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Lily Cai on disrupting contract catering and building a people-first hospitality brand
Lily Cai, co-founder of boutique caterer Dinner Ladies, tells us the highlights of her life in hospitality
Hospitality is often described as a stepping stone career – a stopgap between “something else”. For Lily Cai, co-founder of boutique caterer Dinner Ladies, it became the opportunity to build something entirely her own.
Speaking to The Caterer as part of the This is Hospitality campaign, Cai reflects on launching the business 10 years ago without a traditional hospitality background and growing it from intimate supper clubs into a contract caterer working within some of London’s most-established venues.
Driven by female empowerment, community engagement and a commitment to better working practices, Dinner Ladies has positioned itself as a dynamic, purpose-led disruptor in the catering space. From championing four-day working weeks and workplace nursery schemes to redistributing surplus food to vulnerable Londoners, Cai explains why nurturing team culture is just as important as delivering exceptional events.
Here, she shares her journey, the lessons learned along the way – including the occasional exploding jar of kimchi – and why she believes hospitality can and should be a long-term, fulfilling career.
What is This Is Hospitality?
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