- Meet the people shaping the future of gastronomy
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Tim Brooke-Webb
Managing Director
Tim has led 50 Best since 2009, overseeing more than a decade of growth that included the launches of Asia’s and Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, #50BestTalks, the acquisition of The World’s 50 Best Bars and the 50 Best for Recovery programme. A super-car fan, he is happiest when taking a spin at Goodwood or travelling the world to discover new cuisines.
What’s Next: Tim looks forward to the inaugural Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants and other exciting initiatives in 2022.
William Drew
Director of Content - Restaurants
After a decade at the helm of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, William has organised, curated and presented at culinary events in more than 20 cities. A journalist and editor with two decades of experience, he loves nothing more than to interview chefs and bartenders. He is constantly in search of the next great restaurant and has taken up running to counteract the effect on his waistline.
What’s Next: In 2021 and beyond, William is committed to promoting diversity across the 50 Best lists and content.
Laura Price
Project Manager - 50 Next
Happiest when eating home-cooked meals, Laura is a lifelong food obsessive who travels to eat. After five years as Deputy Editor for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and Bars, she now leads editorial content for 50 Next, an initiative she hopes will uncover people fighting for the health of the planet and championing change. Laura writes about food and travel and considers Brazil her second home.
What’s Next: Laura has launched her new podcast, Life in Food with Laura Price, where she interviews inspiring people through a culinary lens.
Rikki Tidball
Group Operations Manager
As the longest-serving member of Team 50 Best, Rikki has been organising the annual awards ceremonies since El Bulli was crowned No.1 in London in 2009. Fun-loving but ferociously well-organised, she is passionate about all things logistics and led operations at events from Bilbao to Macau.
What's Next: A keen decorator, Rikki is putting the finishing touches on her country pile after a cosy 18 months at home due to unexpected travel cancellations.
Joanna Burton
Senior Operations Manager
With 15 years of experience delivering a variety of programmes from intimate gin tastings to large-scale consumer experiences, Joanna leads the operations team with a focus on numbers and a keen eye for detail.
What's Next: Joanna looks forward to exploring the UK and beyond with her family and dog piled into a camper van and often with a foodie destination in mind.
Roger Betriu
Group Partnerships Director
With nearly 15 years’ experience in marketing and sales in the publishing and events sector, Roger played a key role in the first World’s 50 Best Bars awards ceremony in 2009. He later joined the 50 Best Restaurants team from Drinks International in 2017 to enhance the 50 Best portfolio. Roger previously held roles in aviation, hospitality and food & beverages. He hails from sunny Barcelona, Spain.
What’s Next: After celebrating The World’s 50 Best Bars 10th anniversary in 2019, Roger has more exciting hospitality projects in the pipeline – watch this space!
Erica Schecter
PR & Communications Manager
Holding a decade of public relations agency experience, Erica has worked with a range of hospitality clients from small independent venues to large restaurant groups, hotels and chef personalities. Having worked in both New York and London, she has developed and implemented successful global communications strategies and holds extensive international media contacts.
What's Next: Erica is looking forward to supporting the hospitality industry by driving awareness to people and places doing incredible things in the sector.
Mark Sansom
Director of Content - Bars
Mark joined the 50 Best team in 2019 after five years as Editor of Food and Travel, the world’s leading gastronomic tourism magazine. Before that, he was Food and Drink Editor on Men’s Health and News Editor at London’s Squaremeal. When not eating out in the name of good and proper research, he hits golf balls along the floor and cricket balls in the air.
What’s Next: With a passion for fine booze and well-crafted cocktails, Mark intends to give the brightest talents in the drinks industry the platform to showcase their art.
Clelia Di Casola
Group Marketing Manager
Clelia joined Team 50 Best in 2021 with over 12 years' experience in marketing, project management, business development and restaurant operations. Clelia has worked to create and nurture successful F&B brands, defined by quality and consistency. Her passions are dining, hospitality and the community and culture that surrounds them.
What's next: Clelia is ready to take the reins on 50 Best events around the word and is particularly looking forward to the inaugural Middle East & North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants 2022.
James Andrews
Partnerships Manager
A keen globetrotter and food discoverer, James spent three years living in Beijing, where he learned Mandarin and taught English. He joined 50 Best in 2019 to combine his extensive sponsorship sales experience with his passion for food. He is perhaps best known for his unforgettable appearance on a TV game show, where he appeared red-faced after mispronouncing the capital city of Suriname.
What’s next: James has moved to Brighton to be closer to the sea and is determined to learn to cook Indian food (after many failed attempts).
Kate Ransley
Senior Account Manager
Kate joined the 50 Best team in 2017, having enjoyed a successful career in sales and sponsorship in the UK and overseas, including two years in New Zealand. She has experience working in major international food and wine events and festivals and brings a passion for people and communication to her work.
What's Next: Kate is a busy Mum and enjoys cooking at home with her young son, hoping to inspire a love of culinary discovery in the next generation.
Lauren Darke
Partnerships Account Manager
The latest addition to #Team50Best in early 2022, Lauren joined in the position of Partnerships Account Manager to look after the brand’s growing portfolio of partners, applying what she learnt in her previous role supporting the EMEA and global sales organisation of an international restaurant booking platform. When she’s not immersed in the gastronomic world, she can often be found standing on her head at weekends – her other passion (and side hustle) is a yoga business in London.
What’s next: Lauren is looking forward to immersing herself in the upcoming 50 Best events as they return to cities around the world.
Romy Newman
Partnerships Manager
With a background in the luxury events market across Europe, Romy has also worked in brand development on a global scale. Her experience includes curating unique experiences in the F&B sector, album launches, fashion events and international charity galas. She joined the 50 Best team in 2019.
What’s Next: After a travel-free year, Romy is looking forward to a trip home to South Africa, where she grew up on a humble fruit farm that shaped her 'can-do' attitude.
Giulia Sgarbi
Deputy Content Editor
Italian native Giulia has been writing restaurant news and features for 50 Best since 2017, as well as producing live event coverage and managing liaisons with chefs and bartenders. Giulia is also a qualified volleyball coach, speaks three languages and equally loves writing, travelling and eating.
What’s Next: As part of the #5050IstheNew50 initiative, Giulia looks forward to continuing to promote and support women in restaurants and bars in 2022.
Persia Samandi
Social Media Manager
Persia is responsible for managing the #Worlds50Best restaurants and #50BestBars social platforms as well as building and maintaining relationships with the wider 50 Best community, including TasteHunters. In her spare time, she loves exploring foodie spots, sipping on cocktails around the globe and discovering the latest gourmet news via Instagram.
What’s Next: Persia is on a constant drive to create more engaging visual and storytelling content and to grow 50 Best’s social media audiences.
Kiki Hopkins
Multimedia Producer
Kiki joined the 50 Best Team in September 2022, having worked as Channel Producer for the Wine and Food TV Channel run by 67 Pall Mall. She brings production, presenting and management expertise to the team from her experience working across Europe and Africa. She is a huge Formula 1 fan, loves documentaries and is passionate about great food and wine.
What's Next: Kiki looks forward to creating and producing exciting video content across the 50 Best Brands.
Imogen Taylor
Event Manager
Imogen brings to the role her experience working as a theatrical stage manager in New York and has a strong background in producing large-scale, public-facing events in London. With a keen eye for artistic detail, she brings her creative flare to 50 Best's international events portfolio.
What's Next: You’ll find Imogen busy running a side hustle – a small loungewear company –, swimming in the sea or cooking.
Millie Naylor
Social Media Executive
Millie plays a key role in the growth, development and maintenance of all things social in the 50 Best portfolio. She grew up in the Middle East and loves travelling, learning about new cultures and checking out street food and markets around the globe.
What's Next: Millie is always striving to stay on top of the latest trends and looks forward to hitting the slopes again at her favourite location, Kitzbuhel in Austria.
Clara Reitze
Social and Multimedia Executive
Clara joined 50 Best in June 2022 as part of the social media team, helping Persia and Millie grow the brand’s accounts by creating engaging content, monitoring the online community and covering live events. A member of William Reed since 2019, she left a role in marketing to pursue her burning passion for food and drink. In her free time, you might find her relaxing on the yoga mat, chilling in local coffee shops or hunting for the best margarita in town.
What's Next: Clara is always on the look-out for the next city break to discover the newest cocktail bars and restaurants, and keeping up with the latest trends.
Chloe Vialou-Clark
Content Assistant
Chloe joined #Team50Best in August 2021 and assists with content creation across the 50 Best events and websites. She helps to update the brand’s online platforms, creates content at live events and liaises with chefs and bartenders around the world. Previously, Chloe worked in marketing and is taking the leap into editorial at 50 Best, creating content that reflects her passions – food, drink and travel.
What's Next: Chloe is looking forward to using her French skills in her new role and can't wait to continue making her way through an extensive travelling bucket list.
Josh Ong
Content Assistant
Josh joined the 50 Best Team in August 2022 to help with content creation for the 50 Best website and events, with a focus on the bars brands. Prior to joining 50 Best, he worked at Insider on lifestyle content and gained experience at food magazines while studying for an MA in Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University. Food, drink and travel have always been his major passions, and he spends most of his time in his kitchen or eating his way around cities.
What’s next: Josh is looking forward to using his position at 50 Best to highlight the incredible work of bartenders and chefs around the world.
Hannah Riches
Event Executive
Hannah is part of the team that weaves together unforgettable experiences for chefs, bartenders, media, partners and consumers. Following a degree in television and broadcasting, she briefly worked in the financial services industry before joining the 50 Best team, where her love of food and travel get a chance to shine.
What's Next: Having already been on a round-the-world trip, Hannah looks forward to discovering new great movies and TV shows and enjoying relaxing yoga sessions in her free time.
Florence DeCarteret
Event Coordinator
Flo is dedicated to delivering the brand’s portfolio of global events. After studying marketing and fashion at university, she joined the William Reed hospitality team working on UK food and drinks events such as Publican Awards, Top 50 Gastropubs and Top 50 Cocktail Bars.
What's Next: Flo plans to continue to support mental health in the company and beyond, and looking out for the latest fashion items online.
Sherita Tuntirattanasoontorn
PR Account Executive
A member of the team since September 2022, Sherita was a marketer prior to becoming 50 Best’s PR Executive, supporting Erica across the company portfolio. The author of a paper on communicating sustainability through ethical restaurant practices, she’s a food enthusiast who can talk endlessly about a simple dish or her new favourite restaurant. Having grown up in Bangkok, she had the chance to closely observe the evolution of the city’s bustling food scene – but also spent a few years in France and a good amount of time travelling the world, tasting and discovering new cuisines.
What's Next: Sherita can't wait to immerse herself and expand her knowledge while playing a part in contributing to the global F&B industry.
Robert Proctor
WRBM Company Secretary and General Counsel
+44 (0) 1293 610401Vincent Renaud
Data Protection Officer
+44 (0)1293 610444