Street Food Business Expo: NCASS Speakers

The Street Food Business Expo is one of the UK’s leading trade shows for street food operators, mobile caterers and independent hospitality businesses.

Taking place at ExCeL London on the 29th & 30th of September, it brings together thousands of industry professionals for two days of networking, expert talks and the latest innovations in the sector.

NCASS will be exhibiting and hosting a panel session, read the programme schedule here, making it a great opportunity to connect, learn and stay ahead in a fast-moving industry.

For more information, get in touch with our Industry Engagement Manager, Sarah Loutfi.

Check out our excellent panel of speakers for this year’s expo:

Vanessa Anderson – Indi Local

Vanessa Anderson is the Founder of Indi Local, a street food discovery app dedicated to championing independent local street food, giving vendors and local event organisers the digital tools needed to get found and pre-orders lined up before service commences.

As a voice for small-scale street food, Vanessa takes a “boots on the ground” approach to building a community, leveraging digital storytelling to elevate the awareness and accessibility of street food whilst staying firmly committed to the “support local” movement.

Vanessa offers unique insights into how authentic branding coupled with a social-first marketing strategy allows independent talent to compete with the giants and win lasting customer loyalty in a growing and competitive market.

 

Ben Newman – Spudman

Ben Newman, aka Spudman, has been selling jacket potatoes in Tamworth since 2003 and has been an NCASS member from day 1 of business. Alongside Tamworth, he has also catered at numerous festivals and events over the years all around the country.

He is passionate about fellow small food businesses, especially the little potato sellers and when at events, loves sampling food that is on offer.

When not selling spuds or styling the pink mohican, he can be found at home spending time with his wife and their nine children or on dialysis whilst watching food programmes!

Vimal Arumugam – Baked Bird

Vimal has a background in corporate banking IT services, having worked in the City and internationally for many years before trading his career for the passion and commitment required to build Baked Bird.

Baked Bird grew from a family love of chicken wings and time spent travelling across East Asia, where different flavours and cooking methods inspired the baked-not-fried approach. In November 2019, he took the leap and bought a converted horsebox, starting out with DIY kits and bottled sauces delivered to local customers.

From their first market in Shoreditch, Baked Bird quickly gathered momentum. They have since sold over 50 tonnes of chicken and served at more than 100 events, from music festivals to weddings and high-profile events across Europe.

In under 4 years, Baked Bird has grown to three food trucks, secured a residency at Boxhall City, and opened permanent sites including a flagship store on Goodge Street and a unit at ExCeL London. What started as a side project has become a growing QSR business, built steadily from the ground up and focused on doing chicken differently.

Jack Brabant – Digbeth Dining Club

Jack Brabant is the co-founder and director of Digbeth Dining Club, Birmingham’s multi-award-winning street food events operation. Jack first encountered street food when a work project took him to London – a lightbulb moment that showed him where great food, music and community could collide.

Returning to Birmingham, he was frustrated to find no equivalent scene in the city, just a smattering of Midlands traders at farmers’ markets and nothing more. In August 2012, he launched the first Digbeth Dining Club event over a bank holiday weekend, attracting more than two thousand guests.

Founded alongside James Swinburne, DDC has since transformed the Midlands food landscape, turning some of the area’s most unique venues into vibrant street food destinations. The business has grown from a weekly Friday night market to a multi-site operation, including Herbert’s Yard in Longbridge and the acclaimed Hockley Social Club. Most recently, Jack has led the opening of Dockworks Waterfront in Brierley Hill.

A self-described fun-loving foodie, Jack has been instrumental in putting Birmingham on the UK street food map.

Sam Pentecost – Owner, The Alpine Pizza Co.

Sam owns The Alpine Pizza Co, a festival and catering mobile pizza business. He grew this festival business from scratch, starting by converting a horse box into a pizza kitchen in 2017 and catering local events and weddings. Having weathered many storms, including Covid (where the business survived by branching out into pop-up takeaway events) and Brexit, The Alpine Pizza Co is now a nationally recognised business of ten units catering for large festivals and events up and down the country, as well as smaller independent events and functions. He has also just celebrated his first year providing pizzas in Bricks and Mortar, with his restaurant and cocktail bar, ‘The Fire Station Pizzeria’, based in Rothley Leicestershire, where he enjoys serving his local community.

Dani Page – Beef on the Block

Dani is the founder and owner of the one of the UK’s biggest street food businesses. Specialising in steak and chips, BEEF ON THE BLOCK are an award winning company based in the Midlands and also have a permanent kitchen at Boxhall City on Liverpool Street in London.

Jamie Reidy – Founder, GREIDY’S Wings & Strips 

GREIDY’S was founded in 2017, but the story really began much earlier in the multicultural communities of Birmingham where Jamie grew up. Surrounded by West Indian, Kashmiri and many other cultures, food was more than something to eat – it was a way of bringing people together. 

One of the turning points came when Jamie started hosting cookouts and introducing people to his take on Caribbean-inspired food. The response was overwhelming.  

Looking back, GREIDY’S has never just been about chicken. It has been about people, passion and purpose. Every achievement earned can be traced back to those early lessons, where Jamie first learned that food has the power to tell stories, create memories and change lives. 

Cassie Davison – Entrepreneur & Author

Cassie Davison is the author of Stand Out Hospitality: How to Have a Business You Love That Loves You Back, named a finalist in the Business Book Awards 2026. Written from more than 30 years in hospitality and over 25 years as an independent owner-operator, the book explores what it really takes to build a business people choose, return to and care about.

Having built and run award-winning pubs, bars, cafés, restaurants and festival concepts, Cassie understands the constant decisions, rising expectations, team challenges and commercial reality operators face every day. Her perspective cuts through the noise and focuses on what really matters: building loyalty, making clearer decisions and understanding who you are, who you serve and why people choose you.

Alan Fox – NCASS CEO

Alan Fox is the CEO of the Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS), the UK’s leading trade association for independent food and drink businesses. NCASS supports thousands of members across the UK with compliance, business support, training, partnerships and industry representation. With over 20 years in hospitality, Alan is passionate about championing independent businesses, influencing government policy and helping operators build safer, stronger and more profitable businesses.

James Timmins – Utter Waffle

Co-founder and owner of Utter Waffle, an award-winning London-based street food and restaurant business specialising in innovative savoury and sweet waffles. With his background as a trained chef and after completing a degree in business and finance he helped grow the brand into a thriving business with 2 restaurants, event catering services, and multiple food trucks. James drives forward the events and restaurants growth, marketing, and business development.

Jules Jefferis – Utter Waffle

Co-founder and owner of Utter Waffle, an award-winning London-based street food and restaurant business specialising in innovative savoury and sweet waffles. After completing a degree in hospitality & business management and a few years working at The Ivy in London, Jules has a passion for customer experience and FOH management. Jules focuses on business compliance, HR, and restaurant operations.

Rob Machin – Reimagine

A founding team member at KERB and the first employee at Bleecker, Rob has navigated the road-to-restaurant journey from both sides – understanding what the street teaches about demand and commercial reality, and what it takes to translate that into a permanent operation that lasts. At Reimagine, he works with independent operators, developers, and asset owners to close the gap between a great concept and a viable one, bringing operational experience to moments when strategy alone isn’t enough.

Danny Hawke – Danny’s Burgers

Danny Hawke is the founder of Danny’s Burgers, a Bristol-based burger business specialising in LA-style smash burgers made with high-quality ingredients. The business currently operates both a food truck and a Deliveroo kitchen, with plans to expand further in the near future.

Danny started the business six and a half years ago after previously working in youth support work and building custom barbecues and smokers as a side project, which eventually led him into the burger world.

Since launching, Danny’s Burgers has won Burger Chef of the Year and Burger of the Year at the National Burger Awards, as well as appearing on Saturday Kitchen and collaborating with some of the UK’s leading chefs and food brands.

Tom Maher – Original Patty Men

Tom is an Scottish ex pat, situated in Birmingham for the last 23 years. He studied and worked in Menswear design for 10 years before making a move into hospitality. He started trading as Original Patty Men in 2012 at the local street food market, Digbeth dining club and then transitioned into bricks and mortar 3 years later. They now have 2 locations in Birmingham along with a craft beer bar based in Digbeth.

Paul Collins – Smoke + Ash

Paul and his wife launched Smoke + Ash in 2022 following the Covid lockdown. This provided an opportunity to escape corporate life as Paul had previously  worked for an international bank.

They extended the Edgbaston site a year later due to demand and then opened their second site in November last year and have seen their numbers grow each week since then. 

They ventured into the events space last year with a simple gazebo set up (private parties, small festivals etc) and then took the plunge into street food and scaled up for larger events this year. They then made their debut at Digbeth Dining Club, have been featured at events across the UK and have invested in two horseboxes and a relationship with Gozney. 

They now run the events team as a separate business with the team working across the three business units.

Jak Coombes – Founder, Hide and Greek

Jak Coombes is the founder of Hide & Greek, a fast-growing Greek street food brand trading at major UK festivals, events and London food halls. Starting the business at 18 with a borrowed grill and a gazebo, he has helped grow Hide & Greek into a recognised name on the UK street food circuit, known for combining high-volume service with authentic Greek food, strong branding and modern operations.

Ezinné Egbochue – Trader Acquisition Manager, BOXPARK

Ezinne is a food and retail specialist at BOXPARK, dedicated to supporting street food entrepreneurs and helping innovative food brands grow within vibrant community-focused venues.

Nick Friedman – Jamon Jamon Paella & Deluxe Dogs

Nick has been cooking on the streets of London since 2004. He says, ‘It came out of nowhere; I’m no chef and never saw myself cooking for a living’. 20 years on and he still loves the lifestyle and the people.

James Mitchell – Gurt Wings

James, aka “Uncle Gurty”, turned his passion for American-style fried chicken into a business after struggling to find quality wings in the UK. Starting in 2017 from home experiments and a gazebo, he built Gurt Wings into a multi award-winning South West street food brand known for its bold Buffalo wings, signature sauces and menu items.

Simon Anderson – Founder, Next Phase

Simon Anderson is a food hall and street food specialist and the founder of Next Phase, a UK consultancy focused on multi-vendor hospitality and regeneration. He helped launch Market Halls and has spent the last decade working with operators, landlords and councils on food halls, markets and street-food-led destinations across the UK. Simon started his career in advertising and digital marketing, then moved into hospitality as an award-winning restaurateur, including work with Pitt Cue, one of the pioneers of the UK street food scene.

Henry Poultney – Co-Founder of Grace + James and Poli

Henry and his wife founded Mexican inspired Cafe Horchata that traded out of a 1970 Renault Estafette across Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. They created Creamed Pops, an ice cream pops concept and Holy Dough, a mobile woodfired pizza business. He went on to set up Grace + James, a wine bar and cheese shop, and Poli a neighbourhood pizza restaurant in South Birmingham. He also co-founded Kask Wine, a natural wine bar in Bristol.

Sarah Loutfi – NCASS Stakeholders Lead

Sarah has more than 20 years’ experience of working at senior levels within UK membership and trade associations covering sectors from customer service to landscape architecture. Sarah is an experienced membership professional with particular expertise in membership acquisition, retention strategy and engagement. She moved into the hospitality sector in 2023, where she led the membership function for the beer and pub sector trade body BBPA. From there she moved into the wine sector until her move to NCASS in April 2026.