Leiths Food Solutions
'I was amazed to think that after Chris' visit we were tasting the same menu as before!'
Nicola Creed, Garsington Opera, following a one-week consultation and menu review. Significant and profitable improvements were made to the dishes without changing the structure or names on the menu.
‘We've known David Lancaster through the years as the restaurant business has changed beyond recognition. David has always been there, documenting and commentating lucidly and knowledgeably on the trade.’
Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver
Co-owners, St John Restaurant, and St John Bread & Wine, London
Principal consultants Chris Barber and David Lancaster have a combined 35 years of experience in the food, restaurant, catering and specialist media sectors.
Recent and current clients
- Gondola Group Limited
- Plan My Time - icookathome.com
- Vero Restaurant
- Spice Merchant Group
- Danesfield House Hotel
- Focus PR
- The Plough at Clanfield
- Bianco Nero Restaurant, London
- Maby’s Food and Wine
- Pavilion Sports, Health and Fitness
- Picturehouse cinemas
- Feast
- Land Management Limited
- Lexis Public Relations
- Loyton Lodge
- Longleat
- Henley Food Festival
- Anouska Hempel Management Limited
- The Garsington Opera Limited
- Henrietta Green
- Michael North, Michelin-starred chef of The Nut Tree, Murcott, Oxon
- The Artichoke, Amersham
- The Anchor and Hope, Waterloo, London
Operational experience of Leiths Food Solutions' principals
- Twelve years cooking in the Royal Household – devising menus, cooking for heads of state, catering for informal lunches and banquets
- Launching award-winning pub and restaurant, The Goose, which now holds a Michelin star
- Regular cooking demonstrations at leading cookery schools in the UK and abroad, and at Henrietta Green's Food Lovers' Fairs
- Advising private clients on strategy and business development including Anouska Hempel
Often it's really difficult to objectively analyse your own business. You're too close and too busy.
Business and finance
- Securing investment and re-launching the White Hart Hotel (Nettlebed, Oxfordshire) a 12-room hotel, 100-cover restaurant and bar
- Board director of The Capital Group, developing and winning new business
- Co-founding of Duchy Originals, from early planning and creative work, to brand development and marketing
- Compiling successful tender documents for the Royal Parks catering concessions
- Securing private funding from high net worth individuals in the restaurant sector for the launch of Restaurant magazine and The World’s Top 50 Restaurants Awards
Media
- Advising the 2005 high-budget BBC production of Macbeth, set in a Michelin-starred kitchen
- Script editing BBC2’s food and drink flagship programme, Full on Food
- Editing food and drink pages of The Times newspaper
- Creating and launching Restaurant magazine and The World’s Top 50 Restaurant Awards
- Co-authoring books, articles and other material for chefs and other industry figures including Tom Conran, Jean-Christophe Novelli, Fergus Henderson and chef/owners of The Anchor and Hope in London
- Regular freelance contributions to The Times, Telegraph, BBC’s Olive, Restaurant magazine and Country Life
Other personnel
- In addition to the human and physical resources available through Leiths School of Food and Wine and Leiths List, Leiths Food Solutions also has a wealth of contacts in the industry to draw on.
- These range from Michelin-starred chefs, restaurateurs and managers through to editors, journalists, PRs and investors actively looking for opportunities in the sector.
2008 © Leiths Food Solutions