James has worked in hospitality for over 20 years. He started washing pots at the age of 13 and has worked as a chef, front or house and as a manager before moving into marketing roles. James spent 2 years working with Ann Elliott before then heading to New Zealand where he spent 2.5 years living in Wellington as Head of Commercial & Marketing for the largest hospitality group in New Zealand, opening 12 venues in that time. After stupidly deciding to return from New Zealand nearly 7 and a half years ago now, James enjoyed a brief stint as Head of Insight at Airship before moving to Head of Marketing at Ego Restaurants where he oversaw the full re-brand of the business as well as their joint venture with Mitchels & Butlers. He opened another 12 sites in 3 years there before Covid hit and has now spent the last 2 plus years working as Sales & Marketing Director of East Coast Concepts who operate 2 brands with 6 sites. James is as fanatical about data as he is guest experience and equally happy analysing large sets of data as he is speaking with guests and team members on the floor.