John Vincent | |
---|---|
![]() John Vincent (left) with his Leon Restaurants co-founder, Henry Dimbleby | |
Born | London Borough of Enfield, England, United Kingdom | 28 September 1971
Nationality | British |
Education | Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School |
Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
Occupation(s) | Chief Executive and co-founder of Leon Restaurants |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
John Vincent MBE (born 28 September 1971) is a British entrepreneur who is the chief executive and co-founder of fast food chain Leon Restaurants. Vincent is also known for his work in developing the 2013 School Food Plan, for which he was appointed an MBE; for chairing the Council for Sustainable Business; and for co-authoring seven LEON cookbooks.
Vincent was born in Enfield, London and grew up in North London. He attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School,[ citation needed ] a private school in North London, and went on to read History at St John's College, Cambridge, where he obtained a first class degree. While at university, Vincent had his own entertainment production company, setting up and hosting dance and music events. [1]
In 1993, following his graduation, Vincent went on to work at Procter & Gamble (P&G) in sales & marketing. [1] In 1997, after four years at P&G, he moved to management consultancy firm Bain & Co. where he remained for the next seven years. [1]
From 2004 until 2007, Vincent was part of a team of three that worked on the whisky and spirits business Whyte & Mackay during its rebranding and business transition under the ownership of Vivian Imerman. [2]
It was while working at Bain & Co. that the idea for LEON was first developed: [3]
I sat down with a colleague of mine at the time, Henry Dimbleby, and we decided to write down five business ideas each. Good fast food was common on both lists. Henry had a vision of doing it in bowls. I had a vision of doing it more like McDonald's. Eventually we decided to go down the McDonald's route. The idea was simple: "If God did fast food." – John Vincent. [1]
In 2004, joined by chef Allegra McEvedy as third co-founder, [4] the first LEON restaurant was opened, at Carnaby Street, central London. [5] A year after opening, LEON was named "Best New Restaurant in the UK" by The Observer . [6] In 2013 it became a founding member of the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), [7] and in 2018 was awarded the Association's top ranking of three stars; in 2017 it won Raymond Blanc's Sustainability Hero award at the Association's "Food Made Good" awards. [8] Leon Restaurants was also named in the 2017 Sunday Times Fast Track 100. [9]
In 2014 Vincent took over day-to-day running of LEON, moving into the role of Chief Executive Officer. [10] Dimbleby left Leon Restaurants' board in 2017. LEON has since expanded internationally [11] and launched its own cookware and tableware ranges. [12]
In 2013 Vincent and Dimbleby were asked to lead an independent review, commissioned by the UK Government, of the school food programme. [13] As part of that work they went on to produce an actionable plan called "The School Food Plan". [14] The plan formed the basis of revised rules on school dinners for pupils throughout the UK. [15]
The plan has overseen, among other changes, the introduction of cookery lessons for all children up to the age of 14, universal free school meals for infants, and new standards for the food served to children in schools. [16]
The School Food Plan has improved the diet of five million students and served daily across 22,000 schools. [17] Vincent and Dimbleby were both awarded MBEs in 2015 for services to school food. [18] In 2017, Vincent received the Sustainable Restaurant Association's Raymond Blanc Sustainability Hero award along with Dimbleby for their work on the plan. [19]
In 2018 Vincent was invited to help create and then chair the Council for Sustainable Business. The council was established to "inspire British business to protect and improve the environment", and to advise on how businesses can help achieve the aims of the 25 Year Environment Plan. [20]
Vincent wrote a column for Metro in 2014 and 2015, and has co-authored and published seven LEON cookbooks; they include:
He is co-author of a book, Winning Not Fighting, with Wing Tsun martial arts master Julian Hitch, published in 2019. [21]
Vincent married broadcaster Katie Derham in 1999; he proposed on the night they met. [22] They have two daughters and live near Haywards Heath, Sussex. [23] He was awarded an MBE in the 2015 Birthday Honours. [24]
KFC is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain after McDonald's, with 22,621 locations globally in 150 countries as of December 2019. The chain is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, a restaurant company that also owns the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains.
Long John Silver's, formerly known as Long John Silver's Seafood Shoppes and sometimes abbreviated as LJS, is an American chain of fast-food restaurants that specializes in seafood. The brand's name is derived from the character of the same name from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island.
Jamie Trevor Oliver MBE OSI is an English celebrity chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants.
Jollibee is a Filipino chain of fast food restaurants owned by Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC). As of September 2023, there were over 1,500 Jollibee outlets worldwide, with restaurants in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, East Asia, North America, and Europe.
A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S. and Canada, is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or lunchroom. Cafeterias are different from coffeehouses, although the English term came from the Spanish term cafetería, which carries the same meaning.
Catherine Beatrice Margaret Derham is a British newscaster and a presenter on television and radio.
Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, or simply Freddy's, is an American fast-casual restaurant chain based in Wichita, Kansas. Its menu includes steakburgers, Vienna Beef hot dogs, and chicken sandwiches. The company also provides frozen custard and specialty sundaes
McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand, and later turned the company into a franchise, with the Golden Arches logo being introduced in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a businessman, joined the company as a franchise agent and in 1961 bought out the McDonald brothers. Previously headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, it moved to nearby Chicago in June 2018. McDonald's is also a real estate company through its ownership of around 70% of restaurant buildings and 45% of the underlying land.
Ching-He Huang (Chinese: 黃瀞億; pinyin: Huáng Jìngyì; Wade–Giles: Huang2 Ching4-i4;, often known in English-language merely as Ching, is a Taiwanese-born British food writer and TV chef. She has appeared in a variety of television cooking programmes, and is the author of nine best-selling cookbooks. Ching is recognized as a foodie entrepreneur, having created her own food businesses. She has become known for Chinese cookery internationally through her TV programmes, books, noodle range, tableware range, and involvement in many campaigns and causes.
Online food ordering is the process of ordering food, for delivery or pickup, from a website or other application. The product can be either ready-to-eat food or food that has not been specially prepared for direct consumption.
Allegra Sarah Bazzett McEvedy MBE is an English chef, broadcaster and writer.
Thomas William Kitchin is a Scottish chef and owner of The Kitchin, where he became Scotland's youngest winner of a Michelin star.
Leon is a fast food chain based in the United Kingdom, established in 2004. The company had around 70 outlets when it was bought by EG Group in 2021. Since October 2023, most of EG Group's former UK and Ireland business, including Leon, has been owned by the supermarket chain Asda.
Zambrero is an Australian multinational fast food restaurant franchise serving Mexican cuisine.
Sweetgreen is an American fast casual restaurant chain that serves salads. It was founded in November 2006 by Nicolas Jammet, Nathaniel Ru, and Jonathan Neman. In August 2007, they opened their first store in Washington, D.C., three months after they graduated from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
Uber Eats is an online food ordering and delivery platform launched by the company Uber in 2014. The meals are delivered by couriers using various methods, including cars, scooters, bikes, or on foot. It is operational in over 6,000 cities in 45 countries as of 2021.
Henry Richard Melville Dimbleby is a British businessman and cookery writer who is a co-founder of Leon Restaurants and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. He was appointed lead non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2018. He is a son of BBC broadcaster David Dimbleby and of Josceline Dimbleby.
Nisha Katona, MBE is a British restaurateur and TV personality. The daughter of two doctors, she is the founder of Mowgli Street Food restaurants and the Mowgli Trust charity, a food writer and television presenter. She was a child protection barrister for 20 years.
Vineet Bhatia is an Indian chef, restaurateur, author, and media personality. He was the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star. He opened two Rasoi restaurants, the first in Chelsea, London in 2004, and the second in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2008. Both restaurants received Michelin stars, in 2006 and 2009 respectively, making Bhatia the first and only chef of Indian origin to receive two Michelin stars. Currently, he has eleven restaurants, including his signature restaurant "KAMA by Vineet" in the dining hall in Harrods in London, and appears as a judge on Netflix show The Final Table and judge-host on MasterChef India. He has written two cookbooks, Rasoi: New Indian Kitchen and My Sweet Kitchen.
Suleman Raza is a British-Pakistani food entrepreneur, restaurateur, and activist. He is the founder of One Million Meals, a charitable campaign started in March 2020 from his own restaurant chain using GoFundMe in the UK. He owned the cricket franchise Mirpur Royals in the Kashmir Premier League. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, awarded Raza the Points of Light award in 2021 for the One Million Meals campaign. The House of Lords awarded Raza with the Local Community Hero for his humanitarian services in London. He has also been working as the co-chairperson of the UK Pakistan Business Council (UKPBC) to discuss the Pakistani business community concerns with the British prime minister Boris Johnson.