Summer Conference 2025

The first British chef to complete a stage at Ferran Adrià’s triple Michelin-starred elBulli restaurant in Spain and a former protégé of Pierre Koffmann and Marco Pierre White, Jason spent nine years with the Gordon Ramsay Group before starting his own business, The Social Company, in 2010. His first solo project, Pollen Street Social, which opened in Mayfair in 2011, won a Michelin star within just six months and soon spawned ‘sister’ restaurants in London and internationally. Today, The Social Company is recognised as a globally celebrated restaurant group, famed for its diverse range of dining establishments. This includes the Michelin-starred City Social, alongside Little Social, HotDogs by Three Darlings, Mary’s est. 2024, and Berners Tavern in London. Internationally, The Social Company has an impressive footprint with venues such as the two-Michelin-starred Row on 45, 7Tales and City Social in Dubai, Pig & Palm in Cebu, Commune Social and Hiya in Shanghai, Mykonos Social in Greece, Maraya Social in Alula, and King’s Social House in St Moritz. By the close of 2024, The Social Company is set to further elevate London’s dining landscape with the addition of three new venues: St James’ brasserie, Sael; Chelsea bistro, Three Darlings; and Savile Row fine dining establishment, Row on 5.

Lara has more than 20 years of experience spanning retail, hospitality, and lifestyle and entertainment. Known for her ability to connect brands, places, and people in meaningful ways, Lara brings insight, strategic vision, and creative solutions to every project. With a background in psychology, advertising, marketing, and cultural anthropology, she translates global consumer trends into understandable, workable, and profitable outcomes for her clients, including Harrods, C&A, Wayfair, and Mango.

A leading voice on the future of retail and consumer experiences, Lara is a frequent keynote speaker and has been widely published in global media outlets including BBC News, Retail Week, Property Week, and Fast Company. She has been recognised as a Top Retail Expert by Rethink Retail in 2025 and was named one of design:retail magazine’s 40 under 40 in 2017.

Nick joined the Group in January 2012 as Finance Director, becoming Chief Operating Officer in January 2014 and Chief Executive Officer in January 2015. He has overseen the expansion of the Group from 56 sites as of January 2015 to currently over 250 sites. Prior to joining the Group, Nick spent three years as Finance Director at AIM quoted Capital Pub Company plc, leaving when that company was sold to Greene King plc in 2011. Prior to that Nick founded Fuzzy’s Grub, a sandwich business in London, which he grew to eight outlets and a central production facility over five years. Nick also spent five years in corporate finance at Arthur Andersen where he qualified as a chartered accountant in 2001.

Jeremy was born in Somerset in 1954. He initially pursued a career in merchant banking, soon giving that up to go into catering and subsequently into restaurants, his true passion, as Maître d’hôtel at the London outpost of Joe Allen, the iconic New York theatre restaurant.

Jeremy, together with Chris Corbin, has owned and managed some of London’s most celebrated restaurants including Le Caprice and The Ivy, as part of Caprice Holdings, which they sold in 1998. From 2003, under the umbrella of Corbin & King, the pair created some of the most highly regarded establishments in London, including The Wolseley, The Delaunay, Brasserie Zédel and more, as well as a hotel, The Beaumont. Corbin & King was acquired in 2022 by Minor International.

In 2024, Jeremy launched a new company, Jeremy King Restaurants, and opened two new restaurants, Arlington and The Park, with Simpson’s in the Strand due to open in 2025.

Kate Nicholls OBE has been CEO of UKHospitality, the powerful voice representing the broad hospitality sector, since its inception in 2018. Kate previously worked as CEO and Strategic Affairs Director of the Association of Licenced Multiple Retailers (ALMR).

She sits on the Government’s Tourism, Hospitality, and Food & Drink Sector Councils, where she represents the wider hospitality and tourism sector. Kate is also the Chair of the Institute of Licensing, a board member of Best Bar None, and a trustee of Hospitality Action and Springboard.

Steve became Chief Executive Officer of the Azzurri Group in 2015 to facilitate the buyout of ASK and Zizzi from Gondola Group. The past ten years have seen the continued growth of the ASK and Zizzi brands and the acquisition and rapid growth of Coco di Mama. More recently the group has acquired Ireland’s leading Mexican fast casual concept, Boojum and started the rollout in the UK, developed a hospitality focused technology business, OpenR and acquired the rights to Daves Hot Chicken in the UK & Ireland, launching with a flagship site in central London.

An experienced operator in hospitality spanning nearly 30 years, prior to creating Azzurri Group, Steve held a number of senior leadership roles in the sector including within leisure and contract catering at Sodexho. As well as several leading restaurant brands, including eight years at Pizza Express. Additionally, Steve sits on the board of UKHospitality, the leading trade body for the sector.

Originally from New Zealand, Laura studied Law, Politics and Philosophy before embarking on her career in hospitality. Following a move to London, she became the Managing Director of a high-profile events company. She opened the first Caravan in 2010, with partner Chris Ammermann and friend Miles Kirby.

Caravan was a pioneer in all day dining in London, offering fresh healthy bold flavours from around the globe, as well as great in house roasted craft coffee. Caravan now has nine restaurants, including a major new opening in Manchester, as well as brew bars and a coffee school. It is now a certified B Corporation, verified by B Lab to meet high social and environmental performance standards, transparency, and accountability.

Jack Meaning is Barclays’ UK Chief Economist, responsible for devising and delivering the bank’s view on the macro outlook for the UK economy. He joined Barclays in 2023 from the Bank of England, where he spent three years as the Economic Advisor to the BoE’s Chief Economist. He also led the team that designed and evaluated the Bank’s monetary policy tools.

In 2022, Jack coauthored the now international, best-selling pop-econ book Can’t We Just Print More Money? Jack has published a number of academic papers and earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Kent, where he was awarded the prestigious ESRC scholarship. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Ben co-founded and has been CTO of Sona, the AI-native workforce management solution, since July 2021. His background is in tech consultancy and he has founded or co-founded multiple start-ups, including Catapult Ventures, Make it with Code, Style Gauge and InGuide. During the early part of his career, he was a software engineer at Thorlabs and then a consultant at PWC

Paul Pomroy is Chief Executive Officer of Warner Hotels, the UK’s leading hotel brand exclusively for adults. Appointed in March 2024, Paul is steering the company through an ambitious phase of growth, building on recent portfolio investments and expanding Warner’s presence in the UK’s premium short-break market. Under his leadership, the business is focused on elevating the guest experience, strengthening brand identity, and unlocking new opportunities to enhance its unique proposition.

Paul brings nearly 30 years of experience in the hospitality sector, most notably from his long and successful tenure at McDonald’s. He held several senior leadership roles, including CEO of McDonald’s UK and Chief Restaurant Officer & Corporate Senior Vice President for International Operated Markets, where he played a key role in driving global growth and operational excellence.

A passionate advocate for people development, diversity, equity and inclusion, Paul brings a people-first leadership style to Warner Hotels. He is actively involved in the business’ ‘People’ and ‘Marketing & Communications’ subcommittees, championing a culture that supports talent, innovation, and inclusivity across the brand.

Warner Hotels currently operates 16 properties in stunning country and coastal locations across the UK, including its new Reserve, by Warner Hotels collection featuring The Runnymede on Thames in Windsor and Heythrop Park in the Cotswolds.

Beyond his professional role, Paul is a dedicated father of two young boys and serves as a Trustee of Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice, a cause close to his heart

Stuart has been licensee at The Cabbage Patch for over 28 years and his passion to contribute to the community is stronger than ever. He set up a specialist work experience program for young adults of a neuro diverse specialist school 27 years ago and has now seen over 200 young adults complete this. They now employ someone everyday that has some form of disability or intellectual disability and Stuart’s aim is to make the industry realise that it is really quite simple for our businesses to be more Neurodivergent. 

The Cabbage Patch specialises in events and activities for people in their community who are Neurodiverse and the 'purple pound' should be something that is celebrated. This not only provides enrichment for their patrons and staff, it helps the wider community as well. 

Janet has worked in the food, hospitality, and FM sector for over 30 years. After studying catering and hotel management and working in 5-star hotels, conference venues and independent schools in South Africa she ventured to the UK in 2002. Janet possesses global, multi-sector experience and has delivered in operational, sales & retention roles in several sectors including Business & Industry, Education, Government, Defence & Healthcare. In her current role as Managing Director of five companies in the Aramark UK family, her teams deliver a range of catering and customer experience services to clients, from high end events & hospitality to running cafes, restaurants, reception and in-house catering services.

Janet has held active roles supporting management trainees, apprentices, mentees, sponsorship of women in food and business, and named in the inaugural ‘Women to Watch’ Top 90 ‘Women in Hospitality, Travel & Leisure’ Index 2019. Her role as chair in the UK and co-chair internationally of Aramark’s Empower employee resource group, helps her to support creating environments where women can thrive in the workplace, championing connections and growth opportunities.

Dom is a strategic leader with extensive experience in visitor attractions, venue operations, and commercial strategy. With a background in science, he transitioned early in his career into the attractions sector, where he has since developed a deep expertise in driving visitor engagement, revenue growth, and brand positioning.

As Commercial Director at Chester Zoo, Dom oversees all commercial functions, including Visitor Experience, Operations, Marketing, PR, and Fundraising. His leadership ensures the zoo remains one of the UK’s most visited and impactful attractions, generating vital income to support its world-leading conservation mission.

Harry Jones is the Group Marketing Manager at QVO Hospitality, a growing group of independent restaurants and bars in the North West, including Maray Restaurants, Buyers Club and The One O'Clock Gun. With a background in big brand consumer PR and marketing, Harry brings a wealth of experience in shaping creative, purposeful campaigns that connect with audiences and drive results. At QVO, he leads the marketing strategy across the group – covering everything from content and digital to events and strategic partnerships – with a focus on telling great stories and building meaningful connections with guests.

Since joining Sky Business 15 years ago, Joe has worked with clients across the hospitality industry to deliver a full product range of entertainment and connectivity services. He now heads the National Accounts team for Sky Business working closely with branded businesses of all sizes; helping to support their digital transformation to provide an exceptional guest experience and maximise their revenue.