Whitbread's Dempsey joins speakers' roster for Peach 2020 conference

22 November, Intercontinental London Park Lane, London

Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants boss Patrick Dempsey will join the speakers' panel for Peach's flagship conference and awards event in November. Other big names confirmed include Cafe Nero's Gerry Ford, Marston's Ralph Findlay, YO! Sushi's Robin Rowland and Novus ceo Steve Richards.

Dempsey will be addressing the big issue of people development and industry reputation, and how to make working in hospitality an attractive and worthwhile career - including the progress being made on the Big Conversation initiative.

The annual Peach 2020 Conference and Hero & Icon Awards will be held this year on 22 November at the prestigious Intercontinental London Park Hotel - with an afternoon conference and an evening awards dinner.

Caffe Nero is one of the UK's big success stories, and Gerry Ford will map out for conference guests the challenges in building the brand and especially now in developing it internationally.

Ralph Findlay will appear in a double-header interview session with YO! Sushi boss Robin Rowland talking about what the pub and casual dining sectors can learn from each other - and what they've personally discovered working together on the Marston's board, which Rowland recently joined as a non-exec. They'll also be discussing the right balance boards and executive teams need.

Another big name operator, Steve Richards, chief executive of Novus Leisure, will be this year's guest chairman, taking on the role performed last year by James Horler, boss of the 3Sixty Restaurant group.Steve will bring his own unique operator's perspective to steering the conference debate and discussion, sharing chairing duties with Peach Factory's own Peter Martin.

The Peach 2020 conference will be followed by an exclusive awards dinner, at which we will celebrate the contribution of our sector’s most successful leaders and businesses in our annual Hero & Icon Awards presentation.

The exclusive, invitation-only event, is for senior executives from across the eating and drinking out sectors. VIP invitations will follow later.

If you would like to attend the Peach 2020 event, please contact Christine Martin at Peach Network on 01704 550383 or christine@peach-factory.com

Headline partners RBS, Coca-Cola, Coffer Corporate Leisure, Ecolab, Torex, Livebookings, Enotria Wine and Fourth Hospitality have all renewed their support for this year - with Empathica joining as a network partner.