Oliver Bolton, founder and managing director, Solution Sciences Ltd Oliver Bolton is trying to save the world from hangovers. The practised entrepreneur (past businesses include a scooter import firm and an events company) has invented Alibi, 'the world's first active pretox drink', by combining vitamins, amino acids and herbal extracts with fruit juice. The vivifying tonic is designed to steel the body against toxins, particularly those related to alcohol consumption. Numerous UK clubs and retailers are selling the elixir, including Harvey Nichols. Having cracked Malta and the Caribbean as his first export markets, Bolton is now tackling Japan, Australasia and the US.
Duncan Glendinning, founder, The Thoughtful Bread Company A techie at heart — he's a web developer by day — Glendinning is harnessing the power of web 2.0 to build his new eco-friendly venture, an artisan bakery. Glendinning, a firm believer in 'business-friendly thrift', used Facebook to track down his baker and turned to Freecycle to find salvaged bricks for his wood-fired ovens. Bath-based The Thoughtful Bread Company will sell top quality bread products using seasonal ingredients and sustainable energy, and also aims to run food provenance sessions for schools and apprenticeships. Glendinning earned his green spurs as sustainability manager on the Fiji-based ecotourism project Tribe Wanted, featured on BBC TV.
Andrew Coath, director, Pure Peach Ltd Andrew Coath is a man with a mission. So far he's transformed two knackered hostelries — Bedfordshire's The Swan and The Black Horse — from pork-scratchings-ifyou're- lucky obscurity to success stories boasting real ale, seasonal menus and healthy turnovers. Bedford's 20-bedroomed Embankment is the next grand project. Coath was crowned 2007 licensee of the year by the British Institute of Innkeeping, and his CV includes managing catering for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Arieh Wagner, director, Kosher Events, Starguest Ltd It's a long road from sleepy alpine village to frenetic world city, but Arieh Wagner has tackled it with aplomb. Arriving in London in 1997, Wagner took up residence at London's Park Lane hotel and set his sights on becoming one of Europe's best kosher events organisers. He now hosts elegant 'simchas' — Jewish celebrations including weddings, barmitzvahs and corporate events — at the five-star institution, impressing everybody from Nelson Mandela and Tony Blair to captains of industry. Genes have played their part: he comes from a long line of hoteliers, cutting his teeth at his family's Hotel Silberhorn in Switzerland.
Jamie Barber, CEO, Foodstore Group Jamie Barber is as showbiz as they come. After a two-year recording stint with George Michael, the former singer-songwriter and entertainment lawyer (Roger Moore and David Frost were clients) founded London's Hush restaurant, drawing the likes of Max Clifford and Simon Cowell as regulars. Barber's £20m restaurant stable now includes the capital's Villandry, alongside Kitchen Italia and Sake No Hana, a partnership with Alan Yau.
Ed Rigg, MD, Eager Drinks For Ed Rigg, it was one duff vodka cocktail too far. After a spell in eastern Europe, the entrepreneur returned to the UK to discover that he couldn't find a decent, nonsugary apple juice to accompany his favourite tipple. Spotting a gap in the market, Rigg has created a range of longlife juices (apple, tomato, pineapple, cranberry and orange) made from 100% premium fruit, designed to be imbibed straight or in a cocktail. Having impressed the UK bar industry, Rigg is now turning to the consumer market.
Joe Shanks, partner, Orange Grove Organic Joe Shanks produces a globe-trotting range of organic dips — from spicy peanut 'tuk tuk' to Catalan-inspired almond alioli 'manuel' — and is now releasing music compilations for chilled out chomping. The dips are already a hit with music aficionados: one Big Chill festival punter branded them 'the best food I've ever had in a field'.
Richard Vine, director, RV Baby Salads Salad grower Richard Vine started out with seed money of just £1,000. Just 12 years on he supplies top chefs with some of the finest seasonal leafy comestibles in Britain. Machinery and pesticides are out — everything is organic and tended by hand — and his crop of supporters includes Tom Aikens and Aiden Byrne. Vine will also be turning the kids onto the green stuff in an Academy of Culinary Arts schools programme.
James Lampar, founder and managing director, The Weightmatters Clinic Having transformed Gary Barlow into a sleek comeback kid and with revenues rising 130% yearon- year, James Lampar's London-based health and weight management clinic is on fighting form. Lampar, who tipped 19.5 stone as a teenager, has pulled together a holistic team of psychotherapists, dieticians and trainers to help people find a route to optimal health.
Chris Withey, director, Crazyblend Cocktails Building a £100k-turnover business in just two years, Chris Withey's mixed it at private parties for Craig David and Richard Branson, flipped the funky lemon for an MTV event and Royal Ascot, and has been the new face of Turkish vodka, Lokka. Chris's team has numerous books in the works and their range of cocktail equipment will hit the shelves next year.
Nick Strangeway, senior consultant, Underdog Bar & Restaurant consultancy When not bagging cocktail contest silverware or appearing on Channel 4, Nick Strangeway is resuscitating dogeared bars, hotels and restaurants. The world mixologist of the year devotes any spare time to setting up new bars — London's Hawksmoor, a shining example — or foraging for damsons, greengages and homegrown herbs for his innovative cocktails.
Richard Bigg, managing director, Cantaloupe Group Richard Bigg has a nose for up-and-coming London quarters. He started out in 1995 in on-the-cuspof- hip Shoreditch with his Cantaloupe restaurant, selling it to bankroll Camino, a Spanish retreat in nascent King's Cross that Observer Food Monthly readers voted Britain's 'best place to drink'. With Bigg's portfolio also starring London's Cargo and a brace of Big Chill Bars, he's now striving to expand yet again, perhaps venturing outside the capital.
Tim Francis, founder and managing director, TheDrinkShop.com Ltd Tim Francis is on a ceaseless quest for the world's finest tipples. With just nine fulltime employees, he has created the UK's most visited drinks website, marshalling 3,100-plus lines running from red and white wine staples to Dom Perignon, Peruvian pisco and 25-year-old Scottish malts. Francis' website also serves his global customer base tasting notes, cocktail recipes and mixology video masterclasses.
