After qualifying as a chef in the UK in 1992, James has spent the last three decades delivering food and beverage operations, hospitality business strategies and restaurant design internationally. With a passion for food, his early career was spent working in both restaurant and hotel kitchens which led to establishing his own successful national restaurant franchise business in South Africa.

In the UK, James has mobilised and directed operations for a pub group and now works closely with a number of leading Universities including MMU, St John’s College Cambridge and the University of Birmingham developing food strategies, business master planning and designing new food experiences and central kitchens.

Internationally, James has strategised with leading hotel and major events venues writing culinary operational and training procedures, creating restaurant concepts and delivering large-scale food operations. James is a Prince2 practitioner and joined Russell Partnership Consulting in 2017.

He currently leads the Food and Beverage Design team for Therme RPC, creating the world’s most advanced, wellbeing-focused, food experiences.