At Women In The Food Industry we are delighted to partner with The Craft Guild of Chefs. Established in 1965 as a Guild of the Cookery and Food Association, the Craft Guild of Chefs has developed into the leading Chefs’ Association in the UK and has many members worldwide. Look out for some exciting offers for our members and also news from the Guild’s annual National Chef of the Year Awards.  We spoke to three female members of the Guild about their experience, how the industry has been for female chefs / managers and what piece of wisdom would you give your younger self right now.

Natalie Campbell is an award-winning social entrepreneur and co-founder of A Very Good Company (AVGC), a global social innovation agency. On 1st March she took over the role of CEO at Belu Water, who give 100% of their profits to the charity WaterAid to help transform lives worldwide with clean water. Our co-founder Mecca Ibrahim spoke to Natalie about businesses for purpose, Belu Water’s aims for the hospitality industry and their plans for a future post lockdown.

Elise Lane is the head winemaker and CEO of The Winery by Laneberg Wine. It’s the first winery  on Tyneside and the furthest north in England. She moved to the wine world from corporate finance and set up Laneberg Wine whilst pregnant with their second son. Her winery is one of the suppliers to the Local Heroes North East a Virtual Market set up to help safeguard regional food and drink businesses in the North East of England. We spoke to her about the Covid-19 crisis, her plans for survival and hopes for the future.

Jackie Maxwell is a  Director of Doddington Dairy who produce artisan farmhouse cheeses, luxury ice cream and yogurt on their family farm in North Northumberland. The farm is also a supplier to the Local Heroes North East a Virtual Market helping to safeguard regional food and drink businesses in the North East of England. We spoke to her about the crisis in the British cheese industry caused by Covid-19, her plans for survival and hopes for the future.

What happens when you are about to open a new business and lockdown hits? We spoke to butcher Sophie Cumber about the launch of her new butchery at Bowhouse, the space for artisan food and drink producers in Fife and her hopes for the future.

Dawn Davies is Head Buyer at The Whisky Exchange. Women in The Food Industry co-founder Mecca Ibrahim, caught up with…

Would reducing social distancing requirements to one metre see more hospitality businesses survive the Covid-19 crisis and save “thousands of jobs”? We spoke to a number of prominent women in the food industry for their thoughts.

During this time of lockdown, many of you will not be surprised to learn that our drinking habits have changed. What may be more surprising is that one in three people claim to be reducing what they drink! The low / no alcohol trend is clearly more than a trend. We spoke to Emma Heal, Partner and Managing Director of Lucky Saint – the low alcohol lager which is seeing a dramatic increase in sales.

The lockdown has left many people within the hospitality industry furloughed and often feeling a lack of purpose. We spoke to Andrea Zick, PA to the GM of OXO Tower Restaurant Brasserie and Bar & former Food Made Good Champion about how she put her skills and experience to great use by helping others during this challenging period.

We are continuing our series of news features of  women in the food industry who are putting their skills and experience to great use by helping others in this challenging time.  We spoke to Clara Widdison, Head of Social Inclusion at The Mayor’s Fund for London and she told us about her all women team of staff and volunteers running emergency hubs for children across London.

Continuing our series of positive stories from women in the food industry in these challenging times. Sonya Devi-Clarke is Director & Founder The Vegetable Diva a packaging free, vegetarian catering company in Bristol and a 4 acre biodynamic vegetable plot just outside the city. We discovered how she helped to co-found The Bristol Food Union, a collective of restaurants, food businesses and community organisations to help ensure the city of Bristol stays fed during the Covid-19 crisis.

We were heartened to hear how a number of women have collaborated to help others during the Coronavirus pandemic. Elisa Furci of Caccia & Tails  shared how she has been working with a number of women in the food industry and the design world to pool their skills to fundraise to help feed NHS staff in Lewes, West Sussex.