Recap of Celebrating Women In The Food Industry – Three IWD 2025 Panels at MM Mayfair – 3rd March 2025

Celebrating IWD 2025 at Mercato Mayfair – Event Recap

At Women in the Food Industry we held three unmissable panel events. From the challenges of book publishing, to women using food to improve our world, through to what it takes create a successful food brand – attendees received practical insights from women who have experienced highs (and lows) within their specialist areas. Each panel was two hours allowing us take a deep dive into the issues which will truly #AccelerateAction.

AGENDA – CELEBRATING IWD 2025 AT MERCATO MAYFAIR

10am-12 noon – How to get published We looked at food & recipe writing as a revenue stream, or a branding exercise, giving women routes to other successful businesses.

Our panel was:

Jenny Linford is a London-based food writer and editor, a longstanding member of the Guild of Food Writers. She is the author and editor of over 20 books, among them The Missing Ingredient: The Curious Role of Time in Food and Flavour (2018), The Kew Gardens Cookbook (2022), The Great British Food Tour (the National Trust and HarperCollins, 2025), Repast: The Story of Food (the British Museum and Thames & Hudson, 2025) and The Kew Gardens Salad Book (Kew Publishing). A cheese-enthusiast, she also produces and presents the popular A Slice of Cheese podcast series for Food FM radio.

Keshia Sakarah is an outstanding self taught chef, food educator, food and recipe writer. She currently teaches cooking in schools and prisons, focusing on matters such as culture and identity to traverse how heritage and history has influenced how we eat what we eat. As a lover of food and travel first and foremost, she loves to explore ingredients from an anthropological perspective, to develop an understanding of their relationship with various communities around the world.

Her container restaurant Caribe’ started as a pop up and residency in kitchens across London in 2018, before growing into a local eating spot based in Brixton, serving a modest 24 covers and receiving a glowing review in the Evening Standard in 2021. Caribe is now Keshia’s debut cookbook (Penguin / Random House 2025)

Cat Black is a member of The Guild of Food Writers and Grand Jury member of The International Chocolate Awards.

Having worked as a private caterer and baking tutor, she has written for a variety of publications. She is co-author of Sex & Drugs & Sausage Rolls – the autobiography and recipe book of Michelin starred chef Graham Garrett (FACE Publications, October 2015), and author of The Great British Bake Off, Bake it Better – Chocolate (Hodder & Stoughton 2016). She worked with Coutts as the writer of their book about Executive Chef Peter Fiori and his famous Skyline Garden (FACE Publications 2019). Most recently she co-wrote Knoops (2021) with founder Jens Knoop.

Her debut novel Feast will be published by Dialogue Books, a division of Hachette, in 2026.

Emily Sweet is a literary agent with a particular interest in food and drink titles. Having established her own agency, Emily Sweet Associates, in 2015, she is now part of the international agency Aevitas Creative Management. With a broad and dynamic client list that ranges from academics and social historians to chefs and online creators, her authors regularly win and feature on a diverse range of prize shortlists – including the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards and the Guild of Food Writers Awards – as well as The Sunday Times bestseller list.

Ru Merritt is Editorial Director Food & Lifestyle at Ebury Books (Publisher of the year in 2024) – now part of Penguin Random House who said “I am here to help my authors become the fullest expression of themselves as authors and bring what makes them distinct creatively to the page. I commission across cookery and lifestyle and I’m privileged to be the editor for many incredible voices, including Justin Tsang, Hayley Dean, Shelina Permalloo, Anisa Karolia and more. ”

12 noon – 1pm – LUNCH – We took a break to buy from the wide selection of kitchens from around the world at Mercato Mayfair. All the dishes are created using fresh ingredients that are locally sourced.

1pm – 3pm – Female Food Heroes We spoke with the women who are making a real difference with their food businesses. From Chief Execs of charities, award winning entrepreneurs through to documentary producers, we spoke with   some of the female pioneers who are improving the UK food scene.

Stephanie Slater is Founder and Chief Executive at School Food Matters. She set up the charity in 2007 after successfully campaigning to improve the food at her children’s primary school. In 2012 she was invited to join the School Food Plan’s expert panel, tasked by the Department of Education to create an action plan to help head teachers improve school food. Stephanie is now co-Chair of the School Food Plan Alliance.

In 2021, Stephanie brought together leading charities in the School Food Review, a group calling for reform of school food policy so that no child misses out on the nutrition they need to thrive. In 2024 she led the Two Cities campaign to address school meal access disparities between London and Liverpool and championed the Cost of a School Meal report, highlighting funding gaps and advocating for systemic change. Highly respected for her collaborative approach and comprehensive vision, Stephanie’s work has had a profound impact, earning her widespread recognition. In 2025 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the School of Education at the University of Roehampton for achievements and contributions to children’s health and school food.

Jenny Jefferies is a South Cambridgeshire based farmer’s wife, mother of two girls, an award winning Cookbook Author, food columnist and producer/presenter. Jenny compiled the successful and award-winning book series ‘For The Love Of The Land’, ‘For The Love Of The Sea’ and their sequels. Jenny’s most recent book ‘Islands In A Common Sea: Stories of Farming, Fishing and Food Around The World’ has just been published globally.

Jenny is an Ambassador for Love British Food, The Country Trust, Eco Ewe and the Farmers Guardian and is a member of The Guild of Food Writers, The British Guild of Agricultural Journalists and writes regular online articles for Country & Town House magazine, a monthly food column for the Cambridge Independent and articles for Rural Life magazine. Jenny produces and presents her own weekly radio show ‘Your Voice’ on Black Cat Radio 102.5FM which is all about food, farming and fishing.

Anshu Ahuja is a Mumbai-born, London-living passionate home cook who in 2014, following a successful career in TV production, was selected as one of the finalists on the food incubator scheme, Kitchenette. The scheme allowed Anshu to launch her pop-up Indian tapas concept, Pao Wow, to critical acclaim at Stevie Parle’s Dock Kitchen.

New Zealand native Renée Williams has 12 years’ experience with a background in restaurant operations and design, as well as events production at Soho House, Caprice Holdings and most recently, Caravan restaurants.

Anshu and Renee brought together their complementary skills to develop DabbaDrop; a food delivery concept, launching the takeaway curry service in Hackney in November 2018, and now across 50+ postcodes in London. They offer a set menu of family recipes from South Asia and beyond, all made from scratch using the finest ingredients served in in traditional ”dabbas’ that can be sterilised and reused again and again and delivered by pushbike. They are the UK’s first plastic-free, zero waste and zero emissions food delivery business.

4pm- 6pm – Future Growth & Branding -You have a successful food start-up but how do you take it to the next level? We spoke to women who have successfully built growing food businesses & great brands. They shared their experiences on growth and whether they experienced any challenges through being women & how they overcame them.

Our panellists

Ramona Hazan , founder of Ramona’s Kitchen, grew up in a Mediterranean family where food was about celebration. Unable to find the same familiar, comforting foods in the UK she decided to bring the Levantine textures and flavours to the UK market herself. Ramona has a passion for food but her continual dedication and persistence to deliver a brand that stands out from the crowd and that people LOVE has resulted in listings in most major supermarkets in the UK. What first started in Ramona’s small home kitchen has now grown to the business you see today in a much larger kitchen specialising in Houmous & Falafel based on her family’s traditional recipes with a contemporary twist. Today, RAMONA’S Heavenly Houmous is the UK’s No 1 Houmous brand, winning many prestigious awards and driving new shoppers to the category.

Alana Buckley, Group Business Development Director at KERB Food. After 6 years building KERB’s catering arm and 2 years leading KERB Events as Managing Director, Alana is now KERB’s Group Business Development Director, responsible for new business, revenue generation and business strategy across KERB Events, the organisation’s events and catering company as well as KERB Ventures, their food halls business and their social enterprise, KERB+.

Phoebe Boddy, co-founded Hash Hut, a quick-service restaurant specialising in all things hash browns, in 2022 with her partner, James. What started as a humble pop-up gazebo has since grown into a thriving food business, serving crispy hash browns with the maddest & baddest of flavours. They currently have sites in Seven Dials Market and Old Spitalfields Market, two of London’s favourite Street Food Spots.

The panel events were chaired by :

Mex Ibrahim is co-founder of Women in the Food Industry. After almost 8 years as Head of Social Media & Marketing of the UK’s fastest growing food website, Great British Chefs, Mex has delivered a variety of award-winning digital marketing campaigns & now runs her own freelance social media, content creation & digital strategy business. Passionate about women’s equality & female empowerment, she co-founded Women in the Food Industry in April 2019 which became a Community Interest Company in July 2023.

Watch this space for more photos from the day!