About the Guild of Fine Food

It was probably the force-feeding of obscure foods – especially cheese – during his childhood that compelled John to study Agriculture & Food Industry Management at Wye College, University of London. This oddly named but all-encompassing course covered farming and production as well as sales and marketing.

But it proved to be the perfect grounding for a career running the Guild, after a short stint reluctantly doing non-food things in London.

Sally began her career with Abbey National in 1994, quickly progressing to management level. She then worked for a niche management consultancy in North Dorset helping small and medium-sized businesses in Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset secure grants and management training.

She joined the Guild in 2006 and now heads our sales campaigns across the magazines, exhibitions and events. She is also show director of the Fine Food Show North.

Christabel joined in 2016 from international wine media brand Decanter, to oversee the delivery of the World Cheese Awards in San Sebastián, and Christabel has been making things run efficiently ever since.

As operations & marketing director, she is responsible for developing digital systems and overall business and communications strategy – not to mention masterminding the Guild’s latest global cheese adventure.

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After reading Business with Languages at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, Tortie began her career in London organising fundraising events for Macmillan Cancer Relief. This led to managing accounts at the advertising and marketing agency Ideas Unlimited. Her accounts included The National Trust, Royal Opera House, MS Society and Macmillan Cancer Relief. Tortie left Ideas as an Account Director in 2002 to move to Dorset.

A director of the business, Tortie works across all Guild activities, including Great Taste, World Cheese Awards, Guild membership and Fine Food Show North.

Michael relocated to the West Country and joined the Guild in 2011 after working as a business journalist, covering commercial property, travel and construction for various magazines in London.

Although the food industry is a mellower environment, he still finds time to unleash his ire on misplaced punctuation and shoddy press releases during the day-to-day running of Fine Food Digest.

Always hungry for latest food & drink news, Tani is a key part of the team producing Fine Food Digest and our host of other publications throughout the year. Organised and articulate, she is a major contributor across all our print titles, as well as online. A fluent French-speaker with great chef connections, built up from her years at The Staff Canteen. Tani has recently been studying for her WSET qualifications and is often the voice behind Fine Food Digest drinks focus pages.

A keen snowboarder and motorcyclist, Becky also holds the trophy for longest-serving employee at the Guild – she has been a stalwart of the sales team since 2005.

Jenny recently joined us with a strong sales and publications background. She will help you with getting your business in front of retail buyers and consumers through our publications and events.

After a previous life as cheesemonger, Jenna’s experience in the speciality food and drink sector combined with her substantial marketing skills make her an excellent addition to the awards & events team. Deftly handling our marketing for both awards schemes, as well as several other projects, and helping to steer our social media output, you’ll often see Jenna at our events snapping a picture or directing our photographers.

Lindsay joined the team in May 2022, with a remit to help us better understand our audiences, ensuring we can deliver the most useful range of activities for all the people and businesses that we interact with.

Coming with data & insight experience built up over a career at some of the UK’s biggest newspapers, plus a more recent immersion into independent food retail and produce growing, makes Lindsay ideally placed as one of the people quietly taking the Guild forward into the next stage of our development.

Specialist subject: spreadsheets. Coming from an administrative and accounting background, Claire is a key part of the organisation behind Great Taste and World Cheese.

Specifically looking after some of our larger retailers, as well as working on product scheduling with the wider operations team, she is calmly efficient in managing a number of projects.

Zara transfers her substantial skills built up in the healthcare publishing sector to our events and awards schemes.  Part of the operations team, she skillfully project manages the event operations at some of our flagship events, in particular the Great Taste Golden Forks and World Cheese Awards.

Sepi will be one of the team welcoming you if you’re joining us for Great Taste judging at No. 42 in London – as well as playing a key role in orchestrating product deliveries and judging schedules behind the scenes.

Previously a dentist, with a keen interest in food – including involvement in a family restaurant project in Northumberland – Sepi joins us with a wealth of different experiences, as well as a recent stint honing her organisational skills at Action for Children.

A key person on our operations team in Gillingham, Chris will be one your first points of call if you contact us by phone or email.  Also responsible for helping with the mammoth task of sorting products into judging sessions behind the scenes, Chris puts his organisational and admin experience to good use making sure products are stored and delivered to judges in top condition for tasting.  Chris also plays a key role in finding new producers who are interested in entering Great Taste and World Cheese Awards.

Your first point of contact when you ring the Guild or email for advice or help with award entries. Chloë also plays a key role in the administration behind both of our awards schemes, as well as coordinating the travel and hotel arrangements for Great Taste judges coming to Dorset.  A budding photographer, Chloë also assists with capturing content for our social media channels.

With a hands-on experience of working in a deli for over 10 years, Nick knows the day-to-day of many of our retailers first-hand.  He will endeavour to ensure retailers are taking full advantage of their Guild membership and the services we offer to provide support for their business, as well as building on our community of retail members.

Also vying for that long service award, Julie has seen it all at the Guild. She started life here as an accounts exec, moved to operations and then back into the numbers game. Julie is our tenacious, but extremely polite, chaser of money (we all need them).

Whether it’s designing our publications, creating promotional artwork or fixing the website, Mark is the man behind all things graphic at the Guild.

He joined the Guild in 2008 after a 20+ year design career taking in music magazines, record labels, branding and packaging design and art editor at BBC Worldwide.

He gets his creative inspiration while cycling through the rural lanes of Dorset & Wiltshire

Never one to miss a story or photo opportunity, Emma manages our social media channels with aplomb. Following all our Guild events – sometimes in person and sometimes behind the scenes, Emma’s thumbs are working overtime to ensure not a moment or comment is missed.

Sharp Relations run the press office for the Guild of Fine Food, supporting PR and communications for all our activities, including Great Taste and World Cheese Awards.

They are your first point of call for any image or comment requests from the Guild of Fine Food team. Working closely with our marketing and social media team, the friendly team at Sharp help us get the message about well-made food & drink, and the people who produce it, out to those who sell it, make it and enjoy it.

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The man with a calculator who keeps a watchful eye on our management accounts. Ashley has a wealth of experience that he brings to the Guild of Fine Food and ensures we all stay on track.

A good man to know, Stephen not only ensures we are all paid on time, but also keeps his hand on the facilities tiller at the Guild.

Our founder and chairman, without whom the Guild of Fine Food would not exist, has dedicated 40 years to the food & drink industry (longer if you include his first job at 13 in Shaftesbury’s finest grocery store!). Bob’s hard work, good ideas and contribution is much more than to just our organisation, it is to the entire food & drink trade in the UK and beyond.