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Andy Bassadone
Executive Chairman

Andrew Bassadone has significant experience in the restaurant and hospitality sector. He was Managing Director (Europe) of My Kinda Town, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1994 and which was ultimately sold to Capital Radio in 1996. He was Senior Vice President (Europe) for Planet Hollywood before moving to a role as Chief Executive at Signature Restaurants. Between 1998 and 2005, Andy led the acquisitions of restaurants including Belgo, The Ivy, J. Sheekey, Le Caprice and Daphnes and co-founded a new restaurant business – Strada. Signature Restaurants was sold in 2005 but Andy continued as Chief Executive in the new acquisition entity, ultimately leading the selling of Strada in 2007 for £140m and co-founding Côté at the same time. Cote was sold in 2013 for £100m, whilst Andy focused on developing Bills restaurant and the initial expansion of the Ivy Café brand. He joined Various Eateries Limited in 2019.

 

Sharon Badelek
Chief Financial Officer

Sharon has an established track record of driving growth in businesses in our sector, with an impressive CV that includes senior financial positions at RedCat Pub Company, Vue Entertainment and Novus Leisure Limited.

 
Hugh Osmond

Hugh Osmond
Non-Executive Director

Hugh was the founder of Sun Capital Limited in 2001 and Osmond Capital Limited in 2017. He continues to operate both companies. In 1993, Hugh co-led the £18 million acquisition and market listing of Pizza Express. During the eight years he remained on the Board, Pizza Express became one of the UK’s largest sit down casual dining group and the value of the company increased more than twenty-fold. Over this period, annual losses of £0.6 million were turned into profits of £38 million. In 1997, Hugh co-founded Punch Group and, as Executive Chairman, he orchestrated the acquisition and integration of the Allied Domecq Retail estate, the Bass leased estate and Inn Business to create the UK’s largest pub group. Punch Group was floated in 2020 with an enterprise value of £3.5 billion. Hugh co-founded Pearl Group in 2005. Pearl was acquired for £1.1 billion from Henderson Plc and embedded value was subsequently grown to £2.3 billion. Resolution Plc was acquired in 2007 and the enlarged group (renamed Phoenix Group) floated in 2009. Phoenix is now the largest UK insurance consolidator and listed in the FTSE 100 index. Most recently, Hugh led the acquisition of Capital Physio in 2019. He founded Various Eateries in 2014

 
Tiffany Sword

Tiffany Sword
Non-Executive Director

Tiffany was educated at the University Cambridge and after time at DE & J Levy and L’Oreal UK she moved to work alongside Hugh at Coppa Club in 2015 where she was appointed Managing Director overseeing conception of the Coppa Club brand and was tasked with launching the initial IPO. Tiffany is now a director of Osmond Capital.

 
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Glyn Barker
Non-Executive Director

Glyn is a chartered accountant and worked at PWC until he stepped down in 2011. During his time at PWC Glyn held positions included UK Head of Assurance, Managing Partner (UK), Vice Chairman (UK) and Chief Executive, Markets (Europe).
Glyn is currently the Chairman of Irwin Mitchell. He has significant public markets experience he is currently the Deputy Chairman of Berkley Group plc, a director of Transocean Limited and a senior advisory partner of Novalpina Capital. He previously acted as senior independent director of Aviva plc until 2019.

 
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Gareth Maitland Edwards
Non-Executive Director
Committee Membership: Audit Committee, Remuneration Committee (Chairman)

Gareth is a qualified solicitor and was previously a partner at law firm Pinsent Masons LLP, where he held both the positions of Global Head of Corporate and International Development Partner. He is currently a strategic consultant and an Executive Director of London Bridge Capital Limited, an FCA authorised corporate finance boutique. He has significant public markets experience and is Chairman of Nightcap plc, and a non-executive director on the Boards of Cornerstone FS plc and Various Eateries PLC, all of which are all admitted to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.