Business mentor, serial entrepreneur and inspirational industry icon Karen Jones CBE will be the subject of this year’s Head to Head interview at the Peach 2020 conference, at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London, on November 21.
Jones, who received her Industry Icon award at the event two years ago, will draw on her vast experience of working with both entrepreneurial start-ups and big corporations across hospitality, and beyond, to talk with conference founder Peter Martin about the challenges facing the sector and how to survive them.
Earlier this year she took the helm at Prezzo, but her experience ranges from launching and floating the original Café Rouge, to heading up one of the sector’s biggest corporations, Spirit Group, to co-creating two successful pub businesses to being an advisor and non-executive for an array of different enterprises across the business spectrum. Among other roles, she is currently chair of Hawksmoor and Mowgli, and chancellor of the University of East Anglia.
Other new names on the conference roster include Las Iguanas managing director Mos Shamel and Simon Bunn, co-founder of Brewhouse & Kitchen. They will join one of the sector’s most experienced executives Mike Tye, Emma Woods, newly named ceo at Wagamama, Stephen Finch, founder and md of Vagabond, and Pho’s head of marketing and founder of Ladies of Restaurants Libby Andrews as conference panellists.
“The conference will highlight the big issues facing the out of home food and drink sector from competition and investment to two of the areas put into stark focus by Brexit, namely people and food supply,” said Peter Martin.
In a special panel session, NFU director general Terry Jones, Food and Drink Federation director general Ian Wright and director of food & sustainability at the British Retail Consortium Andrew Opie will join UK Hospitality CEO Kate Nicholls for a hard-hitting discussion exploring the coming pressures on food and drink production, supply and consumption, as well as how politicians, consumers and business are likely to influence the future shape of both agriculture and the high street..
Industry insider Robin Rowland OBE will be on hand to share the conference chairing duties with event founder and CGA vice president Peter Martin, guiding the discussion and putting the tough questions to this year’s panellists
Rowland, who recently stepped down as CEO of YO! Sushi, to become operating partner at TriSpan, brings a wealth of operational and senior management experience as a non-exec at YO! Sushi, Marston’s, Caffe Nero and Rosa’s Thai.
An update on the progress of the latest industry-wide initiative to promote diversity through leadership mentoring will come from Holly Addison of Odgers Berndtson, with John Levell, director of the Levell Partnership, and Nick Hale, managing director, Ventures, BT, providing new insight on the role of neurodiversity in the workplace.
An underlying theme of Peach 2020, which is run by CGA, the industry’s leading research and insight consultancy, will be understanding the implications of what’s new and changing in this highest competitive marketplace, from peaking food sales, premiumisation and the popularity of the pub to oversupply, investment and competitive hotspots. CGA’s CEO Phil Tate and strategic initiatives director Rachel Weller will provide the latest data and insight.
As ever, the conference will be followed in the evening by the annual Peach Hero & Icon Awards dinner, honouring the best in the industry, and hosted by Peter Martin and Phil Tate.
The awards will honour dozens of outstanding operators across the out-of-home eating and drinking markets and will include the unique Icon awards, which recognise those individuals who have made an outstanding and lasting contribution to the sector. The conference and awards dinner are now both fully booked.
Peach 2020 conference agenda – November 21, 2018
1.00pm Registration opens
2.00pm Conference begins
Setting out the challenges
Welcome from conference chairs Peter Martin and Robin Rowland OBE
2.10pm Competition, oversupply and what’s really happening to the pub
What the latest data analysis really says about the changing shape of the market
- Phil Tate, ceo, CGA
2.30 pm Ambitious and undaunted
Why entrepreneurial enterprises continue to launch and grow. Peter Martin chairs a panel discussion
- Libby Andrews, marketing director, Pho
- Simon Bunn, co-founder, Brewhouse & Kitchen
- Stephen Finch, founder, Vagabond
3.00pm People: nurturing a rare resource
- Holly Addison, of Odgers Berndtson, chairs a session looking beyond issues of gender and ethnicity towards tackling the often unseen challenge of neurodiversity
- Nick Hale, managing director, Ventures, BT
- John Levell, director, The Levell Partnership
3.25pm Head to Head with Karen Jones
Industry Icon Karen Jones CBE draws on her vast experience of working with both entrepreneurial start-ups and big corporations across hospitality, and beyond, to talk about the challenges facing the sector and how to survive them, in conversation with Peter Martin
3.55pm Coffee, tea, networking
4.20pm Peak food, premiumisation and the consumer
Understanding the public’s changing tastes
- Rachel Weller, strategic initiatives director, CGA
4.35pm Power politics: feeding Britain
Leaders of the four most influential business groups in the food and drink arena set out the challenges for food and drink supply in a post-Brexit world.
- Chaired by UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls
- Terry Jones, director general, National Farmers Union
- Andrew Opie, director of food & sustainability, British Retail Consortium
- Ian Wright, director general, Food & Drink Federation
5.05pm Tech top-up
- Nadia el Hadery, of London Food Tech Week, presents the three big advances in food and drink technology this year
5.15pm The Leaders Panel
What are the levers that seasoned executives expect to pull to see them through these uncertain and competitive times? Robin Rowland leads the discussion
- Mos Shamel, managing director, Las Iguanas
- Mike Tye, chairman, Moto
- Emma Woods, ceo, Wagamama
5.50 Close
6.00pm Drinks & Canapes
King George II Room
7.00pm Awards ceremony begins
CGA is grateful to our sponsors of this year’s Peach 2020: Asahi, Bookatable by Michelin, Casual Dining Show, Chapman Ventilation, Coco-Cola European Partners, Coffer Corporate Leisure, CPL Online, Diageo, Fishbowl, Fourth, Natwest/RBS, Odgers Berndtson, Omnivore, Reynolds, RSM, TWE, Yumpingo and Zonal.
