You can meet the first five today (Monday, November 25th), with more names to be released as the week progresses.
A full report on the list, and why the people on it were chosen, will appear in the December issue of Public Sector Catering magazine, which will be available online from Monday, December 2nd with print copies delivered from December 6th onwards.
The 2024 Top 20 ‘most influential’ people in foodservice reflects all the different parts of the sector – schools, hospitals, care, universities, prisons, and the military - as well as a number of people whose work addresses issues such as health, allergens, the food system, and procurement which are relevant to all.
Part 1
Judith Gregory, chair of LACA, the school food people. With around 3m lunches served every day in 27,000 schools, the LACA network is the country's largest provider of school catering.
Jayne Jones, chair-elect of PSC Alliance. With a background that includes school, care and hospital feeding the new leader of the Alliance is ideally placed to lead it forwards into 2025.
Denise Bean, head of catering at HM Prisons in England and Wales. She is responsible for feeding more than 80,000 prisoners a day on an average budget of £2.70 for three meals a day.
Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers Union. Agriculture represent the start of the ‘farm to fork’ journey and UK farmers produce 60% by volume of the food we eat.
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London. Sadiq made a bold decision to help families during the cost-of-living crisis by offering free school meals to all primary pupils for a year. He then followed up this September by extending the scheme for a second year.