Simon Hurley

Simon comes from a family of foodies. His father was a chef before ending up as a principle at a catering college in Yorkshire while his mother, a chef initially ended up running school meals in West Yorkshire. Simon started his career in food as a trainee manager at Sainsburys where he went through all departments as a manager ending up on new store opening team. Simon left Sainsburys to become a manager at Safeways. Simon then worked for Yorkshire Pantry which changed to Deliciously Yorkshire as an area manager looking after producer and retailer members. Simon ended up looking after 3 of the 4 regions. Simon left Deliciously Yorkshire to set up his own consultancy working with Farmshops, Deli’s and Food and Drink Producers. He was approached to help open an Urban Farmshop which became Weetons of Harrogate. Simon found the site, designed the shop, recruited the team, chose the range and ran the store for a couple of years as the retail Director. Simon worked for Lord Salisbury as his head of food. It took 6 months to turn the shops around and another 6 months to set up and build a rare breed wholesale meat business. This business was supplying beef, pork, mutton, venison and game to 21 Michelin stared restaurants including Marcus Waring at Petrus, Gordon Ramsey across several restaurants, John Torrode and Fergus Henderson. Simon joined Olives Et At as Sales Director with responsibility for retail outlets. He opened the Poundbury deli for OEA and remained as sales director for two and half years then he left OEA to set up my own consultancy. Simon worked with several food brands including Jamie Oliver, Tyrrells Crisps, Australian Wagyu, Corkers Crisps, and Granny Gothards Icecream. He returned to Olives Et Al in January 2015 as the Managing Director. Simon is a judge at the Great taste awards including speciality areas such as Olive Oil and I judge at the World Cheese Awards.