Marcel Khan

With three decades of experience in restaurant operations, Marcel Khan has worked at a senior level in some of the fastest-growing businesses in one of the most competitive market sectors. He is an expert in Operations, Brand and International development.

Spending six years as Operations and Brand Development Director, he launched Five Guys Europe, the US’s fastest growing restaurant chain, in the UK, France, Spain and Germany. With one restaurant opening every three weeks for five years, it became one of the UK’s fastest growing F&B brands and eight of the 90 UK restaurants were the company’s best performing outlets in the world.

Prior to that, it was a similar story at Nando’s UK where, for almost a decade, as regional Managing Director he helped grow the brand from 42 to 265 restaurants, becoming the company’s top internal management developer.

Prior to his time at Nando’s Marcel held various operational managerial roles at UK restaurant chains including Loch Fyne, the Belgo Group, and the Planet Hollywood franchise.

Today, Marcel is now serving as CEO of Thunderbird Fried Chicken, the TriSpan-backed dynamic street food to high street restaurant project undergoing expansion, and he continues to take on new challenges.

Educated at the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute in Canada, Marcel is a British/Dutch dual-citizen, a sought after keynote speaker, and also a trained professional dancer and art & consumer culture enthusiast. He is bilingual English and Dutch.

Marcel Khan is a sought after, insightful and entertaining keynote speaker who explores how strong, recognisable brands are pushing boundaries and disrupting the market to get and stay ahead. His lessons are simple, but can be easily overlooked and forgotten in the day-to-day of running and maintaining a business.

Drawing on his outstanding experience at the top of some of the most distinctive restaurant brands, Marcel gives his audiences an insight into successfully defining and building great brands and making them stand out in a crowded market.

He will also explore the importance and impact of people and culture on a brand’s growth and bring practical insights and advice on how to lead and inspire a team, define and build a brand and culture, and create a competitive advantage.