Collectively our amazing Leadership Team bring over 100 years of experience in the hospitality industry.
With successful backgrounds they’re well positioned to keep the Lexington business and our clients ahead of the game…
Matthew Wood | Managing Director
Matt Wood is our Managing Director. Matt leads Lexington Catering, Lexington Independents and Lexington Reception Services. He helps to define the company’s strategy, whilst overseeing commercial performance and growth opportunities through the provision brilliant food and unparalleled levels of service.
Matt joined Lexington from occupational health and wellbeing business Health Management where he was Managing Director. Previously, Matt has held senior operational roles at five-star hotels and restaurants inclusive of London’s Grosvenor House. More recently he spent eight years at Restaurant Associates where he held a number of high-profile operational and leadership roles, inclusive of the position of head of strategic partnerships. During this time, he won Foodservice Cateys Regional Manager of the Year in 2015.
Matt’s passion is in people development and he is looking forward to taking this agenda forward, moving Lexington onwards and upwards in its next stage of growth.
Julia Edmonds | Non-Executive Chair
Julia joined Lexington Catering in 2007 as Sales and Marketing Director. She was appointed as Managing Director in 2010 and took over the leadership and direction of the whole of Lexington and the wider Elior B&I business in January 2020.
Julia helps define the company’s strategy and oversees commercial performance and growth opportunities. She continues to build a highly successful business that provides creative and effective hospitality solutions to some of the leading businesses in the UK.
Before joining Lexington, Julia spent 20 years holding various senior sales and operational management roles in the hospitality industry. She believes success depends on having fabulous people and works hard to embed Lexington’s core values.
Katharine Lewis | Director
Katharine is one of the co-founders of Lexington. She plays a key role in leading our approach to talent management creating a great place to work, where people can achieve their potential. Katharine leads our graduate programme and promotes our involvement with Springboard.
Katharine has over 20 years’ experience working with high profile clients, she also provides senior direction within operations working closely with our team and our clients to deliver delicious food and great service to our customers.
While at High Table Katharine also gained a ‘Caterer’ Acorn Award and now champions our rising stars at Lexington to follow in her footsteps.
Ben McEwen | Sales Director
Ben returned to Lexington towards the end of 2018, joining as Sales Director to lead the team on all business tenders and acquisitions.
He has a wide-range of hospitality experience across a variety of sectors, from corporate, retail and commercial to tech, start-ups, destination and large-scale events. This includes running the catering operation for the world’s press and broadcast at London 2012.
Having previously worked at Lexington as a General Manager, after completing the Graduate Programme, Ben is enjoying being part of the Lexington family again, helping the team to drive growth and continue to embed Lexington’s core values.
Ben also works hard to support emerging talent. Having graduated with a degree in International Hospitality Management in 2008 from Oxford Brooks he now mentors students. He is also a trustee of two charities in the Thames Valley, including No 5 a mental health charity set up to support children and young people.
Sean Ritson | Operations Director
As Operations Director, Sean works with the wider leadership team to manage operations across the Lexington and City business. He is focused on inspiring our people to deliver the very best food and service; driving innovation and ensuring that our quality and service culture is embedded within our culture.
Sean joined Lexington in March 2019 bringing a wealth of experience in hospitality across commercial and B&I sectors. He has successfully managed, operated and enhanced services for many prestigious City clients. He is a vital component of the Lexington team and offers a range of expertise that allows him to help clients achieve their objectives.
Jon Lilley | Group Development Chef
Jon started out as a chef over twenty years ago and has led the kitchen teams of some of the biggest staff catering sites in London. His experience working across many of our sites created a framework for the innovation and development in his role as Group Development Chef, leading the food team.
Jon ensures we continue to innovate and lead the way when it comes to providing fresh and tasty food to people at work. He works closely with our existing sites and sales team to develop menus and ensure our offer continues to meet each client’s needs.
He has played a huge role in helping the business attract and retain talented chefs, having coached over 20 chefs through his kitchen into more senior roles across Lexington. In addition to inspiring our chefs through organising chef forums, supporting our apprentice programme and managing events, he has also invested a considerable amount of time to drive sustainability across the business.
Dan Rampat | New Business & Innovation chef
Dan joined Lexington Catering in February 2018, working with the wider chef development team to ensure we deliver a continually fresh offer.
Dan’s forward-thinking approach to innovative culinary provision is recognised by all of the Lexington family. Dan will lead on the implementation of our forward-thinking and on-trend food strategy, working closely with the Sales and Marketing team. Dan will also ensure that new and market-leading culinary innovation is rolled out to the wider business.
After graduating from Westminster College he worked for a prestigious hotel, in Austria, and then Boodle’s Private Members’ Club, in London. It was whilst he was here that he really got a sense of the importance of using fresh, local, produce.
Dan is incredibly passionate about all things food. With a father from Guyana and mother from Austria he has been exposed to a variety of foods and flavours. His father loved cooking so they used to spend lots of time together in the kitchen and it was then that he fell in love with exotic spices and flavours that make the cuisine so unique.
Not only is he bringing his artistic skills but he is helping the wider team get a real sense of what ingredients can be used to create authentic cuisines from around the globe.
Steven Snowden | Group Development Chef
Steve joined the culinary team as Lead Development chef in 2022, having joined Lexington from Tom Kerridge restaurants in December 2021 (as Group Project Chef).
As a strategic member of the Lexington food team, Steve will be responsible for providing our teams with the necessary tools to deliver a high standard of food across the Lexington estate, both n retail, hospitality and events.
Steven has opened restaurants and pop-ups from the ground up. He brings a real creative flair to the kitchen that values seasonal, local, fresh produce and a commitment to preserve culinary traditions.
As well as doing chef consultancy in Japan, the Philippines, and London, he has also opened up restaurants in Singapore.
He has a lot of experience teaching cookery and has mentored and trained dozens of young people and helped them make their first steps into a chef’s career. Steven is passionate about food and loves sharing his vast knowledge of modern British, European, and Asian cuisines.
Rob Kirby | Chef Consultant
With over 30 years of cooking experience, having worked in some of the finest hotels and restaurants in the UK and abroad, Rob ensures that great food remains at the very heart of Lexington. He works with the Lexy team to deliver fresh, simple, seasonal and tasty well-sourced dishes.
Award-winning author and winner of the first Foodservice Catey’s for ‘Chef of the Year’, Rob regularly appears on BBC television and radio showing the nation how to cook. His books include ‘Cook with Kids’ and ‘The Family Kitchen’.
He believes food can bring lots of fun and enjoyment to people and works with schools to inspire young people to spend more time in the kitchen.
He is an ambassador for the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and in 2011, he partnered with the University of West London and Springboard UK, to design Lexington’s award-winning Lexington apprenticeship scheme, Lex School of Talent.
