Former Jamie Oliver boss joins Honest Burgers as CEO

Honest Burgers has appointed former Jamie Oliver boss Kevin Styles as its new chief executive officer.

Styles joins the business from the Jamie Oliver Group where he had been CEO since 2022 and spearheaded the development of the group’s new restaurant proposition and cooking school.

He takes over his new position from Thomas Kelly who moved into a chair role from September 2024. Matt Brandon had covered the position in the interim and will now resume his position as chief financial officer.

Kelly said: “We’re really excited to welcome Kevin to the Honest family. His extensive experience and forward-thinking vision make him the perfect leader to guide us into our next phase and we look forward to seeing the impact he will have on our brand.”

Styles added: “This brand has a unique opportunity to really disrupt a sector that is evolving quickly.

“The quality of the offer, highly competitive value, a very strong and distinctive brand all combined with amazing restaurant teams provide an incredible platform for sustainable growth.”

Honest Burgers operates 39 locations across the UK and is set to record turnover in excess of £60m this year, off the back of a 10% increase in like-for-like sales and a 50% boost to earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation.

Honest Burgers also launched its new grab-and-go smashburger concept Smash + Grab in December, and has said it is crucial to its ambitions to quadruple in size by 2030.

Smash + Grab launched with the backing of a crowdfunding campaign that raised £2.7m in 2023. At the time, Honest Burgers said it was looking to “challenge the big guys” with its smashburger, which cooks in less than two minutes.

Styles’ previous experience also includes leadership roles at Vue International, American Golf, Best Buy Europe and Kingfisher.

Honest Burgers was co-founded by friends Tom Barton and Philip Eeles in Brighton in 2009.