Hilton unveils senior F&B appointments in EMEA region

Hilton has unveiled three senior appointments in its EMEA corporate F&B team, which are set to bring a “wealth of in-depth industry knowledge and experience” to the team. Hannah Davies will join as senior director of F&B Brand Development, EMEA, while Felix Hartmann will act as director of F&B, Continental Europe and Richard Raven will be the regional director of F&B, UK, Israel and Ireland. Davies has 25 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, having begun her career in London with ETM Group, Hakkasan and Caprice Holdings. She has spent the last six years at Selfridges and Co as director of Restaurants, where she “reinvigorated” the restaurant and bar programme. She specialises in F&B concept development and optimising guest experience, and is set to employ her “strong” commercial and operational experience in her role. In the new role, she will be focused on building bespoke F&B concepts for individual properties and creating prototype hospitality concepts to roll out across the portfolio. She will also work to refine F&B programming across Hilton’s portfolio of nine brands in the region. Hartmann, meanwhile, brings 24 years of hospitality F&B experience to his new role. He began his career at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cologne, and then moved to Dubai where he has spent the last 15 years working. The first eight years were spent working for Jumeriah Hotels and Resorts, where he managed several food and beverage outlets, before moving to Media One Hotel as director of operations for three years, where he conceptualized nightlife venues. For the last three years he has worked for Accor as an executive assistant manager. He said he is “excited” to support hotels with their F&B openings and operations, create “best-in-class” practices and roll out F&B campaigns and initiatives. Finally, Raven has 14 years of F&B experience, having started his career working for Conran, Bluebird Chelsea and Grand Union Bars. Prior to starting at Hilton, he worked in a senior marketing and communications role at Gather and Gather and was latterly head of retail at Restaurant Associates. He specialises in brand communication and retail, with “strong” operational and commercial skills, and his new role is focused on the implementation of a new F&B operating platform across the UK estate, aiding the recovery and growth of Hilton’s UK F&B business. Emma Banks, VP of F&B Strategy and Development EMEA, said: “This trio of appointments reinforces our commitment to hiring the brightest F&B professionals - with Hilton’s regional team acting as dedicated F&B consultants within the business supporting our operators and owners. I am hungry to get their fresh perspectives - there is nothing like new ideas to help us further innovate and disrupt the F&B space.”