The Staff Canteen Live 2026: Fowlescombe Farm lunch

Today (Monday, August 17), we hosted our latest TSC Live chef networking lunch at Fowlescombe Farm.

The Staff Canteen launched chef networking lunches in 2016, later incorporating front of house events from 2020. The concept is simple: bring chefs and key industry suppliers together in an environment where meaningful conversations can happen away from the pressures of service.

Today’s lunch brought together chefs from across restaurants, hotels and hospitality groups in the south west for a focused afternoon of networking, product discovery and industry-led conversation.

Held at Fowlescombe Farm in Ugborough, Devon, close to the edge of Dartmoor National Park, the event gave guests the opportunity to experience a menu led by head chef Elly Wentworth, with a strong focus on the estate, the garden and produce from Fowlescombe Farm.

Guests were welcomed with Nyetimber before a garden tour and seated lunch, with the menu showcasing ingredients including farm charcuterie, Fowlescombe Farm beef, garden courgette, summer savoury, beetroot, wild herbs and pickled blackberries.

The guests

Today 16 chefs joined us for the lunch, with combined buying power in the room of £10.1million. They were:

Daniel Hyams, head chef and manager, The Barley Sheaf
Andy Witheridge, executive chef, Salty Monk
Ollie Vernon, chef director, The Chagford Inn
Simon Hulstone, chef owner, The Elephant Torquay
Dan Brown, head chef, The Cotley Inn
Harrison Brockington, head chef, Gather
Ben Harrison, chef patron, Counter Culture
Luca Duval, head chef, Flora Newyard
Paul Welburn, executive chef, Fern
Alfred Petty, chef patron, Petty Fours
Jay Barker-Jones, chef proprietor, The Dartmoor Inn
David Knapman, head chef, Glebe House
Martin Baylis, chef director, MB Restaurant Group
Nigel Brown, executive chef, Edie's Restaurant
Ian Webber, executive head chef, Gidleigh Park
Angus Bell, head chef and owner, MINE

Reflecting on the event, 2026 Roux Scholarship winner Harrison Brockington, head chef at Gather, said: “It was really amazing to meet up with some old friends and some new people from the industry.

“It was awesome to walk around Fowlescombe Farm and be introduced to the new area and then have a nice lunch surrounded by great people and great suppliers as well.

“It was a great way to learn about and speak to new sponsors. I’ve taken some business cards with me and absolutely will follow up with them after this.”

Harrison added that his favourite dish was the scallops, saying the sauce was “delicious”.

Simon Hulstone, chef owner of The Elephant in Torquay, said: “Today has been about seeing one of my previous chefs Elly Wentworth and how she is getting on and seeing this amazing place, Fowlescombe Farm.

“Regenerative farming, brilliant food, fantastic set-up and sponsors and chefs from the south west.”

Simon added that his favourite dish was also the scallop, praising the wine pairing.

Paul Welburn, executive chef at Fern, added: “I love these events.

“It’s great to bring people together to chat food, chat suppliers and chat problems in the industry over fantastic food.”

Paul concurred over the "special" scallop dish.

The sponsors

These events would not happen without the support of our sponsors. Today’s chef networking lunch was supported by: Nyetimber, Williams Refrigeration and Winterhalter.

Nyetimber provided the welcome drink, with guests welcomed with Nyetimber Tillington Single Vineyard 2016.

The lunch also gave guests the opportunity to connect directly with suppliers across wine, refrigeration and warewashing.

Gemma Butterell, south west area sales manager at Nyetimber, said: “The Staff Canteen lunches, I’ve done a few, and they are absolutely brilliant for networking.

“It works so well for the sponsors, because we get to do this brilliant introduction at the beginning, we get to talk about in my case Nyetimber and we get to meet Class A chefs.

“It’s been incredibly helpful for me.

“We get loads of contacts we can follow-up with afterwards, so a really great day for networking.”