Henry Dimbleby

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Henry Dimbleby
MBE
Dimbleby (right) with his Leon Restaurants co-founder, John Vincent
Born
Henry Richard Melville Dimbleby

May 1970 (age 53)
NationalityBritish
EducationEton College
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
Occupation(s)Cookery writer and businessman
Known forCo-founder of Leon Restaurants
Co-founder of the Sustainable Restaurant Association
Board member ofLeon Restaurants
SpouseJemima Lewis
Children3
Parent(s)David Dimbleby
Josceline Dimbleby
RelativesDimbleby family
WebsiteHenryDimbleby.com

Henry Richard Melville Dimbleby MBE (born May 1970)[1] is a British businessman and cookery writer who is a co-founder of Leon Restaurants and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. He was appointed lead non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2018.[2] He is a son of BBC broadcaster David Dimbleby and of Josceline Dimbleby.

Early life[edit]

Dimbleby was born to broadcaster David Dimbleby and cookery writer Josceline Dimbleby in May 1970. His sister Kate Dimbleby is a cabaret singer. He was educated at the Dragon School and Eton College, where he was a Newcastle scholar and a contemporary of Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.[3] Later, he attended the University of Oxford where he read Physics and Philosophy.[4] In 1984, he played Tom Dudgeon in the TV series Swallows and Amazons Forever![5]

Career[edit]

Cookery writing[edit]

Dimbleby's first job was as a commis chef with Michelin-starred chef Bruno Loubet, before joining The Daily Telegraph as a food columnist.[6]

Later, he was a regular cookery columnist for The Guardian,[7] and has appeared on BBC Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet and BBC One's Saturday Kitchen.

Management consultancy[edit]

Dimbleby worked for management consultants Bain & Co for seven years from 1995 to 2002.

Restaurant entrepreneurship[edit]

During his time at Bain, Dimbleby met John Vincent, and together they formulated the idea of Leon Restaurants.[8] Leon Restaurants was subsequently co-founded by Vincent and Dimbleby with chef Allegra McEvedy.[9][10][11][12]

Dimbleby co-founded the Sustainable Restaurants Association in 2009, and The London Union, which controls some of London’s biggest street food markets.

Campaigning[edit]

School meals[edit]

In 2013, Dimbleby and John Vincent were invited by the then Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove to write a report on school meals in the United Kingdom.[13] They produced the School Food Plan, which made 17 recommendations to improve the quality of school meals and food education. As a result of the plan, the government now provides free school lunches to all infants in years Reception, 1 and 2. In addition, practical cooking and nutrition is now part of the National Curriculum for 4- to 14-year-olds, and two major food flagships have been launched across Lambeth and Croydon.[14][15] On 25 November 2015, the government stated that free infant school meals would be safe from national spending cuts.[16]

National Food Strategy[edit]

In July 2020 the National Food Strategy, Part One,[17] was published, which Dimbleby led.[18] This proposed actions to help disadvantaged children and to promote environmental and animal welfare standards. The recommendations for disadvantaged children were supported by Marcus Rashford in his 2020 Covid-related campaign.[19]

Other[edit]

From 2018 to 2023, Dimbleby was the a non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.[20]

In January 2024, Dimbleby founded Bramble Partners, a venture capital firm, that invests in businesses seeking to improve food security.[20]

Recognition[edit]

Vincent and Dimbleby were appointed MBEs in the 2015 Birthday Honours for their work on the School Food Plan.[21][22]

In 2017, Dimbleby received the Sustainable Restaurant Association's Raymond Blanc Sustainability Hero award along with Vincent.[23]

Personal life[edit]

Dimbleby is married to Jemima Lewis, a journalist.[24] They have three children[25] and live in Hackney, east London.[26]

Bibliography[edit]

  • The School Food Plan (2013)
  • Dimbleby, Henry; Lewis, Jemima (23 March 2023). Ravenous: How to Get Ourselves and Our Planet Into Shape. United Kingdom: Profile Books. ISBN 9781800816510.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "LEON RESTAURANTS LIMITED - Officers (free information from Companies House)". Beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  2. ^ "Henry Dimbleby". gov.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  3. ^ Hughes, Laura (18 December 2015). "Video: Jacob Rees-Mogg takes down David Dimbleby after attempts to mock his Eton education". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 18 December 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  4. ^ Denham, Annabel (9 June 2014). "Kings of Leon: Meet fast food entrepreneurs Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent". City AM. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  5. ^ Henry Dimbleby at IMDb
  6. ^ "Henry Dimbleby". NOEL GAY. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Henry Dimbleby". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  8. ^ "JavaScript is disabled in your browser". Thecaterer.com. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  9. ^ Evans, Simon (16 August 2009). "Henry Dimbleby: nine restaurants and growing". The Independent. London. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  10. ^ "John Vincent, co-founder, Leon Restaurants". Marketing. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  11. ^ Bordell, Tom; Jaffer, Mehdi. "If God owned McDonald's..." London: The Gateway. Archived from the original on 26 October 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  12. ^ "Food chefs: Allegra McEvedy". London: BBC website. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  13. ^ "Plan to increase take-up of school dinners launched". gov.uk. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  14. ^ Bremner, Myles. "School Food Plan". schoolfoodplan.com. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  15. ^ Ping, Andrew (1 January 2015). "New rules for healthy school dinners". BBC News. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  16. ^ Treanor, Jill; Mason, Rowena (25 November 2015). "Autumn statement and spending review – the key points at a glance". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  17. ^ https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/NFS-Part-One-SP-CP.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  18. ^ "Like Marcus Rashford, Henry Dimbleby wants to fight food poverty — and he has Government's ear". 8 September 2020.
  19. ^ "Marcus Rashford outlines three new initiatives to combat child poverty in letter to No10". September 2020.
  20. ^ a b Boles, Tracey (29 January 2024). "Henry Dimbleby sets up fund to transform global food system". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  21. ^ Burns, Judith (12 June 2015). "MBE honour for school food plan restaurateurs". BBC News. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  22. ^ United Kingdom: "No. 61256". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2015. p. B18.
  23. ^ "The winners of the SRA Food Made Good Awards 2017". Foodism. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  24. ^ "Like Marcus Rashford, Henry Dimbleby wants to fight food poverty — and he has Government's ear". 8 September 2020.
  25. ^ Dimbleby, Henry (1 March 2012). "Henry Dimbleby's Diary". Evening Standard. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  26. ^ "Like Marcus Rashford, Henry Dimbleby wants to fight food poverty — and he has Government's ear". 8 September 2020.
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