Kricket fills five new director roles from inside the business

Kricket, the Indian restaurant group founded by Rik Campbell and Will Bowlby, has created five director roles and filled every one internally, Hospitality & Catering News reports.

Who got the jobs - Will Rogers, Director of Beverage: joined as bar manager in 2016 and has since built the drinks programme, and contributed to the launch of SOMA. - Luke Bryan, Director of Food: joined as junior sous chef in 2018, then head chef, projects head chef and group head chef. - Keith Naidu, Director of Operations: joined in 2018 as GM to open Kricket Brixton, then head of operations. - Moncef Mansour, Director of People: part of the original Kricket Soho opening team in 2016, then moved from operations into people. - Amelia Soro, Director of Marketing: joined as head of marketing in January 2025 after roles at MJMK, Galvin and Hawksmoor.

Why now: the roles are designed to lead UK operations as the portfolio develops and to support possible expansion into international markets.

What it means for groups: building a functional leadership layer from people who opened your sites keeps culture intact as you scale, and it gives every bar manager and junior sous a visible route to the top table. The trade-off is fewer outside perspectives, which is why the one external-background appointment here sits in marketing.