, January 2025, 92 Degrees announced that they will be available to franchise across the UK with over 1,000 enquires already. This will allow the brand to expand into new territories, utilising local knowledge and experience in operating business in areas 92 Degrees have not been before.

Currently operates stores in travel locations and high streets in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Josh Brown is Commercial Director at WatchHouse, leading the brand’s UK and international growth across retail, franchise, and commercial channels. With over a decade in specialty coffee, his career spans independent entrepreneurship, large-scale operations, and product development. He founded and successfully exited his own café before holding senior roles at Harris+Hoole, Patisserie Valerie, and GAIL’s Bakery, where he led coffee business development. Josh joined WatchHouse in 2024 as Head of Coffee, overseeing quality and innovation. In 2025, he was promoted to Commercial Director, supporting the brand’s next phase of expansion in London, New York, and beyond.

Liz started her early career in the computer games industry. Frequently travelling by train for business, she experienced a frustration by the lack of great coffee and good quality food, “Up North”. Loving the rising antipodean-style coffee culture flourishing in London, she saw an opportunity to bring this to railway commuters.
When Liz set up Gourmet in 2007, it was designed to provide a premium coffee experience for passengers on the go. Today Gourmet operate 32 sites across the UK, partnering with several major railway operators, including Avanti, GWR, Northern, East Midlands Railway, Transport for Wales and others.

Bharti Radix is the founder of BloomsYard, a growing café wine bar brand known for its feel-good spaces and community-driven ethos. With over 16 years’ experience in hospitality finance, including scaling Jamie Oliver Restaurants and leading major brand acquisitions, Bharti brings both structure and soul to every venture. A proud British Asian entrepreneur, mentor and speaker, she built BloomsYard from scratch with no outside investment while raising two young children. Bharti now uses her platform to champion diversity, mentor rising founders and show what’s possible when you lead with purpose, grit…and a strong flat white.

Nick is the visionary behind Sandwich Sandwich, a game-changing sandwich shop that began in Bristol and now delights food lovers in London. With roots in fine dining and hospitality, Nick’s journey has always been driven by a passion for quality ingredients and unforgettable flavours. From running a wine bar in London to a successful 12-year stint in fine dining, Nick honed the skills that set his sandwiches apart. What started as a modest idea in a small shop next to his restaurant has grown into a must-visit destination for foodies.

With 30+ years’ experience of working within, (with Hilton, Pret A Manger, Compass, Albert Roux), then developing, analysing and commentating (with Allegra and MCA Insight) on the UK foodservice/hospitality industry, Simon is acknowledged as the leading analyst of the market and recognised as an expert in making sense out of all the data and insight available. Simon founded Future Foodservice in 2019, using his foresight to advise on what will happen in the future.

As one of the founders of Chaiiwala, Sohail Ali has grown the company from its start-up in 2015 to become the UKs’ fastest growing independent chains. The cult Indian street food and chai tea chain is going from strength to strength, opening the first ever Indian drive through in the UK last year and with plans to expand even more.

Sohail possesses a rare combination of business and creative credentials. He is a successful entrepreneur, charismatic speaker and acknowledged leader in brand marketing and communications leading the creative side of things previously and now focusing on growth.

Spencer Craig is the founder & CEO of Pure. Pure’s mission is to put pleasure into food on-the-go and at work. With 15 shops across central London, four catering hubs and a central kitchen, Pure’s award winning recipes are served to over 60,000 people every week. Pure has recently launched its Food for Business service which includes catering for events, workplace feeding and a wholesale range. This new service aims to make meetings magic, events extraordinary and workplaces wonderful by taking the same award-winning recipes and service from the Pure shops and applying this to new business services.

Pano Christou has been CEO of Pret A Manger since October 2019. Pano’s journey with Pret began 25 years ago when he joined the Carnaby Street shop as an Assistant Manager. Pano also sits on the board of Scandinavian coffee chain, Espresso House, and is one of the Trustees for Pret’s charitable arm, The Pret Foundation, which aims to help to break the cycle of homelessness.

Under his leadership, Pret’s footprint has grown significantly. The business now operates in 21 markets across 4 continents and £1 in every £4 is spent outside the UK, making Pret a truly international brand.

Culture isn’t a buzzword—it’s hospitality’s secret weapon, and Kieron has spent three decades proving it. From scrubbing pans to founding ventures that reimagine service, he’s turned restaurants into hives of leadership excellence and staff rooms into labs of human potential. As the mind behind campaigns for hospitality mentor campaigns events such as EXP101 and Service!, Kieron crafts training, events, and strategies that transform not just businesses, but the people within them. With ground-up wisdom, a scalpel for excuses, and empathy sharper than any steak knife, he shows leaders how culture becomes competitive edge—and why unforgettable experiences always start backstage.

Nick has over 20 years international retail, property & propositions experience having worked with major retailers in UK, Europe & Australia. He joined Costa Coffee in 2023 to lead its Global Retail Propositions and has been leading Property & Store Development since 2024. Nick has spearheaded Costa’s significant refresh programme that has now transformed over 400 stores in the last 18 months, reset its network strategy to grow and accelerate its new store opening programme, and is driving greater propositional evolution into its retail network in the UK and across the globe.

Seb is the Chief Operating Officer of Burger King UK and has over 25 years’ of operations experience drawn from a range of different sectors. Seb has held senior roles at Waitrose where he was both Head of Retail Operations and Head of Customer Experience, and at Dyson where he set up the Direct Retail business across Northern Europe. Before joining BKUK, Seb was COO of two early stage tech start ups in the Property and Care sectors. Passionate about delivering an outstanding customer experience through great frontline leadership, Seb is focused on continuing BKUK’s operational transformation.

With 30+ years’ experience of working within, (with Hilton, Pret A Manger, Compass, Albert Roux), then developing, analysing and commentating (with Allegra and MCA Insight) on the UK foodservice/hospitality industry, Simon is acknowledged as the leading analyst of the market and recognised as an expert in making sense out of all the data and insight available. Simon founded Future Foodservice in 2019, using his foresight to advise on what will happen in the future.

Peter Backman is the Founder of theDelivery.World, host of The Delivery Prophets podcast and webinars, one of the authors of theDelivery.World newsletter, and International Editor of Food On Demand.

He is deeply involved in restaurant delivery and tech in the UK, USA, Europe, India, the Far East, the Gulf.

His clients benefit from his challenging views based on data-driven insights into what’s going on in the world of restaurant delivery, knowledge of the up and coming companies, and informed opinions about investment opportunities.

He regularly speak at conferences worldwide and my views are sought by leading financial and business media.

Having not worked in hospitality since her first job in McDonalds in Melbourne Australia, Alicia made the bold move and took over the M&S Hospitality remit in November 2023. Since then she has been transforming and renewing their traditional Cafes, with long queues and wait times, into modern, fast-service Coffee Shops . Alicia has also streamlined the M&S counters to focus single-mindedly on Rotisserie Chicken, Hot Pizza and freshly made Sushi.

With 30+ years’ experience of working within, (with Hilton, Pret A Manger, Compass, Albert Roux), then developing, analysing and commentating (with Allegra and MCA Insight) on the UK foodservice/hospitality industry, Simon is acknowledged as the leading analyst of the market and recognised as an expert in making sense out of all the data and insight available. Simon founded Future Foodservice in 2019, using his foresight to advise on what will happen in the future.

Following 16 years scaling global QSR brands, Everett Fieldgate is now at the helm of Creams Café, the UK’s leading dessert-café chain. As a former CFO, CDO and GM at Costa Coffee, KFC and Americana, working across UK/Ireland, Europe, Middle East and SE Asia, he’s opened 100-plus restaurants, secured multimillion-pound franchise deals and launched concepts in markets as diverse as Malaysia, Morocco and Iraq. Now driving Creams Café’s expansion in the UK and its international roll-out, Everett pairs CFO-level financial rigour with hands-on operational know-how to lift margins while accelerating store growth.

Gavin’s focus is on helping businesses enhance their food-to-go proposition, working with clients across Europe to deliver this, often through his retail & food-to-go safari solutions. A core part of this is tracking innovative and inspirational food-to-go concept development. Prior to founding Food Futures Insights in 2019, he established and led IGD’s food-to-go insight and retail safari programmes.

With 20 years of experience in the hospitality sector, Edyta Stec, Operations Director at GAIL’s bakery is a passionate leader, consistently striving for growth across operational delivery and experience with a renowned history of nurturing and developing her teams to reach their full potential. Drawing from a decade’s experience at wagamama across the UK and America, Edyta has grown a operational suite of knowledge spanning from new openings to brand visions at scale. She is proud of be a part of the GAIL’s team as they continue their food mission, to make world-class baking a part of every neighbourhood.

Luke Shaughnessy is an accomplished operations executive with extensive experience in the coffee and hospitality industry. In his current role as Regional Director for Costa Coffee, he oversees all business operations across London, the south, and the east of the UK.

Prior to joining Costa Coffee, Luke served as the Global Operations and Franchise Director at Four Winters, a Middle East-based cafe concept. Under his leadership, he successfully delivered new market entry into the key UK and US markets.

Before that, Luke spent 6 years in senior operations roles with specialty coffee chain Harris + Hoole.

Joining 200 Degrees Coffee as its Commercial Director during the pandemic Will brought with him 20 years of experience in the coffee sector having held senior positions in the industry, including his prior roles at UCC Coffee and Matthew Algie previously. Will manages all commercial aspects of the business; particularly its wholesale offer, green coffee buying and the online sale of beans and coffee machines. The Nottingham based roastery business is part of The Caffe Nero Group and has 23 distinctive coffee shops, six barista schools, as well as wholesale, subscription, and ecommerce elements.

Will Laycock is Head of Operations at Gourmet Coffee Bar & Kitchen and has been part of the team for over 14 years. Starting out as a barista, he’s grown with the company as it expanded from one outlet to more than 30 nationwide. Having worked at every level, Will knows the business inside out. His passion for great coffee, friendly service, and creating a smooth customer experience continues to drive the success of Gourmet Coffee Bar today.

Gavin’s focus is on helping businesses enhance their food-to-go proposition, working with clients across Europe to deliver this, often through his retail & food-to-go safari solutions. A core part of this is tracking innovative and inspirational food-to-go concept development. Prior to founding Food Futures Insights in 2019, he established and led IGD’s food-to-go insight and retail safari programmes.

Lesley Mcilroy is a commercially driven Marketing Director at Ole & Steen, a premium Danish bakery brand with a global footprint. With extensive experience in hospitality, Lesley has led marketing and sales strategies across executive teams, driving growth through innovation and brand development. Her career spans leadership roles at The Light, State of Play Hospitality, and Bill’s Restaurants, where she’s delivered impactful campaigns and launched new concepts. Passionate about building high-performing teams in positive, dynamic environments, Lesley brings both strategic vision and hands-on execution to every challenge.

Simran Sablok is an award-winning CMO with more than two decades of proven track record in Restaurants, Hospitality, FMCG and media sectors across UK, Europe and South Asia. Experienced in global hospitality brands like KFC & Pizza Hut, a 1500+ strong Asian coffee chain, and start up brand Meatless Farm, Simran has extensive domain expertise in product management, communication, creative strategy & CRM , along with the management of integrated mainstream and digital media platforms. As CMO at Creams , she has been a driving force behind the company’s marketing, innovation, and new product development.

Head of Marketing at Auntie Anne’s UK & Ireland, overseeing brand strategy and campaigns to support commercial growth. Siobhan led the rollout of the brand’s refreshed identity and national activations with partners like Biscoff® and an award-winning PAW Patrol: The Movie™ campaign. Her background spans food, hospitality and lifestyle brands, with a focus on creative marketing and strategic partnerships that connect with customers across channels.

George Shutt (he/him) has been working in coffee since 2013, with a focus on hospitality, training and building great teams. He’s an Authorised SCA Trainer and has delivered over a hundred courses over the years, alongside judging at the UK Barista Championship across ten seasons in sensory, technical and head judging roles. These days, George works at Harris + Hoole, where he looks after quality, supports new product development and helps shape in-store campaigns. He’s especially interested in flavour, service culture and the way coffee brings people together.

Jessica has been fortunate enough to work for respectable roasters and brands across the UK – starting as a Barista and then working her way up to Management, Events, Sales and Barista Trainer. After spending the last 6 years in London, she made the move North to expand her skills and share her knowledge. Now proudly working for Gourmet Coffee Bar & Kitchen as their Head of Coffee, she is restructuring their training programme and quality across 30 locations UK wide.

Jessica is Head of Coffee at Gail’s Bakery and has led the coffee program over the past decade. She also serves on the Board of the Specialty Coffee Association.

She is passionate about building culture, creating experiences for consumers and building opportunities for personal development. She fundamentally believes that specialty coffee can serve as a vehicle for driving both local and global change, especially at scale.

Mat is leading the rapid expansion of Cornish Bakery, which traces its roots to Mevagissey in Cornwall and now has 66 bakeries across the UK. Mat, working alongside founder Steve Grouctt, leads an 800-strong team with a people-first culture and ambition to change to hospitality for good. The brand predicted that ‘Bakery is the new coffee shop’ and has plans to expand significantly following recent successful openings in Winchester, Chelmsford, Milton Keynes, and Cirencester.

Nicolas Gaillot is the COO of PARIS BAGUETTE where he runs operations across the UK and Ireland. Based in London, he’s built his career in the food and hospitality world with leadership roles at Le Pain Quotidien, Vagabond Wines, and La Bottega.

With over 20 years of experience, Nicolas is known for growing businesses, creating great guest experiences, and building strong teams. He started out in hospitality with Whitbread and Mitchells & Butlers, and today continues to focus on innovation and people first leadership.

Steve graduated with a Food Science degree from Leeds University and a MBA from Reading University.

He has over 35 years’ experience in the food and beverage sector, with C suite roles across large PLC’s as well as family enterprises.

Added to this is several years of work on M&A’s that led him to buy a 50% share in Two Magpies Bakery in 2018, then became the full owner in early 2023.

He has taken Two Magpies from a single cafe/bakery to 10 cafes and a £10 million business in 6 years.

Adam Miller is a young entrepreneur from Australia who has resided in the UK for 4 years. Cutting his teeth in the Hospitality Tech space equipped him with the skills and confidence to launch his own hospitality business – Rolled, the UK’s first Aussie-style sushi brand.

Since launching Rolled in Manchester last year, Adam has launched two other sites to accommodate the growing demand for fresh and delicious grab-and-go sushi, all delivered with the Aussie vibes everyone loves.

Danielle Best grew up in a thriving family business. By age seven, she’d already decided she’d grow her own empire – bigger and better! After falling in love with bold Mexican flavours on her travels, the multi-award-winning businesswoman opened the original dine-in Mexi Bean in 2020. A year later, she spotted a gap in the market and Mexi Bean Express was born. Today, the brand boasts six locations across Yorkshire and, in response to ever-increasing demand, the Mexi Bean Express franchise launched in 2025. With deals already in the pipeline, UK domination is inevitable and global expansion not far behind!

Gavin’s focus is on helping businesses enhance their food-to-go proposition, working with clients across Europe to deliver this, often through his retail & food-to-go safari solutions. A core part of this is tracking innovative and inspirational food-to-go concept development. Prior to founding Food Futures Insights in 2019, he established and led IGD’s food-to-go insight and retail safari programmes.

Matthew Ashley is the owner and driving force behind Assenheims Catering Ltd, one of London’s most respected names in South American-inspired food for offices and events. With a keen focus on fresh, vibrant flavours and exceptional service, Matthew has grown Assenheims Catering from a single lunch spot into a thriving multi-site business, serving thousands of loyal customers across the city. His hands-on approach, expertise in hospitality, and passion for bringing people together through great food have established him as a trusted partner for corporate clients and private clients alike.

Jon Lake is Managing Director of Europe’s largest Asian QSR brand Chopstix and has been at the helm of the company since 2018.

Working closely with co-founders, Sam Elia and Menashe Sadik, Jon has overseen the rapid growth of the group, which comprises Chopstix Noodle Bar, Yangtze and Chozen Noodle, following an acquisition in 2023.

Last year Jon was instrumental in securing a strategic investment in the brand from leading QSR platform QSRP, which has taken a majority share in Chopstix. This partnership looks set to accelerate growth for both companies in the UK and across Europe.

Mat is leading the rapid expansion of Cornish Bakery, which traces its roots to Mevagissey in Cornwall and now has 66 bakeries across the UK. Mat, working alongside founder Steve Grouctt, leads an 800-strong team with a people-first culture and ambition to change to hospitality for good. The brand predicted that ‘Bakery is the new coffee shop’ and has plans to expand significantly following recent successful openings in Winchester, Chelmsford, Milton Keynes, and Cirencester.

With 30+ years’ experience of working within, (with Hilton, Pret A Manger, Compass, Albert Roux), then developing, analysing and commentating (with Allegra and MCA Insight) on the UK foodservice/hospitality industry, Simon is acknowledged as the leading analyst of the market and recognised as an expert in making sense out of all the data and insight available. Simon founded Future Foodservice in 2019, using his foresight to advise on what will happen in the future.

With 30+ years’ experience of working within, (with Hilton, Pret A Manger, Compass, Albert Roux), then developing, analysing and commentating (with Allegra and MCA Insight) on the UK foodservice/hospitality industry, Simon is acknowledged as the leading analyst of the market and recognised as an expert in making sense out of all the data and insight available. Simon founded Future Foodservice in 2019, using his foresight to advise on what will happen in the future.

Caroline Ottoy is the Managing Director of WatchHouse, with nearly 30 years of experience in hospitality and retail. She has a proven track record of scaling brands, having helped grow ASK Italian and Zizzi from their earliest days, and later expanding Wildwood and dim t with Tasty. Before joining WatchHouse in 2023, she served as Operations Director at Planet Organic. Since then, she has led WatchHouse through significant growth, doubling the estate and launching its first international location in New York.

Culture isn’t a buzzword—it’s hospitality’s secret weapon, and Kieron has spent three decades proving it. From scrubbing pans to founding ventures that reimagine service, he’s turned restaurants into hives of leadership excellence and staff rooms into labs of human potential. As the mind behind campaigns for hospitality mentor campaigns events such as EXP101 and Service!, Kieron crafts training, events, and strategies that transform not just businesses, but the people within them. With ground-up wisdom, a scalpel for excuses, and empathy sharper than any steak knife, he shows leaders how culture becomes competitive edge—and why unforgettable experiences always start backstage.

With 20 year leadership experience in hospitality and retail, working with high quality aspirational brands, Tom has become an expert in developing food and drink propositions for growth. His experience across operations, commercial, supply base, and most recently international enable a holistic understanding of what is needed for a new format or concept to be successful. Tom’s speciality in coffee product and preposition development as an SCA diploma holder, and recently becoming a UKBC judge.

Guy Meakin is President and Managing Director of Krispy Kreme UK & Ireland. He was appointed in November 2024 to lead the brand’s operations across the UK and Ireland as it aims to deliver its joyful experiences to more customers.

Guy brings extensive experience in the quick-service restaurant sector, having spent seven years at Pret A Manger in senior roles including Interim Managing Director for the UK & Ireland and UK Shops & Franchise Director. Guy is passionate about foodservice and retail, having also worked at major brands including Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Gu.

Andy took over as CEO of Tortilla in April 2024. An accountant by background, Andy joined Tortilla in 2017 as Finance Director (later becoming CFO and Commercial Director). Andy led on business development, forging successful franchise partnerships with SSP and Compass Group. In 2021, Andy took the business through an initial public offering and now Tortilla trades as a public company, listed on AIM.

With 30+ years’ experience of working within, (with Hilton, Pret A Manger, Compass, Albert Roux), then developing, analysing and commentating (with Allegra and MCA Insight) on the UK foodservice/hospitality industry, Simon is acknowledged as the leading analyst of the market and recognised as an expert in making sense out of all the data and insight available. Simon founded Future Foodservice in 2019, using his foresight to advise on what will happen in the future.