New Food Forum

Product Director for the Czech Republic at Tesco Stores CR a. s.

Pavol Halász joined Tesco in 2009. Prior to that, he worked for 13 years at McDonalds. He started his career in our company as a store manager. Later he moved to the commercial team where he was responsible for the food segment. Today, he is Product Director for the Czech Republic.

Chief Marketing Officer at New Originals Company

With over two decades of experience in FMCG marketing and innovation, Martina has consistently demonstrated leadership in driving sustainable brand growth and fostering innovation.
Currently serving as the Chief Marketing Officer at New Originals Company, Martina strategically contributes to the growth of the tofu and plant-based protein food category, positioning the New Originals Company and including the strategic Lunter brand as a visionary leader in Europe.
Prior to this role, Martina held the position of Group Innovation Director at Asahi Europe & International for over four years, where she led innovation teams across Europe in developing and implementing growth strategies for Asahi´s core portfolio and adjacent categories.
Martina started her marketing career in the FMCG industry in the regional headquarters of Henkel Central Eastern Europe in Vienna, Austria in 2002. Her professional trajectory led her to Slovakia in 2004, where she played a pivotal role at Henkel Slovensko and later at Plzensky Prazdroj Slovensko, focusing on brand management, strategic planning and innovation.
Martina´s career journey reflects her commitment to driving growth through strategic brand building and innovation – inspiring teams to achieve their highest potential in the dynamic field of FMCG marketing.

Member of management at New Originals Company

Jakub Lunter is a member of the management of New Originals Company, the manufacturer of the Lunter brand. He considers his work motivation to be the opportunity to contribute to changing eating habits. He believes that tofu is the “new pizza” and will one day be part of the daily diet of Europeans.

Head of Programmes at The Vegetarian Society of Denmark (DVF)

Louise has been a key driver together with the Secretary General in DVF’s policy work and collaborative work for several years including paving the way for The Danish Action Plan for Plant-Based Foods and the Plant-Based Food Grant. Louise holds a position as Secretary General at the European Vegetarian Society and is coordinator of DVF’s work under the CLEVERFOOD project, which is an EU Horizon project with 25 partners across Europe, where DVF’s work is a central policy component of the overall project. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of Healthy Food Healthy Planet, which is an umbrella initiative for food systems transformation across Europe.

Founder & CEO of Mewery

Roman is an entrepreneur and has built or co-founded several companies: Global DTP & E-learning, Home Institute, and also invested in several startups. He has been a member of a founding team as well as a Program Director at Future Port Prague, the largest international futuristic event in Central Europe. He has also studied exponential technologies and organizations in the US.
Thanks to his network and knowledge gained through the Future Port journey, he decided not only to organize events about future technologies but also to take action.
Thus, in 2021, Roman founded Mewery, the first European cell-based food-tech startup developing cultivated pork on a microalgae base with the potential to change the entire cultivated meat industry.

Director of Partnerships and Institutional Engagement, ProVeg International

Joanna has a background in sustainability, and has worked on the topic of healthy sustainable diets for over 8 years in collaboration with private and public sector partners. She is currently Director of Partnerships and Institutional Engagement at ProVeg International, where she leverages her significant research, policy and corporate engagement experience to ensure that ProVeg’s activities drive real-world impact. Joanna has a PhD in Sustainability which investigated the role of retailers in enabling more sustainable consumer diets, and she was previously Head of Consumption at WWF-UK where she led the organisation’s work on healthy sustainable diets.

Marketing manager at Revo Foods

With a background in International Marketing, Annalisa leads the marketing department at Revo Foods and has implemented both Revo Foods’ unique product design and clear brand positioning. Revo Foods successfully developed a 3D structuring method that combines proteins and fat into mycelium-based products, launching the world’s first upscaled 3D food printing facility—the Taste Factory in Vienna. The company’s first products include “THE FILET – Inspired by Salmon”, which is sold in Supermarkets in Austria and Germany currently.

Commercial Director CEE, Advanced Solutions at YouGov

Hana is Sales Director for Eastern and Central Europe. She focuses on implementing advanced solutions and analytics in the field of shopping and buyer behavior. She has been in the market research industry for 25 years in various local and regional roles. She is co-author of the publication Marketing Research – Procedures, Methods, Trends.

Founder of Catering Zdravě s.r.o.

Michal is the founder of Catering Zdravě s.r.o., which focuses on innovative catering solutions. Thanks to his passion for quality and balanced food, he emphasizes the selection of fresh ingredients and original recipes that promote a healthy lifestyle.

Client Relationship Manager at YouGov

Vladimíra has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and market research in the roles of Business Development, Key Account Manager and Marketing Director. She also lectures at economically oriented universities as an external lecturer.

Founder of the vegan catering Hostina.bio, lecturer, consultant

Adam focuses mainly on wedding catering and cooking-training courses for the public, companies, schools and chefs. He co-creates the Hostina podcast dedicated to healthy lifestyle and veganism from various points of view. Through sport, sufficiently entertaining courses and an emphasis on seasoning, he aims to set an example to motivate the public to incorporate more plant-based food into their diets.

LCA Team Lead at EnviTrail

Eva-Žofie is a senior consultant for Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of products, services and technologies and for the follow-up Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) in accordance with ISO standards. She has experience in environmental, corporate and product ecology as well as toxicology. Eva-Žofie currently leads the LCA and product carbon footprint team at EnviTrail and will present a case study of food manufacturing in the Czech Republic.

Head of Plant Based Category for Central & Eastern Europe,
Danone

Jana has 20 years of marketing experience in the FMCG sector, including 15 years at Danone in various marketing positions. She is currently leading Danone’s plant-based category in the Central and Eastern Europe region (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria). She is responsible for the P&L management of the brand, strategy, strategy implementation, innovation design and execution, media and point-of-sale support and subsequent evaluation of all activities. She leads a team of marketers of various experience and seniority and is responsible for their growth, development and motivation.

Operations Director,
Primirest – School Catering Facilities 

Josef has worked in the school catering industry since 2001, giving him a thorough understanding of all aspects of the sector. As Operations Director at Primirest, he leads a team that provides catering services to 276 schools across the country. Over the last three years he has focused on innovation in school catering, including the introduction of self-service systems, which he has successfully implemented in four schools and continues to expand.

Director of the Černigov Hotel,
CPI Hotels, a.s.

Marcela is an experienced manager currently working as the Director of the Černigov Hotel in Hradec Králové. In her role, she manages a team of operational and administrative staff and ensures the smooth running of the hotel during its planned transformation. She supports the team in approaching their daily work with professionalism and humanity. Her approach is based on communication, mutual respect and the ability to motivate people, even under challenging operational conditions. She previously worked in the property sector where she gained valuable experience in business strategy, negotiation and asset management. She now applies these skills effectively in hotel management, dealing with complex operational and strategic challenges.

Moderator, reporter, deputy editor-in-chief of SZ Byznys

Zuzana is a moderator, reporter and deputy editor-in-chief of SZ Byznys. She interviews top Czech business leaders and films life in domestic companies. She has been working in economic journalism for 15 years and has been with Seznam Zprav since its inception. In the early days, she moderated the main news report or, for example, Byznys Magazín Byznys zblízka.