Casual dining
Paula MacKenzie
Since joining Pizza Express as CEO back in 2022, Paula MacKenzie has helped drive significant innovation across the business with the launch of a hugely successful loyalty scheme and a expanded retail proposition helping to firmly establish the group’s omnichannel credentials. This is likely to be further bolstered through the launch of a new format within Tesco supermarkets that will see the business plant its flag firmly in the food-to-go space.
Andy Hornby
Despite significant pressure from investors in recent years, Andy Hornby can be credited with transforming The Restaurant Group (TRG) in the past year with the sale of its leisure division leading to a rise in sales and a reduction in losses in its latest financial results. Now the group is looking to rebuild its portfolio, not only through the expansion of its Wagamama brand, but also through the launch of new concepts in the UK market including US-based brands Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer and Dallas founded fast-casual concept Velvet Tacos, both of which are expected to debut in London in the coming months.
Tom Grogan, Saul Lewin, Herman Sahota, and Chris Sherriff
Tom Grogan, Saul Lewin, and Herman Sahota are founders of Lemon Pepper Holdings, the UK-based master franchise of international fast casual chain Wingstop. The company holds the exclusive right to own and operate branches of the chain in the UK and has not hung around, having been named the fastest growing restaurant group in the UK for two years running. Wingstop UK is currently headed up by CEO Chris Sherriff, who is laser-focused on the company’s aim of delivering up to 200 restaurants within five years. He’s certainly the person to get the business there. Having served as COO for more than three years prior, he’s been with the team for much of its journey since its inception.
Mark Standish
Given his background in the motor finance industry, Mark Standish may not have been the first person that came to mind when Nando’s began looking for its next CEO. However, the former MotoNovo Finance CEO could be the sort of fresh perspective the peri peri chicken business needs if it is to thrive in the years to come as he works to further grow the group’s estate and continue to build on its progressive approach towards sustainability.
Tom Crowley
There was a time where it felt like there would never be another fried chicken operator that could compete with KFC, but Popeyes is proving more and more to be stiff competition for the Colonel. Led by Tom Crowley, who previously impressed as CEO of Boparan Restaurant Group, Popeyes has grown quickly into a nationwide business with more 50 sites launched since it arrived in the UK in 2021 and a target of having more than 300 sites across the country within a decade.
Roisin Currie
In her affable, unpretentious way, Roisin Currie has helped transform Greggs from a failing bakery chain into the UK’s biggest fast-food operator with more than 2,500 stores nationwide since joining the business nearly 15 years ago. There are no plans to slow down. Guided by Currie’s relentless energy, the national bakery chain has plans to take the estate to over 3,000 by 2026 and has new manufacturing capacity under development to serve 3,500 sites. Greggs' tie-up with Primark stores, its range of merchandise, and targeted marketing has kept the brand front of mind among younger consumers. Where Greggs goes, others in the sector follow.
Alistair Macrow
Having been part of the McDonald’s UK business since 2007, Alistair Macrow has seen the fast-food giant face plenty of ups and downs, but under his leadership – he became CEO in 2021 – the group has worked to adapt to the modern era, with plans for new smaller format sites being tested alongside more high street locations. The aim is for the group to open a further 200 restaurants in the next four years as part of a £1bn investment that suggests that many UK diners are still ‘loving it’.
Richard Caring
There’s no faulting Richard Caring’s business acumen. With the success of his Ivy and Ivy Asia brands, which look set to net him around £1bn when he sells the group, his influence over the premium mid-market dining scene is almost as pervasive. But it’s his bigger, showier restaurants that always get tongues wagging, with his Bacchanalia restaurant in Mayfair garnering plenty of attention when it launched a couple of years back. Things are likely to repeat themselves when Caring relaunches his iconic Le Caprice restaurant at The Chancery Rosewood next year.
Des Gunewardena
Previously one half of D&D London alongside David Loewi, Des Gunewardena is one of the capital’s most respected restaurateurs. Having parted ways with Loewi in 2022, Gunewardena has struck out on his own with characteristic swagger launching hospitality company D3 Collective. Projects include the recently opened double header Engel and Jang at The Royal Exchange in The City as well as major upcoming launches in Canary Wharf and West London’s Olympia redevelopment.
David Loewi
D&D London’s Swiss hotel school-trained CEO is a veteran of the upper end of the London restaurant scene having been overseeing big ticket restaurants in the capital for nearly 30 years. He has presided over a period of intense change for the circa-30-strong group over the past few years including its sale to private investment companies Calveton and Breal Capital, which has provided stability in the form of a £40m balance sheet recapitalisation.
Ajith Jayawickrema
One of the key figures behind both Las Iguanas and Turtle Bay, Ajith Jayawickrema has had a huge influence on the UK’s casual dining space pioneering concepts that blend bar and restaurant operations. Now focused on the more recently launched Turtle Bay, Jayawickrema has pioneered a number of trailblazing industry initiatives at the 55-strong Caribbean-inspired restaurant chain including four-day working weeks and company-wide anti-racism training.
Saiphin Moore
Taught to cook by her mother and aunts in Northern Thailand, Moore is a skilled chef, but she also has a head for business having co-founded Rosa’s and helped turn it into a national restaurant business with some 40 sites. She is no longer involved in Rosa’s Thai day to day but remains its figurehead. Her current restaurant projects include Slurp Noodle, Hok Sek Noodle, Lao Café and upcoming Thai fried chicken concept Dang’s.
Martin Williams
A former actor, Martin Williams led Gaucho as managing director for nearly a decade before leaving to set up rival steak concept M and looked on from the sidelines as the Argentine-inspired group went into administration in 2018. He played a leading role in rescuing the Gaucho forming a new group called Rare Restaurants that he leads as CEO. Since regaining control, Williams has significantly tweaked the Gaucho concept to broaden its appeal and overseen an ambitious refurbishment and expansion programme.
David Campbell
Regarded by many as a grandee of the UK’s casual scene, David Campbell has helped grow some of the country’s best known restaurant businesses including Pizza Express, The Ivy, Bill’s and Wagamama. He is currently chairman at both Gaucho-owner Rare Restaurants and Scandinavian bakery concept Ole & Steen.
Julian Metcalfe
As the creator of both Pret a Manger and Itsu, Julian Metcalfe has pioneered a completely new genre of food business and remains the self-styled king of lunch ‘aldesko’. Metcalfe cashed out of Pret a Manger for an eye-watering sum in 2018 but remains involved in Japanese-inspired healthy eating concept Itsu and was also recently appointed as non-executive director at artisan hot chocolate café brand Knoops.
Alex Reilley and Nick Collins
The co-founder and CEO at all-day restaurant and bar group Loungers have overseen rapid growth at the company over the past decade. The company now operates more than 250 sites under its Lounge and Cosy Club brands having opened a record 36 new venues during the past 12 months, which is an impressive three a month. It’s showing no signs of stopping and has a target of operating 665 sites across the UK. Moreover, it is also tackling the roadside dining sector with the launch of Brightside, which looks poised to accelerate its expansion in the coming years.
Karen Jones
Karen Jones has had a formidable career, having co-founded Cafe Rouge and the Pelican Group and later Food and Fuel, which was sold to The Restaurant Group in 2018, and held the role of executive chair at Italian casual dining chain Prezzo for four years. Jones’ experience and insight has made her a valued boardroom member and she is currently a non-executive director at Indian restaurant group Mowgli, chair of Hawksmoor, and senior independent director at Deliveroo among other high-profile roles.
Steve Holmes
Steve Holmes has Italian restaurants in his blood having worked at Pizza Express and been managing director of ASK Italian for five years before becoming CEO of Azzurri Group, which operates the ASK Italian, Zizzi and Coco di Mama brands. As well as overseeing a group with a huge high street presence he continues to push Azzurri into new areas to broaden its appeal. Acquisitions include Ireland-based Mexican burrito bar brand Boojum and most recently he is bringing US chicken brand Dave’s Hot Chicken to the UK with plans for around 60 sites over here.
Roy Ellis, Neil Macleod and Neal Bates
Roy Ellis and Neil Macleod were behind the Revolution bar chain and now lead multi-concept operator Mission Mars, which has had huge success with its Albert’s Schloss and Rudy’s pizza brands. Bierhouse Albert’s Schloss has sites in Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham and recently opened on London’s Shaftesbury Avenue and has led a revival in cabaret and entertainment in huge German-inspired beer hall settings that sees its venues routinely packed throughout the week. The group’s pizza brand Rudy’s, headed up by managing director Neal Bates, is also a runaway success and has successfully expanded out of its northern heartland into London and beyond.
Jane O’Riordan
As group strategy director at Nando’s for more than 20 years, Jane O’Riordan was part of the peri-peri restaurant group’s meteoric rise across the UK. Now, as chairman of Turtle Bay, Caravan, and Red Engine, which is rolling out the Flight Club and Electric Shuffle brands, she has helped guide the groups as they continue to expand building on her experience of operations and strategy and, with the latter, technology (O’Riordan is also non-executive director at Octopus Titan VCT, the UK’s largest technology investor).
Marcel Khan
Marcel Khan has around 30 years of experience in restaurant operations having been regional managing director of Nando’s for a decade, during which time the chain grew from 42 to 265 sites. He was also instrumental in the UK and European roll out of US burger chain Five Guys as its operational and brand development director. He is currently chief executive at The Fulham Shore, which operates The Real Greek and Franco Manca brands, charged with driving the next phase of growth for both concepts. Since March 2020 Khan has additionally served as an operating partner at Capdesia, the investment firm exclusively focused on European-branded restaurant chains.
John Eckbert
Five Guys UK and Europe CEO John Eckbert has led the charge of the US burger chain on UK soil since it landed here a decade ago and has no appetite in slowing down. Eckbert is helping the brand work towards the 300-site mark across the UK and Europe and has helped build the chain into a force to be reckoned with outside of its American heartland.
Thomas Heier
Thomas Heier has been at pan-Asian restaurant group Wagamama for seven years and been its CEO for three and a half. Wagamama remains the jewel in the crown of The Restaurant Group’s portfolio and has done much to change the high street restaurant landscape since its launch in London 32 years ago. It now operates more than 170 restaurants across the UK and in May the brand announced that it will launch in India having partnered with travel food and retail company Travel Food Services.
Tom Byng
Tom Byng found restaurant fame when he created better burger restaurant brand Byron in 2007, growing it to 69 restaurants and an £80m turnover in the 10 years he was with it. He has stayed in the meaty side of the industry and is currently CEO of Flat Iron, which is beginning to expand across the UK and out of its London heartland. Byng is also a director and advisor at northern-based Indian food and brewery business Bundobust.
Meg Farren
KFC UK & Ireland’s managing director Meg Farren has held a number of roles at the fried chicken chain. She joined KFC in 2011, becoming chief marketing officer in 2015, and later rejoined the company in 2022 having moved to supermarket chain Asda. She leads the £2bn chicken business as it looks to continue to capitalise on the UK’s fast-growing chicken market.
Satnam Leihal
Boparan Restaurant Group CEO Satnam Leihal leads a company in charge of well-known restaurant brands Slim Chickens, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Giraffe, Carluccio’s and Ed’s Easy Diner, among others, that collectively operate more than 100 sites. He has overseen the rapid rise of the Slim Chickens as it capitalises on the booming fried chicken sector and hopes to do the same with US burger player Carl’s Jr having reached an agreement to develop the brand in the UK and Ireland.
Pano Christou
Pano Christou has spent almost a quarter of a century at Pret a Manger, holding roles including UK managing director and chief operating officer. Promoted to CEO in October 2019 he has overseen a period of innovation at the company, which successfully came out of the pandemic with a subscription model that brought people back to its stores. Pret continues to lead the way in technology in the restaurant sector.
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