Sustainable Restaurant Association MD Mark Linehan to step down
Linehan, who has been managing director of the not-for-profit membership organisation since it started in 2010, said after more than five years it was 'time to move on to pastures new'.
Under his leadership, the SRA has grown from 50 to almost 6,000 member sites across the UK and has extended its reach into a range of sectors, including into pubs, contract catering and school catering. Linehan also supervised the launch of the organisation's consumer brand Food Made Good in 2015.
Giles Gibbons, chair and founder of the SRA, said: “When Mark took up the reins at the SRA in 2010, we had only just launched, 30 members, and a bag full of ideas.
“Five years on, and Mark has not only overseen a 100 fold increase in the number of our member sites and ensured that our Food Made Good Rating is regarded as the industry gold standard, but he has also helped put sustainability on the menu for all foodservice businesses. We are immensely grateful for all his endeavours and wish him well in his next project".
The SRA has started the search for Linehan's replacement. The MD said engaging an 'increasingly savvy and sustainability minded dining public' will be central to the role of his successor.
"I am immensely proud of what we have achieved at the SRA in that time, bringing the issues we care about into sharper focus, making sustainability something that no restaurant or food service operator can ignore and creating a movement of like-minded people who want to do business in the right way," he said. "And now, as the SRA enters its next phase of development with Food Made Good at the heart of what it does, I believe it is in great shape for my successor."
