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OPENING KEYNOTE SESSION / SUNDAY / OCTOBER 7, 2018 / 5:10 PM

Winning not Fighting. What the history of LEON and Bruce Lee’s martial art of Wing Tsun can teach us about the restaurant industry.

Launched in 2004, LEON, a quick-service brand based in the UK, set out to prove that fast food can taste good, do you good and be kind to the planet. LEON’s co-founder Henry Dimbleby will share his vision behind the brand known for serving fun, fresh food quickly and at an affordable price.

He will discuss his strategy for bringing the best food to the most people, his outlook on building a brand with purpose and how the key to LEON’s successful growth has been its people.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Henry Dimbleby | Co-Founder | LEON

Henry Dimbleby is co-founder of the award-winning Leon Restaurants. In addition to writing a column for The Guardian and popping up on Radio 4’s Kitchen Cabinet & BBC 1’s Saturday Kitchen, he is co-founder of the not-for-profit Sustainable Restaurant Association. Henry started his career as a commis chef with Michelin-starred chef, Bruno Loubet, before joining The Daily Telegraph. From there he moved to Bain & Company, a management consultancy firm, where he met John Vincent. They spent a lot of time together on the road, travelling for work, where all they found to eat was delicious but life-destroying fried chicken or cold, neon-lit sandwiches. Infuriated by the difficulty of finding tasty, nutritious food on the run, they resolved to do something about it. And so Leon was born.

John Vincent | Founder and CEO | LEON

John Vincent is CEO of LEON, the naturally fast food chain, which he co-founded with Henry Dimbleby in 2004 to make it easier for everyone to eat well. He previously worked as a strategy consultant for Bain & Company, where his business travels made him realise that the only available food on the go was making everyone fall asleep and wake up fat. With the declared aim to create “a McDonalds in heaven”, and working with chef Allegra McEvedy, John and Henry opened the first LEON on Carnaby Street in 2004. John took over the day to day running of Leon in 2014 and leads the menu innovations.

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