ACE Robyns Alumni 2019

2019 Winner
Bee Armstrong
The Genuine Dining Company
Bee Armstrong
The Genuine Dining Company
I am an Operations Manager for The Genuine Dining Company, with 8 sites around London. I work closely with my managers to increase revenue and encourage them to be as creative as possible. I currently look after 40 members of staff and train and develop them to achieve their full potential.

My ambition is to be an Operations Director and continue to grow my team and become the best operator I can be. I enjoy mobilising new sites and working with the team and client on site to create something exciting and hope to do more of this in the future.
Adam Thomason
The Genuine Dining Company
Adam Thomason
The Genuine Dining Company
My current role oversees all the ‘Food’ and everything that comes with it, for The Genuine Dining Company, from training the chefs, menu development and, one of my favorite parts, chefs forums.

The challenge of guaranteeing the precise, technical execution of each dish is one that continues to inspire me. Understanding and respecting the ingredients and using this knowledge to stir an excitement in the brigade, ensures that any team I lead will work together to create an ever-evolving kitchen that will exceed expectation.

As for ambitions I just want to keep growing my knowledge of food and applying it within a creative environment
Bianca Angelico
Sodexo
Bianca Angelico
Sodexo
I am the Guest Services Transformation Manager for Sodexo Corporate Services, responsible for delivering the cultural and operational changes to support the refreshed Guest Services offer in the UK.

I commit my time and knowledge to transforming each reception desk in our portfolio, working meticulously with each site to ensure they can fully deliver against our brand standards, both for Guests Services and across our wider suite of catering and FM services.

I have ambitions to become a Founder and CEO of my own boutique FM company. The focus for that would be to bring together my passion for healthy food and five-star service to rival the quality offer of the best in the industry. I will use this platform to mobilise and help others rise up and achieve their potential while having a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
Caroline Bacigalupo
BaxterStorey
Caroline Bacigalupo
BaxterStorey
I currently look after the RBS contract covering Scotland and the North as well as a couple of smaller sites with a team of 180 people ranging from catering assistants to management, chefs, events staff, receptionists and AV technicians. We also work with charities such as the STV Children’s Appeal and Mustard Tree, which raise awareness for our industry as well as offering placements and positions on the back of work experience with us.

I love watching people grow and join our industry who have innovation and passion to push the boundaries, drive the business and succeed, choosing catering as a career. In the future, I would love to be part of growing awareness for our industry and really driving in new talent.
Charlotte Rouse
BaxterStorey
Charlotte Rouse
BaxterStorey
I have recently project managed the retention of the ASOS contract and the opening of their new dining destinations, taking the team from 18 to 25 and creating a new level of food innovation and service with a bespoke app delivering a click and collect coffee service. I am now mobilising McKinsey & Company as we move into a new building that defines sophistication and style, we’re predicting this to be a leading location for hospitality and fine dining services.

My ambitions for the future are to continue to push the boundaries of traditional contract catering, creating innovative and exciting dining experiences and inspiring the teams that I work with to think and work differently. In the future, I hope to lead the mentoring of BaxterStorey graduates to support the amazing young talent that we’re lucky to have in our business.
Emma Abruzzese
Vacherin
Emma Abruzzese
Vacherin
I am a Catering Manager at Vacherin. My role involves looking after a team of 12 covering the café, fine dining, hospitality and tea points. No two days are ever the same and it has been a fabulous learning curve from running an underperforming site into a site that is now booming!

My aspirations include growing my role and moving to a bigger site and eventually head office. I also plan on growing my start-up company Primavera Private Dining. We wish to create a large customer base from our private dinners and supper clubs.
Katherine McKenna
Genuine Dining
Katherine McKenna
Genuine Dining
I am the General Manager at Spotify. I run the events, hospitality, marketing, day to day catering, do all the training on site (coffee, H&S and Food safety) and inductions.

My ambitions are firstly to try and better myself each day, I love learning, I want to help my staff to love catering just as much as me and bring out their creative side. I would love to push myself to become an operations manager as I feel I could spread so much love for hospitality.
Lewis Linley
Vacherin
Lewis Linley
Vacherin
I’m a Sous Chef for Vacherin. I support the Head Chef in running the kitchen on a daily basis, producing high end formal dining for our regular guests. I take part in developing the monthly fine dining menus where we introduce seasonality and food trends whilst controlling the cost at the same time.

I train, guide and inspire the team. My passion is chef’s competitions, a challenge to see where I stand against other chefs. Nationals and MasterChef are challenges I have set for myself in the next few years. My future is to secure a role in which I can utilise my existing skills as well as develop new ones, further progressing my career. The end goal is to open my own small cover restaurant or supper club.
Liam Hatcher
CH&Co.
Liam Hatcher
CH&Co.
As the Senior People Development Business Partner, I am responsible for the training and development of our 3000 plus CH&CO People in London. I partner our London Managing Director to lead and promote an inclusive learning environment, whether this be through our apprenticeship academies or through development programmes, we want to retain the industry’s best! Leading our ‘Get into Hospitality’ programme in partnership with the Prince’s Trust, CH&CO is able to provide an uplifting experience for these young adults, this is something I also do just because I love to.
Lorna Bell
ISS Education
Lorna Bell
ISS Education
At present I am an Operations Manager looking after 15 schools across South Yorkshire. It’s my role to ensure the service standards are meeting the requirement of the client, school and the business and drive the increase of school meals. I regularly meet and communicate with the on site kitchen teams who work hard to develop relationships with pupils and school staff. I have financial responsibility for the sites and work to my own budget. With my passion for food and background in nutrition it is my ambition to work towards a role of Food Service Director within Education catering.
Malah Bhatt
Green & Fortune
Malah Bhatt
Green & Fortune
It comes as a great honour to be Head of Events at Sea Containers Events. Heading up the newly established events division of the business for nearly two years, I have seen it grow beyond all expectations into a successful and well received operation.

My future plans are to continue growing the events here and to one day move to a multi-site role looking after sales and events. In the distant future I would like to have my own events business, working with some incredible clients and making their dream event a reality - doing what I love to do.
Rhiannon Heseltine
Lexington
Rhiannon Heseltine
Lexington
As Head of Retail and Commercial Services at London Business School, one of Lexington’s largest contracts, which is open seven days a week I work incredibly closely with our main client. As part of my role, I manage our hospitality and retail offering to ensure we remain profitable, achieve and provide excellent customer service.

This involves managing a team of 82 across six retail outlets, a hospitality department and kitchen team. It is my responsibility to ensure high levels of team engagement to ensure they are happy and have the support they need to help us meet our quarterly financial targets.

After finishing University, I wanted to become a General Manager, which I am so pleased to have achieved. I am loving my role at the moment - I want to continue driving new innovation here and supporting the wider team to achieve their potential. Longer term I’d love to set up my own business.
Robbie Laidlaw
The Genuine Dining Company
Robbie Laidlaw
The Genuine Dining Company
Working as a Business Development Manager for The Genuine Dining Company, I have found a way to combine my passion for sales with my passion for the hospitality industry. I am fortunate in my role that I am able to visit many of our sites, working with our teams so that we are continuing to evolve and innovate our offers. This is something I enjoy tremendously, and my ambition for the future is to continue working alongside likeminded foodies as we strive to grow and develop ahead of the industry.
Rosie Cadogan
BaxterStorey
Rosie Cadogan
BaxterStorey
Every day I strive to come up with new ways to help people build a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle through evidence-based information and practical tools. We spend 80% of our time at work and my ambition with BaxterStorey is to support our client to create a work environment which promotes good health and wellbeing. I love my job when I am having the greatest impact on the nutritional health of our customers, and our people, providing a holistic service beyond our food offer.