The theme for the afternoon was ‘who’s following in your footsteps’ with the talks and presentations focussing on how Lexington was going to ensure future success through the development of our people.
The conference was used as a launch platform for two new service focused developments, the new Service Forum which will sit alongside our successful Chefs Forum and our new Aspiring Leadership Programme, Lex Aspire, which will fast track Lexington’s brightest future managerial stars. These two new service developments will help to support Lexington as the business grows, ensuring that Lexington’s core values are not diluted as the company continues to mature.
The event was hugely popular with over 120 Lexy delegates attending the conference. The conference was seen as an opportunity to look back and reflect on how far the company has grown in the last eleven years and to reiterate that as Lexington grows, Lexington’s values, our LexDNA, must remain at the core of the business and at the forefront of our operations.
Julia Edmonds, Managing Director says “The Leadership Conference was a great success – the feedback we have had from the teams has been incredible. We take great pride in our approach to nurturing and developing our people and day’s theme ‘who’s following in your footsteps’ was developed to get our up and coming leaders thinking about their future stars and how they can inspire and lead them to greatness.”
Lexington were honoured to welcome to the stage Rob Forkan, co-founder of Gandys Flip Flops, the ethically focused brand which is the talk of the UK, as their inspirational guest speaker for the afternoon. Rob talked about how the business was born, the journey that they had taken and why they run their business with the motto ‘profit for purpose’ at the forefront of their operations. Like Lexington, Gandys have set out to ‘do things differently’, to build a brand that they believe in and create a company that operates with a clear and defined purpose. Gandys and Lexington are both making waves in their industry and beyond.
The Leadership Conference also saw the launch of our annual Lexy Star Awards which honour some of Lexington’s hardest working and most talented managers, chefs, kitchen teams and support employees from across the business.
Rounding the afternoon off was the Lex School of Talent Apprentice Challenge which was an all-female affair, won by Louise Roberts. A food and supplier roadshow showcased the latest Lexington food innovations and introduced some of our new suppliers to the teams. The afternoon finished with drinks and delicious food which was themed to a British picnic.
