Tom Barton

Why organisations work with Tom Barton

• He has the rare combination of operator and supply chain reformer. Honest Burgers is a 39-site casual dining brand that buys whole carcasses directly from regenerative farms, a structural decision most restaurant groups have not been willing to make.
• His sustainability content carries weight because it is paid for. Honest absorbed the cost of switching to regenerative British beef rather than passing it to customers, a commercial decision a buyer can interrogate, not a marketing claim.
• He speaks credibly on building a brand from a market stall to a national footprint, with named milestones: the Brixton opening, the Cateys 2021 Restaurateur of the Year (Group) award, and the 2026 National Burger Awards win for “The Honest”.
• He is a useful voice for boards weighing ESG commitments against margin: the Honest Farming programme is a working example of procurement volume being directed at climate-smart agriculture, not a pledge.

Biography highlights

• Co-founder, Honest Burgers, opened first site in Brixton Market in 2011
• Honest Burgers now operates 39+ UK restaurants across London, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Brighton, Manchester, Liverpool and Reading
• Cateys 2021 Restaurateur of the Year (Group), with Phillip Eeles and Dorian Waite
• Created “The Honest”, named UK’s Best Burger at the National Burger Awards 2026
• Built the first regeneratively farmed British beef supply chain in UK restaurants, in partnership with the Grass Roots Farming Cooperative
• Founder of the Honest Farming programme, supporting six regenerative farming families through premium pricing and whole-carcass procurement

Biography

A small marquee with a griddle and fryer at festivals in 2010 became one of the UK’s most respected casual dining brands. Tom Barton and Phillip Eeles ran outdoor catering for a year before raising investment with restaurant operator Dorian Waite and opening a first site in Brixton Market in 2011.

The interesting story is what happened after the brand worked. Honest Burgers grew to 39 sites without selling to a private equity roll-up and without losing its product position. The Cateys 2021 award for Restaurateur of the Year (Group) recognised that scale, particularly through the pandemic. In 2026, “The Honest”, a recipe Barton created, was named UK’s Best Burger at the National Burger Awards.

The more substantive contribution is a supply-chain one. Honest Burgers became the first UK restaurant group to build a regeneratively farmed British beef supply chain, buying whole carcasses directly from a small group of farming families through the Grass Roots Farming Cooperative. The company absorbed the cost rather than passing it to customers, on the argument that volume procurement is the lever climate-smart agriculture actually responds to.

That is the practical content of what Barton brings to a senior audience. Casual dining is a low-margin, high-velocity category. Doing the harder thing on sourcing inside it, at scale, and paying for it out of margin, is a credible operating example for any board that has signed an ESG commitment and is now looking at the bill.

Key speaking topics

• Brand building from start-up to national scale
• Regenerative agriculture in commercial supply chains
• Sustainability as an operating decision, not a marketing position
• Founder leadership through rapid growth
• Hospitality, food culture and consumer brand
• Procurement and whole-carcass sourcing
• Company culture under expansion

Ideal for

• Founders and operating teams scaling consumer brands beyond their first ten sites or stores
• Boards and CEOs reviewing ESG commitments where supply chain is the largest source of emissions
• Procurement, sourcing and category leaders in food, retail and hospitality
• Investor and accelerator audiences interested in entrepreneurship in regulated, low-margin categories

Audience outcomes

• A working example of a regenerative supply chain inside a competitive high-street category, with the commercial trade-offs named
• A first-hand account of how brand discipline is maintained as a hospitality business moves from one site to forty
• A clearer sense of where sustainability claims become operating substance, and where they remain marketing
• Specific decisions about pricing, procurement and farm partnerships that other operators can pressure-test against their own model