In this episode, I’m very pleased to welcome Ben Quinn, founder of Canteen Cornwall, who joins us for an exploration of the relationship between cooking, human connection, and culture change.
Ben is a critically acclaimed chef who has created a business that showcases good value food – made with good values. He shares the fundamental shift in perspective that led him to start his own business and how that’s shaped the strategic decisions he’s made. He also calls out the unnecessarily toxic culture his industry has and describes an alternative approach to management.
His cafe, Canteen, founded in 2017, is open year-round. It is a place where the community in Cornwall connect with each other and visitors alike. Ben also founded a catering business, Woodfired Canteen, which cooks on fire all over the world and serves diners on long tables in beautiful locations.
Ben has delivered two TED talks and self published a cook book. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Ben and his teams fed over 45,000 NHS workers.
www.canteencornwall.com
Ben is a very proud husband to Melissa Quinn (formerly Thorpe) who is the youngest person ever and first woman in the world to run a spaceport. Mel ran the operation of launch from Spaceport Cornwall, the first on European soil. Mel has explained to the worlds press that Ben’s forward thinking approach to feminism as a Dad and husband allowed her to follow her dreams and reach her potential when society was still not ready. Melissa has also been a guest on The Purposeful Strategist: “Space isn’t infinite”. Melissa suggested Ben as a guest when she was on the podcast. Melissa, many thanks for that.
Ben Quinn