Drawing upon his extensive culinary background and travels , Alasdair crafts one-of-a-kind sausages that are a true reflection of his passion for food and cultural interests. Working his way up the ranks in various kitchens for 15 years as a chef, he would regularly take time off to further his knowledge by doing stagés in Michelin and fine dining restaurants. He left behind the kitchen work to teach himself how to smoke meats, BBQ and master open fire cooking which he felt commercial kitchens (at the time) was lacking. Deciding there was a huge lack of sausages suitable for BBQ and low and slow cooking, he went about creating a range of sausages that combined prime cuts of sustainably farmed pork, modern techniques and bold flavours from all corners of the globe designed to educate and inspire the customer.

Ana Ortiz is a chef and co-founder of Fire Made which she runs from Somerset with her husband Tom Bray; the pair design and produce fire cookery equipment for chefs, restaurants, and consumers worldwide. As well as running experience days and training in all things asado. Ana is also a talented chef specialising in Ecuadorean cuisine and fire cookery. She can be found popping up at restaurants and food festivals both in the UK and globally. Ana grew up on the Galapagos islands and her earliest memories of cooking are in her grandfather’s beautiful fire kitchen where they would prepare traditional feasts for all the family. They would slaughter an animal on the farm and the family would gather to cook a nose to tail meal over fire. In the most wonderful of ways. Ana can regularly be found popping up at festivals and guest chef nights around the country, known for her vibrant Ecuadorean food.

In January 2022, Ben Tish joined Cubitt House as Chef Director, overseeing menus for the group’s eight pubs: The Coach Makers Arms, The Princess Royal, The Thomas Cubitt, The Barley Mow, The Builders Arms, The Alfred Tennyson, The Grazing Goat, and the newly renovated The Orange. His cuisine is inspired by Mediterranean cooking, focusing on seasonality and British produce.

Elliot Cunningham of open-fire concept Eat Lagom is a rising star of the UK’s food scene. Having worked in kitchens including Barbecoa, Yosma, Smokestak and Pizza Pilgrims as well as a stint at butcher’s Turner & George, his expertise around food and meat in particular is both instinctive and well-honed, leading him to create some incredibly exciting dishes in the kitchen at his permanent residency at Hackney Church Brew Co.

Jack is the co-founder of Mondo Sando, a company of dedicated sandwich goblins who live in the vents of Camberwell's Grove House Tavern. Sample our wares and see god for free.

Kemal Demirasal is the Chef-Founder of The Counter. Kemal was born in Izmir, Turkey in 1981, and grew up surrounded by food, with his mother running a small local restaurant. He studied economics, before pursuing a career as professional windsurfer, winning six national championships in Turkey. In 2007, he ended his sporting career, having decided he wanted to open a restaurant. In 2009, Kemal opened his first restaurant Barbun in Alacati, a pioneer on the fine dining scene in Turkey, but continued to travel the world researching the very best in innovative, boundary-pushing dining. In 2013, Kemal launched Alancha in Alacati, a restaurant which won praises from the likes of World’s 50 Best Discovery Series, New York Times and the Financial Times, and was shortlisted for the Best Restaurant category at Wallpaper*’s World Design Awards. Since then, Kemal has also founded restaurant concepts including modern Aegean-Greek restaurant YEK, gastropub Atelier Malt and seafood grill Bluefin. In 2022, Kemal opened The Counter Notting Hill, his first restaurant outside of Turkey, showcasing traditional south eastern Anatolian cooking styles mixed with Kemal’s groundbreaking take on his native cuisine. The Counter Soho followed in 2024, showcasing cuisines of the Agean, Mediterranean and Levant.

Founder, Kostas Vais has a deep passion for his Greek heritage, heavily influenced by the nostalgic cooking of his mother and yiayia (grandmother). Having spent 15 years with Accor hotels, Kostas earnt his stripes from waiter up to Food and Beverage Director. His final tenure was with Melia hotels in London, where his food concept development lead to major changes within the company on how they view and deliver food. His passion for his Heritage lead him to The 3 Little pigs souvlaki street food concept, with a natural progression to Essi. His totally unique take on Greek inspired, open fire cooking with an Australian flavour, is a sight and taste to behold.

Hailing from the Greek islands, Marios embarked to start a culinary journey to mainland Europe. Europe allowed him to refine his skills under renowned chefs and Michelin starred kitchens across Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Geneva and London. Currently consulting for essi restaurant menu development and running his own pop up supper clubs across London.

Dorset based chef, classically trained at Bournemouth & Poole catering college. I have worked my way around numerous kitchens in the Dorset area, working my way up to leading kitchens focusing on local produce. I became obsessive with cooking over fire through working with Meatopia and companies like Fire made uk and restaurants such as Sophies steakhouse in Soho. In 2019 I started Cross Fire cooking, we cook what I call British smoked barbecue and live fire cooking. We use only the highest welfare, local & rare breed meats that we can source and are mindful to use as much of the animal as we can in our cooking. We focus on getting the bets flavour out of our meats and produce by using various smoking and live fire cooking techniques.

Rob started his culinary journey after working and managing bars, restaurants and nightclubs from for 15 years he decided to follow his real passion for cooking. Begining with helping friends with street food he progressed to working his way up in a Michelin guide kitchen in the space of 2 years. While doing this he started Bastards Bistro on the side of his other jobs and had a number of pop ups. Bastards Bistro expanded through lockdown and beyond and became a sole focus. Open and eclectic in terms of cuisine and style, they are never pigeonholed and are comitted to creativity and flavour. They have been creating a stir in the north of England, through their street food pop ups, kitchen takeovers and 5 course dining clubs.

Terri Mercieca is an ice cream maker, chocolatier, dessert chef and the founder of Happy Endings LDN, a dessert business made famous by their signature ice-cream sandwich. As a chef, desserts have always been Terri’s thing. She loves the process, observing how things transform, building something precise and beautiful. Leaving school at seventeen to apprentice at a sandwich shop, she has worked in all corners of the food world – gastropubs, fine dining at Sydney Opera House, making ice cream sundaes at McDonalds as a teen. The common denominator? Making ice-cream sandwiches. In 2014, she put down roots in London and founded Happy Endings LDN – since then, she has won the YBF Baking Award and been nominated for CODE Hospitality’s Most Influential Women in Food 2023. She also regularly contributes dessert recipes to food magazines and appears on TV, most recently MasterChef Youth. She still owes her love of comfort food to her grandmothers on both sides – one Italian-Maltese, one old-school white Australian – one savoury, one sweet, in that order.

Viggo is the co-founder of Mondo Sando, a company of dedicated sandwich goblins who live in the vents of Camberwell's Grove House Tavern. Sample our wares and see god for free.