| Sarah Louise Willingham | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1974 Stoke on Trent |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Cranfield University |
| Occupation | Finance expert, business entrepreneur |
| Known for | Inspector (judge) on UK TV series The Restaurant and her appearances on The Apprentice Series 6 |
| Website | |
| www.bbc.co.uk/restaurant/inspectors/index sarah.shtml | |
Sarah Louise Willingham (born 1974 in Stoke on Trent) and is the daughter of a maths teacher, Judith, and businessman, Rhondda. Willingham has a younger brother, Alex. Even though Willingham and her parents were born and raised in Stoke-on-Trent, her paternal grandfather, James, originated from Willesden.
She has two business degrees from Oxford Brookes University and the Sup de Co business school in France. In 2004 she was awarded an MBA from the Cranfield University School of Management. She appears on ITV's This Morning as their "Super Saver". She has also appeared as a restaurant inspector on all three series of Raymond Blanc's The Restaurant. She is also a "restaurant entrepreneur" specialising in fast food restaurants and former owner of the Bombay Bicycle Club Restaurant chain.
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Sarah Willingham is one of the youngest entrepreneurs in the high street food and leisure industry. She recently appeared on The Apprentice 'You're Fired' and the final 'You're Hired' as a panelist.
Management Today and The Times acknowledged her as one of the “35 most successful women under 35” in the UK. In 2007 she was voted Business Weekly’s “Young Entrepreneur of the Year”, one of the “Courvoisier Top 500”, “Who’s Who in British Business Leaders 2007”, British Telecom's “Spokesperson for Small Business Growth 2008” and “Press representative Unilever Food Solutions brand launch 2011”.
Having spent the early years of her career managing some of the biggest household names in restaurants – Planet Hollywood and Pizza Express, Sarah decided to go it alone. She successfully raised the finance to buy The Bombay Bicycle Club in 2004, and turned a heavily loss-making business of six restaurants into a profitable group of seventeen, establishing the largest chain of Indian restaurants in the UK. The business was sold in 2007.
In 2004 Sarah co-established her own AIM listed company, Neutrahealth PLC, which acquired six businesses in the fast growing Nutraceutical industry and was sold to Indian PLC Elder Pharmaceuticals in 2011.
Subsequently Sarah continued as a main board director of The Clapham House Group where she was responsible for three of their four brands; Tootsies, The Real Greek and The Bombay Bicycle Club, over 50 restaurants and more than 1,500 employees.
In April 2008, she became FSA approved and co-established a private equity platform in the UK. She is also working on a number of other business ventures including a consumer-facing website, promoting food from her home town as patron for ‘The Taste of Staffordshire’, and acting as Contributing Editor for Fine Foodies magazine.
Sarah lives in the countryside with her Danish husband, Michael, who she met whilst studying and they have four young children: Minnie, Monti, Nelly and Marly. She attended Newcastle-under-Lyme School..
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