Team Marketing hits milestone 1,000 members, celebrating at 'The Big One'

Team Marketing, the community for hospitality marketers, has reached 1,000 members, announcing the milestone at its flagship event, The Big One, held on Thursday 15th October 2026 at Big Penny Social, London.

The Team Marketing journey began in 2020, with a WhatsApp group set up during the pandemic, giving hospitality marketers somewhere to connect, share ideas and ask questions that they couldn’t ask anywhere else, during a time of uncertainty for the sector. Now a nationwide network of marketers, operators, agencies and freelancers, Team Marketing is running in-person events, regional meetups, speaker sessions, benchmarking and peer support.

The Big One brought together over 200 marketing professionals from across the hospitality sector for a full day of keynotes, panels, workshops and the chance to network over food and drinks. Speakers included Big Mamma Group co-founder Victor Lugger, leaders from Kuvi Hospitality, Arc Inspirations, Caravan, Boxpark, Comptoir Group and a rare appearance from Bill’s founder Bill Collison.

Kuvi Hospitality’s Shereen Ritchie and Rebecca Di Mambro told the audience how they brought Miami’s Coyo Taco to London, the biggest challenges they faced and shared pointers for operators considering franchising international brands. Key takeaways from the session, included: 

“The biggest challenge with Coyo Taco is that it was a hot weather brand. So the question became how it feels when you walk in, because it isn’t Miami. We’ve got palm trees, graffiti on the walls, a beautiful bar, but it’s still potentially raining outside. The food was the easy part, and we didn’t change it. We did simplify the menu, so it didn’t feel intimidating for a British audience, while keeping the authenticity, freshness and flavour.”

“It’s really easy to get emotional. We found this amazing site but to break even, we’d have had to take about £150k a week, for a brand-new brand, in a brand-new country. You’ve got to look at the figures. Don’t get carried away. The numbers will tell you what the answer is.”

“Fight for your local cultural expertise, because there will be elements you have to translate. That’s your role as the UK franchisee. Whether it’s intuitive or data-led, you need to know what works in your market.”

The Team Marketing Council, comprising James Mobbs (Fractional CMO), Juliette Keyte (Red Engine Team), Ruth Carpenter (Caravan) and Cate Gosling (TRGC), took to the stage to talk about winning audiences, building loyalty and keeping the human touch.

Juliette Keyte, Marketing Director at Red Engine Team, said: “It can feel like AI is getting more advanced, everyone feels like a marketer, but you have to have the confidence to know that you’ve been in the business long enough to know that what you say has value. The human element and the experience behind it are still needed to bring everything together.”

Cate Gosling, Marketing and Menus Manager at TRGC, said: “We operate 44 sites nationally across 32 brands, with a ready-made audience of passengers once they’re through security. The challenge is winning that audience over our competitors, which is becoming increasingly difficult as airport partners recognise the potential of F&B and convert more retail space. With passenger numbers staying the same, we’re competing for a growing share of footfall. And because our model is so transactional, with customers only visiting a site if they’re flying from that specific airport at that specific time, traditional brand building, CRM and loyalty strategies are harder to implement.”

From swapping blanket discounts for personalisation, to focusing on what guests value most, seven hospitality marketing leaders shared how they plan to win guests in 2027: Jonathan Lloyd (Inn Collection Group), Sam Hawker (Boxpark), Natasha Naik (Comptoir Group), Catherine Wells (SushiDog) and Ruth Chan (BAM Karaoke Box), in a session hosted by Jack Edge (EDGEY).

Natasha Naik, Head of Marketing, Comptoir Group, said: “If a guest has come in and had a bottle of rosé, the next time it’s their birthday I want to send them a free bottle of rosé, not a generic discount. We need to move away from that and really know what the customer wants.”

Catherine Wells, Senior Marketing Manager, SushiDog, said: “Most people had heard of us but didn’t know what SushiDog was, which is fair given the name. A lot of brands are ticking the same boxes, so we’re trying to step out of ours, which is a bit scary. We’ve got lots of new ideas and are going to be trying new ways to take SushiDog to consumers next via unexpected collaborations & exciting activations”

Next, Victor Lugger, Co-founder of Sunday and Big Mamma Group, took to the stage to talk about turning the brand’s online hype into international growth. Talking on repeat custom, Victor said: “If you make a restaurant that’s all pink, everyone’s going to come, but they’ll only come once. Design has to be exciting enough for people to want to come, but classic enough for them to come back. For a long time, I opposed creative direction and marketing. I said, ‘Seduce, not convince. Build it and they will come.’ Then at some point I realised you can actually do both. We know that marketing will help us improve, but it won’t win the war if the basics of the restaurant aren’t done well. Marketing is about how you accelerate a machine that has to be successful by itself. If you get operations wrong, you’ll just be shut next year.”

Closing out the day as the keynote speaker, Founder of Bill’s, Bill Collison, appeared marking 25 years of the brand, which grew from a Lewes greengrocer rebuilt after a flood, into a national high-street name. 

Rarely speaking at events, Collison reflected on creating a successful brand with guests at the heart, saying: “When your name is above the door, you never stop thinking about it. You take everything really personally. In our bad days we tried to chase too many things on the menu. Catching everyone coming by the door isn’t the way forward. We just try to make it better all the time. If the guest doesn’t leave happy, it’s an opportunity to put it right in a way that makes them think more of the business. At Bill’s everyone gets an opportunity to say what they think, including the staff members. They’re on the floor talking to the guests and they know more than we do.”

Glenda Barber, Team Marketing Community Host, said: "Team Marketing exists to support hospitality marketers. It’s a safe space to ask for help and not feel like they’re doing it all alone. They often work in small teams, sometimes of one, they can be working remotely and report into boards that don’t understand their function, whilst trying to master a million different channels. To reach 1,000 members, and to have so many of them in the room today, is something we’re incredibly proud of. 

“Having Bill with us was a real highlight, and the day was full of wonderful people doing the job and being honest about their stories and journeys that I know our members would have really connected with.”