John Vincent is the co-founder and CEO of the natural-food chain LEON, which he founded in 2004 alongside Henry Dimbleby.
Prior to founding LEON, John was a strategy consultant for Bain & Company where his business travels made him realise that the majority of food available ‘on the go’ was unhealthy.
He is also known for his work in developing the 2013 School Food Plan, for which he was appointed and MBE, and for chairing the Council of Sustainable Business.
Upon graduating, John Vincent first worked at Procter and Gamble in sales and marketing, before joining Bain & Co. For three years, he was part of a team that worked on the spirits business Whyte & Mackay during its rebranding and business transition.
It was whilst working at Bain & Co that the idea for LEON first developed. With the declared aim to create “a McDonalds in heaven”, and working with chef Allegra McEvedy, John and Henry opened the first LEON on Carnaby Street in 2004. Shortly after it was awarded ‘Best Newcomer’ at the Observer Food Monthly Awards. John took over the day to day running of LEON in 2014 and constantly cooks-up new menu innovations.
LEON now has over 30 restaurants throughout the UK with plans to open more.
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John co-authored the School Food Plan for the UK Government in 2013, which persuaded the Government to put cooking back on the curriculum, provide free school meals for all infants, and reach new standards of the food served to children in schools.
The School Food Plan has since improved the diet of over five million students and is served daily across 22,00 schools. Both John and Henry Dimbleby received the Sustainable Restaurant Association’s Raymond Blanc Sustainability Hero Award for their work on the plan, and they were both appointed MBE in 2015.
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John has written columns for a range of newspapers and magazines, including the Metro in 2014-15. He is also the co-author of a number of LEON cookbooks, including:
– Family and Friends (2012)
– Happy Salads (2016)
– Happy Soups (2017)
– Fast Vegan (2018)
– Happy One-Pot Cooking (2018)
– Happy Curries (2019)
– Happy Fast Food (2020)
– Happy Guts (2021)
– Fast and Free (2024)
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John Vincent | Speaker
John is now a popular speaker, helping organisations tackle modern business challenges by demonstrating how health-focussed initiatives and sustainability practices can become competitive advantages. He provides practical frameworks for implementing environmentally responsible operations without sacrificing profitability.
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Leading Through Uncertainty with Calm, Clarity, and a Bit of Humour: John teachers leaders how to anticipate the unexpected and respond with purpose instead of panic. Drawing from his experience leading LEON through the COVID lockdown, he shares actionable principles that helped his teams stay grounded under pressure.
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Wellbeing That Works: How Real Wellness at Work Protects Teams and Drives Performance: John was an earlier pioneer of workplace wellbeing, leading wellness retreats and other programs for his team. In this talk, he breaks down how a truly human approach to wellbeing isn’t just nice to have, but is essential for resilience, safety, and productivity.
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Seeing the Whole: How Systems Thinking Can Change Your Business – and Maybe the World: In this talk, John unpacks the power of systems thinking, the ability to see beyond silos and short-term fixes, and design solutions that actually sticks.
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