Operation Scaling
Thursday 9th October 2025
1.00pm - 4.00pm
Charing Cross, Central London
This event is for founders, managing directors, COOs and finance heads from consumer brands. Scroll down to learn more about the speakers, see the schedule and request a place.
Join this roundtable to learn how high-growth consumer brands execute scaling plans and why effective operations are central to building enterprise value.
Whether your goal is to grow a brand from £3m to £10m, or £30m to £100m, the way you operate has to evolve to get you there. Hitting the next revenue milestone requires more than ambition. It calls for a system that strengthens processes and builds an operational backbone capable of supporting scale. The ability to maintain operational strength and financial discipline through periods of growth is critical to future investor and acquirer valuations.
SHORT TALKS AND Q&As:
OPERATIONAL CHANGE TO GET TO THE NEXT REVENUE MILESTONE
Jon Bradbury, Partner, The Berkeley Partnership
EXPERIENCES OF SCALING LUXURY BRAND OPERATIONS
William Plane, Luxury Brand Advisor, Ex Pat McGrath Labs
HOW OPERATIONAL STRENGTH BUILDS ENTERPRISE VALUE
Simon Cope-Thompson, Managing Director M&A, Arrowpoint Advisory (Rothschild & Co)
SPEAKERS
From driving operational change to advising on M&A deals, our speakers have worked with global brands including Unilever, ME+EM, Pat McGrath Labs, WaterWipes, PZ Cussons, Diageo, Tangle Teezer and many more.
OPERATIONAL CHANGE TO GET TO THE NEXT REVENUE MILESTONE
Jon Bradbury, Partner
The Berkeley Partnership
Scaling consumer brands is at the heart of Jon's work as a management consultant at The Berkeley Partnership. He has advised companies including Primark, Unilever, Associated British Foods, Diageo, Kimberly Clark, News Corp and PZ Cussons, helping them transform their operations, technology and finance functions in order to deliver growth and efficiency improvements aligned to their business goals. At this event, Jon will share a practical framework that brand leaders can use to understand the operational changes needed to support their growth ambitions, in order to execute plans to reach their next revenue milestone. He will draw on case studies from consumer businesses that have successfully transformed to drive growth and efficiency, showing founders and directors how to move from setting strategic goals to implementing the changes needed to actually deliver them.
EXPERIENCES OF SCALING LUXURY BRAND OPERATIONS
William Plane, Luxury Brand Advisor
Ex Pat McGrath Labs
William advised the founding team of luxury beauty brand Pat McGrath Labs from its inception through to a global presence, growing to 800 points of sale. He supported the business across financial and legal matters, including stakeholder reporting, budgeting and negotiating international commercial agreements. During a period of rapid growth, from 5 to 150 employees, he played a hands-on role in many aspects of operations, including setting up the brand's global expansion. Now working as a luxury brand advisor, William consults with C-suite leaders on strategy, growth and due diligence, drawing on his background in investment banking and industry. At this event, he'll share insights on managing cash during periods of fast growth, expanding internationally and aligning operations with investor expectations.
HOW OPERATIONAL STRENGTH BUILDS ENTERPRISE VALUE
Simon Cope-Thompson, Managing Director M&A
Arrowpoint Advisory, part of Rothschild & Co
Simon leads the Consumer, Retail and Leisure practice at M&A advisory firm Arrowpoint Advisory, where he has overseen more than 175 transactions across high-growth and established businesses spanning the consumer landscape. His deal experience includes advising luxury travel business Mr & Mrs Smith on its sale to Hyatt, lifestyle brand White Stuff on its sale to TFG London, fashion brand ME+EM on the sale of a significant minority to funds led by Highland Europe and Lyst, the global fashion platform, on its $154m sale to Zozo, a Japanese e-commerce platform. His team has also worked on transactions involving leading consumer businesses such as WaterWipes, Tangle Teezer, Feelunique, Fulham Shore, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants and Dishoom. With deep experience on both the buy and sell side, Simon brings a clear view of what acquirers value most in a brand's operational model. At this event, he'll share insight into the structural improvements that can significantly boost valuation, and the importance of building tight operations that demonstrate scalability and, in turn, investment and acquisition value.
PARTNER INSIGHTS: SCALING INTERNATIONALLY
Our partners help brands scale internationally by providing expertise in e-commerce logistics, duty automation and US tax compliance. To close the roundtable discussion, you will hear from:
Alison Rocks, Sprint Logistics - Fulfilling from EU hubs
Hayley Howes, Teleship - Collecting duties at e-commerce checkout
Gabriel Guillaud, IMS - Tax structuring for US activity
HOST & MODERATOR
Leon Bailey-Green is the founder of Upper Clash and producer of this event. He will be conducting the Q&As and moderating the discussion.
SCHEDULE
1.00pm - Welcome & Networking: Tea, Coffee & Lunch Bites
1.30pm - Short Talks, Q&As & Discussion
2.45pm - Partner Insights - Scaling Internationally
3.00pm - Post-Discussion Networking: Tea, Coffee & Cookies
4.00pm - Close