18th European Foodservice Summit
Think Tank and Congress for the Restaurant Industry
Speakers
Mustafa Aslandag
Düsseldorf, Germany, www.whatsbeef.de
Mustafa Aslandag is head of purchasing and supply chain management for Amazon’s food business in Germany. Together with Selim Varol he founded What’s Beef where he is the CEO responsible for strategy development, systemization and expansion. At University he studied Business Economics and specialized in E-Commerce and Social Media.
David Buttress
London, UK, www.just-eat.com
David Buttress is CEO of Just Eat, the world’s leading digital marketplace for restaurant food delivery. He led the company from start-up to becoming Europe’s largest technology stock market floatation in a decade. David was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2015. Just Eat connects over 15m active users with over 66,000 takeaway restaurants around the world.
John Eckbert
London, UK, www.fiveguys.com / www.fiveguys.co.uk
John Eckbert is CEO of Five Guys JV. This joint venture organization has opened 45 UK stores in 3 years – having the master license for UK, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal. Five Guys is the leading US premium burger brand with more than 1,200 stores in its home market. John has a finance background, he studied at the London School of Economics.
Martin Hildebrandt
Copenhagen, Denmark, www.cafe-sokkelund.dk
Martin Hildebrandt is the owner of a very successful restaurant business, Sokkelund Café & Brasserie, in Copenhagen. He is a former World Barista Champion and coffee entrepreneur recognized for uncompromising service levels based on a high technology infrastructure. Until 2015 he was chair of the board at Kontra Coffee- a high-end Danish coffee roaster. Martin – a passionate smooth jazz enthusiast – was originally trained as a chef.
Christopher C. Muller
Boston, USA
Chris Muller is a leading academic expert in the field of restaurant management. His research has focused on multi-unit organizations, development and growth, and the training of multi-unit managers and leaders. He has held positions at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, UCF’s Rosen College, Boston University, and is currently Courtesy Professor of Executive Education at FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality. He is an author and has lectured around the globe.
Lysandros Ioannou
Nicosia, Cyprus, www.wagamama.com.cy / www.pizzahut.com.cy
Lysandros Ioannou is the Chairman and CEO of PHC Franchised Restaurants Public Ltd., the leader of the restaurants, cafes and catering industry in Cyprus. The PHC Group operates more than 90 units in Cyprus and Greece employing 1,700 people. He has many awards as a business leader and is highly skilled in reinventing brands.
Jan Knikker
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, www.mvrdv.nl
Jan Knikker is Head of Business Development & PR at MVRDV, a Dutch agency for architecture and urban design. In 2014, MVRDV opened the Markthal Rotterdam, a pioneering project in urban development that gives birth to a new urban town center with a fresh look at retail spaces.
Eric Partaker
London, UK, www.chilango.co.uk
Eric Partaker co-founded Chilango, the fast-growing 10 restaurant fresh Mexican food concept. The brand has been voted London’s best burritos by Zagat, Time Out and others. In 2014, the Telegraph named Eric one of Britain’s 27 Most Disruptive Entrepreneurs. Chilango has crowdfunded £5.5 million, making it the most successfully crowdfunded restaurant chain in the world.
Ryan Perera
London, UK, www.henchmanapp.com
Ryan Perera is a serial entrepreneur and a visionary determined to make Henchman into a global brand. He is the co-founder of the award-winning online marketplace startup SkillFlick. A self-taught software developer Ryan is a winner of the Ernst and Young Future 50 award. Ryan trained as a doctor of medicine in London and worked as a cardiothoracic surgeon and is a published medical author.
Andrew Rennie
Paris, France, www.dominos.fr
Andrew Rennie is the European CEO of Domino’s largest franchisee, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Limited (DPE). Based in Australia/New Zealand, DPE has more than 1,900 stores in 7 countries including France, the Netherlands, Belgium and it’s most recent acquisition in Germany. Andrew has spent his career with the company.
Robin Rowland
London, UK, www.yosushi.com
Robin Rowland first became CEO of YO! Sushi in 2000. Since that time the team he heads has built the chain from 3 units to 80 in both the UK and the USA, with over a dozen franchised restaurants in the international market. Robin successfully led YO! Sushi’s MBOs in September, 2003, March, 2008 and most recently in November 2015. Robin has been recognized as the UK’s Retailer of the Year.
Douglas Rushkoff
New York, USA, www.cuny.edu
Douglas Rushkoff is the author of more than a dozen bestselling books on the media, technology and culture, including his most recent “Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now.” Other titles include “Program or Be Programmed”, “Media Virus”, “Life Inc.” and a novel, “Ecstasy Club.” He lives in New York City where he is Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at CUNY/Queens. Douglas is a frequent lecturer on media, society and economics around the world.
Gretel Weiss
Frankfurt, Germany, www.food-service.de
Gretel Weiss is co-founder and publisher of the two leading trade magazines – food-service (since 1982) and foodservice Europe & Middle East (since 1998). She is a recognized expert with insider knowledge of the chain-restaurant industry. Her background is farming, university degrees in Nutritional Science and Economics.
Quirze Salomó
Barcelona, Spain, www.homemeal.eu / www.nostrum.eu/es
Quirze Salomó is Founder and CEO of the 150 unit Home Meal replacement chain, Nostrum, which has more than 60 units in its Barcelona base. The vertically integrated company has more than 500,000 club members. Quirze comes from an entrepreneurial family, which led him to study commercial business management and computer programming. He also found the technology company, Boira Digital.
Will Shu
London, UK, www.deliveroo.co.uk
Will Shu is on a mission to transform the way the world thinks about takeaway. In August, 2013 he founded Deliveroo which is now in over 50 cities around the world. The start-up has attracted $200 million in capital from some of the worlds' leading investors. Prior to Deliveroo he worked in banking at Morgan Stanley, ESO Capital and SAC Capita.
Hans-Werner Sinn
Munich, Germany, www.ifo.de
Hans-Werner Sinn is a leading Economist and Professor at the University of Munich. He is President of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research. Sinn’s fields of interest include: risk and insurance; natural resources; monetary trade theory and public finance. He is the author of a number of bestselling books including, “Can Germany Be Saved?”, “Casino Capitalism” and “The Euro Trap.”
Selim Varol
Düsseldorf, Germany, www.whatsbeef.de
Selim Varol, together with Mustafa Aslandag, founded the young gourmet burger company What’s Beef, known for its advanced E-Commerce and Social Media expertise. He is CEO of What’s Beef where his responsibilities include store architecture, product development and marketing. He has a marketing background from his family’s companies, travels worldwide and has a passion for art.
Hosting Partners
Chris Muller (Boston University School of Hospitality), Gretel Weiss (FoodService Europe & Middle East), and David Bosshart (GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute).
Partner
