Dan Warne CEO at Sessions Market knows a thing or two about restaurant tech. The former MD of Deliveroo is now creating an integrated, hybrid platform where new and exciting food brands can scale and grow by accessing both physical and digital routes to market. In fact, it’s a whole new blueprint for nurturing and growing brands.

The first Sessions Market food hall opened in Shelter Hall on Brighton’s seafront pre- pandemic to great reviews - but the customer-facing, physical incarnation of the “platform” is only the tip of the iceberg.

Peter Martin speaks to Dan about his radical vision: to create an ecosystem that combines food halls with ready access to a network of commercial kitchens nationwide and the data and digital tools to accelerate the growth of founder-led food brands across all channels – dine-in, delivery and take-away. 

At the start of this year, the business announced it had raised £7.3m towards its own expansion plans, including opening two more food halls in 2022 and 500 kitchens that will test, incubate, and scale the most exciting and popular new food concepts in the market and create the next generation of national restaurant brands.

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ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dan Warne

Dan has considerable experience running large teams and significant P&Ls, having led Deliveroo from 12- person start-up to the fastest growing company in Europe. Importantly he has experience operating multi- operator kitchens through launching and running Deliveroo’s Editions Programme, ensuring restaurant vendors are well managed and quality and health and safety standards are adhered to. At scale, Dan oversaw relationships with more than 40,000 restaurants across the UK. His deep understanding and broad connections across the restaurant industry lend Sessions credibility in the category, while his experience overseeing complex operational, legal and personnel challenges will aid the scaling of the Sessions Projects. Dan has multiple data- points that have informed the formula for Deliveroo’s success, which will neatly map over to the success of Sessions. Dan’s tech background will ensure Sessions employs technology to optimise customer experience and efficiency.

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This series of podcasts is sponsored by Bird & Bird and Zonal [https://www.zonal.co.uk/]

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Links

Bird & Bird: https://www.twobirds.com/

Zonal: https://www.zonal.co.uk/

Peach 20/20 Youtube: https://bit.ly/Peach2020_YT