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hello@thebarista.co.uk
Meet the team
We’re proud of the team we’ve built. They’re a big part of why clients keep coming back.
The coffee’s exceptional, and it’s the people serving it who make The Barista what it is. Our baristas know their craft, are easy to have on your stand and represent your brand as well as you would. Behind them is a core team who love getting every event spot on.
Here’s who you’ll be working with.
Co-founder and Director
Sam Fletcher
Sam co-founded The Barista in 2011, after a placement year at university in Australia gave him the coffee bug. Today he leads the business and heads up sales and marketing.
Among the events he’s most proud of is the Xero Roadshow, a back-to-back run that had the team serving in one city through the afternoon, packing down and setting up in the next city ready for the next day. Another highlight is longstanding client work with AB Agri, one of our first-ever clients and still a partner today, often with the same people on stand who’ve watched the company grow.
Outside work, Sam’s an F1 fan who’ll happily talk you through the best restaurants in Yorkshire, and he’s usually got a dog walk or a trip planned.
Favourite drink: Americano
Co-founder and Director
Matthew Carr
Matt co-founded The Barista with Sam in 2011, after his own placement year in Australia turned a student job into a career. He’s still closest to the client side of the business.
BIBA is the work he’s proudest of, an event The Barista has served for years, working with 10+ clients there each year. He has a soft spot for BAFTA too – there’s something special about working such a prestigious event in the middle of London. What he values most is the conversations with clients. As he puts it: “To be speaking to the client at the end, for them to be happy with how it went, and to know the coffee service was a big part of that – that fills me with pride.” Clients know him as the friendly, chatty one.
When he’s not working, Matt plays 5-a-side, takes on long walking challenges and tinkers with his classic Mini.
Favourite drink: Flat white
Marketing and Operations Project Manager
Elsie O'Dwyer
Elsie joined The Barista in 2018 and got her start in events right here. She’s the team’s sustainability champion, having completed a course in Business Sustainability Management with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. She led the work that earned The Barista its ESSA Sustainable Events Supplier accreditation, and won ESSA’s Unsung Hero of the Year award for it.
The event she comes back to is Xerocon London in 2019, when she was our Event Coordinator and one of ten onsite delivering the coffee. Being on the floor as well as in the planning gave her both sides of how an event actually runs. Her favourite venue is Harrogate Convention Centre, the first exhibition space she ever set foot in.
Outside work she’s happiest cooking or planning her next trip abroad, with the next one usually already booked.
Favourite drink: A cup of tea
Operations Manager
Phil Broadbent
Phil, or Hamish as everyone calls him, was our first ever employee, and he’s still the most experienced person here. He’s at his best on the jobs most people would find daunting.
The one he’s proudest of is nine bars running at once across McLaren dealerships around the country. He also ran eight bars for Engage at Battersea Evolution, a tough setup, but worth it for the number of drinks served in a day and how much people enjoyed it. His knowledge of venues is a running joke in the team. There’s barely a place The Barista has worked that he hasn’t been to, and it shows in how he plans every job.
He’s the team’s resident Ironman, usually mid-training for a very long run, and a keen woodworker who’s always building something.
Favourite drink: Latte
Account Manager
Jamie Inglis
Jamie’s been with The Barista since 2017, and he’s the reason a lot of clients stay. He builds the kind of long-term relationships that have clients coming back event after event, from global names to people running their first stand.
What clients mention most is how quick he is. Send Jamie a question and you rarely wait long for an answer, and that reliability is what’s kept the relationships going.
Away from work, Jamie’s a family man and a big sports (and Newcastle United) fan.
Favourite drink: Flat white
Client Coordinator
Emily Short
Emily has eight years experience in coffee and four in events, two of them with The Barista. She’s at her best on experiential and activation jobs, the ones with an ambitious brief where every detail has to land.
The Ordinary pop-up and Skin Rocks are two she’s proudest of, both brand-led work where the coffee had to fit into the world around it. She’s also the one the rest of us go to on anything new. If there’s a drink doing the rounds, chances are Emily’s been making it for months.
She knows the Leeds speciality coffee scene inside out, pastries included, and spends her weekends with a good book or out hiking in the Yorkshire countryside.
Favourite drink: Americano
Marketing and Operations Project Manager
The wider team
The team above plan and run the events, but we’re not the ones behind every bar. The Barista employs a team of full-time baristas, trained in-house on our own blend, Northern Espresso, which we roast ourselves in-house and serve at our UK events. At events across Europe we work with local beans instead.
When the calendar gets busy, with several events in a week or a roadshow moving through a new city each day, we bring in freelance baristas we trust to represent your brand as well as our own team would – some we’ve worked with years. Whoever’s on your stand, they’ve been briefed on your event and trained to the same standard, so the coffee and the welcome are the same wherever we are.
The Barista have proven to be a reliable and professional service partner at some of the most critical customer touch-points we have had. The Barista matched the level of professionalism that we wanted our image to exude. Their high level of expertise, wide range of services and unwavering professionalism means I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to others.
Julia Lovett, Corbion
CALLING ALL FREELANCE BARISTAS!
If you’re a great team player and have a passion for speciality coffee, let’s chat! We work with baristas all over the country, so if you’re a freelance barista looking for some extra shifts, we’d love to hear from you.
How to join usWe provide the best possible experience for you and your guests
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Highest quality drinks
Service to reflect your brand
Professional with personality
