RESTAURANT MARKETER & INNOVATOR

Managing Director at THINK Hospitality & Co-Founder of Restaurant Marketer & Innovator. James has worked with more than fifty hospitality brands in ten countries as a senior executive & consultant, including Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group, IHG, Thai Leisure Group, Casual Dining Group, Radisson Hotels, Krispy Kreme, Greene King & Sodexo. He specialises in refining and defining brands, understanding the market, facilitating strategic development and maximising growth opportunities.

I began my career in broadcast in 2010. I worked for a radio PR agency and quickly rose to head up all the food and drink promotions, this foray into the industry uncovered a true culinary passion inside of me. Since then I went onto work in more traditional PR agencies, where I learnt more about the farm to fork element of food, and sourcing became a big interest of mine - understanding where our food comes from is something that really interests me. I have a WSET accreditation and have worked with a number of international food and drink brands/authorities such as Jarlsberg Cheese, Concha Y Toro and the Red Tractor. In 2013 I first became a judge at the Great Taste Awards, and in 2017 I was appointed Head of Awards within Lidl's Marketing team. I initially joined Lidl's PR team after launching the supermarkets first ever PR campaign for its French wine offering in 2014, since then I have been promoted internally a number of times and now oversee all awards for the business, as well as a number of above the line campaigns including Big On Quality, Lidl on Price. I'm a huge foodie, I am fortunate to have been able to travel far and wide in pursuit of great food, and my travels have seen me venture to amazing places like Noma in Copenhagen and Tokyo's famous fish market.

Account Director at MVad, Claire has a  varied history of working in the marketing industry. Skilled in marketing strategy, integrated marketing and Inbound lead generation. Prior to her role at MVad she was Group Marketing Manager for ETM  Group and Marketing Manager of The Restaurant Group's casual dining chain, Frankie & Benny's.

Meg Ellis is the Commercial Director for Honest Burgers who pride themselves onhomemade burger & chips with an uncompromising focus on quality & simplicity and an old school hospitality style for competitive advantage in a busy market. With 36 restaurants across London, Cambridge, Reading, Brighton, Manchester, Liverpool & Cardiff and c.650 employees, Honest Burgers is acknowledged as a Sunday Times Fast Track 100 company in 2015 / 2016 / 2017. They were nominated for best concept at MCA Retailers’ Retail Awards 2018 and were winners of Best overall restaurant operator 20+ sites 2018/19 at the R200 Awards.

Prior to Honest Burgers, Meg’s had a wide sector experience in commercial leadership and strategic marketing most recently in the hospitality and food to go sector and prior to this across a reputable collection of consumer brands in retail, leisure & lifestyle. She describes herself as addicted to building brand equity to drive excitement, commercial return and create memorable experiences.

Dan Burns is Natural Selection Design’s founder and managing director. Dan formed the agency after many years working as a designer, photographer and food stylist for industry press. Dan may be the head honcho, but you’ll just as likely see him setting up props and making tea, as you will directing filming and leading creative strategy.

Dan co-leads the behavioural science practice within Ogilvy Consulting London looking after clients from the public and private sectors. He is a Practitioner, Speaker and Writer on the creative application of behavioural science to the world's stickiest challenges. Joining the practice at its commencement in 2012, he has worked on over 80 of the world’s major brands & organisations.

He has a diverse experience working across the design of products and services, consulting for organisational change and communications across all channels, across many markets. Whether that's designing first generation tech in Silicon Valley, reducing obesity in Mexico, changing cleaning habits in Beijing, call centres in India or shaping the retail environment in South Africa.

Dan co-leads the global hub in London and helped to roll out the practice across the Ogilvy network.

He has led pioneering projects with Spotify, Facebook, Unilever, Nestle, Public Health England, Gatwick Airport, ITV, the Times, British Airways, Mr Muscle, Diageo, Adobe, the EU Parliament, Comic Relief and many more. And winning a range of awards from the Creative Circle, Cannes Lion to the Nudge awards.

He’s been lucky enough to be invited to speak to audiences in over 20 countries about the unseen opportunities behavioural science brings. Some highlights have been Harvard University, National Security summits, Marketing and Social Media conferences, Super Yacht congresses, financial conferences. He has also helped curate the world's largest festival of Behavioural Science, Nudgestock, since it began seven years ago.

Before Ogilvy, Dan was part of a research group at the University of York Psychology department looking at the real world impacts of our mobile phone usage.

Rosie is a creative marketer with experience and knowledge of integrated marketing communications, marketing strategy and project management.  Most recently of Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group, where she revolutionised content production across the restaurant group, adding a sense of agility within the team, rallying the business behind a joint vision on their own channels and building a solid network of engaged champions.

Emine Mehmet is the Group Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Inception Group, managing and implementing the digital marketing strategy of 12 venues, across six unique brands. Emine has a strong passion for digital marketing and, in particular, multi-channel digital launch strategies. In the last year alone, she has successfully launched four new venues with award-winning campaigns that have gone viral. She was previously a Local Marketing Manager for 22 Domino's Pizza sites across London and now manages a fast-growing digital team at Inception Group.    

Mimi has over 10 years experience within the marketing industry, and co-founded Moreton Reynolds just over 4 years ago, aged 24. A full-service creative consultancy, Moreton Reynolds supports the NHS, City Councils & Town BIDs across the UK, as well as restaurant groups and international hotel chains. Originally completing a degree in Archaeology, Mimi soon realised her passion for the marketing world when working part-time at Global Radio (Heart & Capital FM) to fund her university course.

Rachel Persoon is the owner of marketing & PR agency Typhoon Hospitality and branding studio Brandchef, both specialised in the hospitality industry. With clients all over Europe, she advises how they can increase their brand awareness, visibility and revenue. The clients vary from Michelin star restaurants and 5-star hotels to fast-casual restaurants and start-ups. Together with her international team, she travels the world to help her clients; from concept development and brand building till ongoing marketing, PR & social media management. 

Emily has ten year’s sales and marketing experience within the hospitality industry working for Michelin-starred chefs Jason Atherton and Tom Aikens.

Emily is now a marketing consultant specialising in local marketing, business development and sales tactics. Emily’s current clients include Jason Atherton, 2 Michelin Star Moor Hall, software and deli brand Vita Mojo and more. 

Originally from the United States of America, Virginia is currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark. While her University degree is in Political Science, her career has included working in both the film and television industries. She lived in Nashville, Tennessee as well as Los Angeles, California before moving to Germany where she left the entertainment world behind and entered the financial sector. For 10 years she worked as the Finance & Contracts Manager for an aeronautical engineering firm based at the German Space Operations Center, just outside of Munich. In the fall of 2015, Virginia followed her passion for food to Copenhagen where she works as Director of Media Relations & Special Events for 3 Michelin-starred Restaurant Geranium.

Josh Craddock is one of the UK’s leading luxury hotel restaurant and bar marketers, having won the Acorn Award from The Caterer and is also an RMI 30 under 30. Currently working at The Doyle Collection, a family owned luxury hotel group which operates in Ireland, UK and USA; as Restaurants & Bars Marketing Director Josh oversees half of the group’s luxury restaurants, bars and event spaces, including the world’s most followed hotel restaurant on Instagram – his current portfolio spans hotels in London and Washington DC.

Sophie has been in her current role as UK Marketing Director of Puttshack since May 2019. Puttshack is the UK’s leading indoor mini-golf brand and one of the fastest growing competitive socialising concepts in the UK. Her role includes overseeing the marketing team, as well as working with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that all activity is in line with the organisation’s brand values. Prior to joining Puttshack, Sophie held senior marketing roles at a number of high-profile hospitality businesses include Be At One – leading the marketing team to win an award at the 2019 RMI awards. Sophie has also spent time in marketing roles at Novus Leisure, working on brands including Tiger Tiger, and with The Restaurant Group and TGI Fridays.

Originally from Estonia, Heleri has lived in seven countries and holds a Bachelor’s Degree from New York University in Economics and Business, as well as an executive MBA in Hospitality Administration from École Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) in Switzerland. After leading Puccini Group’s growth in EMEA for two years, she has partnered with Think Hospitality to deliver on F&B strategy projects helping brands and owners assess the market, find the right concept positioning and/or operator & chef for the properties. Her portfolio includes the likes of Accor, Hilton, Kempinski, EC4 Hotels, SuperCity Group and Marriott.

Matt has worked in food and drink industry for 20 years with a strong FOH restaurant background. A Tourism and Masters post graduate and now also a published travel writer, co-founder Matt Farrell manages the culinary and business aspects of Graffiti Spirits Group. Keen to elevate Liverpool as one of the UK’s leading hubs for gastronomic excitement and excellence, Matt is passionate about new trends, local produce, and offering locals and visitors the perfect balance between quality and cool. GSG is in its testimonial year and has operated in Liverpool, Birmingham and London in recent years, with a range of eclectic brands. Graffiti Spirits Group has marked its tenth year in business with multiple new venues. 2019 has saw the award-winning group open Duke Street Market – Liverpool’s new culinary hub, Slim’s the new New York diner-style restaurant on Bold Street and gourmet chicken takeaway, combined with a speakeasy style retro arcade, 16 Bit Chicken on Seel Street.

Since leaving his career as a corporate lawyer in 1999, Downey has become a highly influential voice in hospitality - opening over 20 bars, clubs, restaurants and a hotel in London, Ibiza, Chamonix and Melbourne. In 2015 he was named by Debrett’s/Sunday Times as one of the 20 most influential Brits in food and drink and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Spirited Awards in New Orleans.

In 2012 Downey brought his drinks expertise to Street Feast, a street food night market founded in east London. Downey has since organised several events and street food arenas under the Street Feast brand (including Model Market, Dinerama, Hawker House, Giant Robot and Public) all over London; taking derelict and disused spaces and filling them with food, booze, music and vibes.

Andre has worked in a number of marketing roles in the hospitality industry and as UK Marketing Director at wagamama he has been helping to champion the customer across the business including the successful launch of the vegan menu, the launch of the wagamama test kitchen called Noodle Lab in soho, and the launch of the ‘walk-out payment’ app wagamamago™. Prior to that Andre headed up Digital + Loyalty for the business where he worked to put digital into a number of key customer touchpoints.

Robin Himmels is Co-Founder & COO of the healthy food delivery company eatclever. Robin loves being in situations where he can explore the underlying mechanics of things, whether they are machines, processes, or products. Analysing and understanding how a certain ingredient in a recipe influences the taste does not just allow you to tweak the product, but also to develop new products. This insight holds value through all his interests in food, processes & technology. This curiosity led him to found his first company, an affiliate business comprised of multiple couponing platforms. Understanding how consumers and employees behave and how they can be motivated was the reason he studied business psychology and e-business. After selling his first company he decided to combine his passion for food with his desire to build and develop products & businesses. As COO he leads & develops eatclevers teams in the areas of Partner Management, Product Development, Customer Support, and Logistics. He always looks for ways to further improve the way eatclever does things together with the individual team leads.

Adam Handling’s culinary journey started at Gleneagles where he was the first ever trainee chef, before he went on to become Fairmont’s youngest ever Head Chef, culminating in winning Scottish Young Chef of the Year 2011. At the 2013 Acorn Awards, he was the youngest person to be tipped by the Caterer magazine as one of the ‘30 under 30 to watch’. 

Adam opened his first independent restaurant in June 2016 in Shoreditch, London, which won ‘Best Restaurant of the Year’ in the 2017 Food & Travel Reader Awards, alongside 3 AA rosettes and a Michelin Bib Gourmand. In July 2018, Adam moved the restaurant to a new, larger site at 45-47 Hoxton Square. The building, which sits on the corner joining Hoxton Square, Rufus Street, and Old Street, is home to the The Frog Hoxton – which also won a Michelin Bib Gourmand - as well as Bean & Wheat (a sustainable coffee, deli and beer-shop with a focus on zero waste).

In February this year, Adam Handling opened Adam Handling Chelsea at the Belmond Cadogan Hotel, The main restaurant features an open kitchen, with an accompanying Bar and Terrace, as well as the Cadogan’s by Adam Handling tea lounge. Adam is also overseeing the entire food and beverage offering at the hotel, including in-room dining, banqueting and events.

A highly accomplished chef, Adam Handling’s beautifully presented modern British dishes start with careful sourcing of top quality, seasonal ingredients, prepared in a number of different, creative ways to enhance their inherent properties and deliver real depth of flavour and harmony.

Laura Vana holds a MSc in Food Innovation and Health from Copenhagen University where she found her passion in gastrophysics and sensory science. Her topic of research has been about developing methods to educate children about the taste of food. 

At the moment she is working on establishing the sensory education method in kindergartens and elementary schools at the national level in Estonia. In addition, she is leading the research and development in the best restaurant group in the Baltics- Siigur Restaurants.