Turbo boosting ethical food business and challenging convenient myths

Turbo boosting ethical food business and challenging convenient myths

In-person Business Forum dinner meeting

In 2026, our Business Forum community is exploring ‘where commercial meets ethical: opportunities for ethical approaches in an unethical world’. In this autumn’s dinner meeting during the 20th year of our Business Forum, we will look at what is needed to turbo boost food businesses wanting to challenge convenient myths. We will explore whether food businesses that want to be more ethical are being held back by genuine commercial realities, or by rules, incentives and assumptions that nobody has seriously challenged. What are the five biggest blockers that the UK government, investors and industry leaders must remove by 2030?

Changemakers from agri-food businesses across the UK will come together for a candid conversation under the Chatham House Rule, to explore the forces shaping the next decade of responsible business. Many people in companies want to do the right thing – pay fairly, protect nature, cut emissions and more – but too often the prevailing wind of short-term commercial pressures get in the way. We will ask what it would take to flip that script.

We will explore the practical conditions that allow ethics to thrive: investor expectations that reward stewardship; regulatory clarity that levels the playing field; procurement models that value resilience; and cultural leadership that empowers teams to act on their values. We will examine where commercial pressures genuinely hold back progress – and where they are used as convenient myths.

Expect challenge, honesty, and constructive provocation. What are the genuine constraints businesses are operating under and which are stories we keep telling ourselves? We will identify levers and practical actions required from agri-food businesses, government, investors, and civil society to accelerate more responsible businesses and more ethical business practice.

This in-person dinner meeting will provide an opportunity for participants to:

• Challenge convenient myths (e.g. investors won’t support it; the public won’t pay for it; competition is too fierce; margins are too tight….)
• Consider how to most effectively use the lever of investor pressure – whether in your business or to positively influence the wider sector
• Identify the five biggest blockers that the UK government, investors and industry leaders must remove by 2030
• Connect with peers in an open conversation about what it takes to truly take an ethical approach to business

Speakers will be Catherine Howarth, Chief Executive of ShareAction, and Will Browning, Director of Growth at the Sustainable Restaurant Association. Dan Crossley, Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council, will chair the discussion.

Click the Sign Up button now to register your place via Eventbrite.

Note: this event is for members of our Business Forum. If you’re not a member and are interested in finding out more about how to become a member, please contact Dan via dan@foodethicscouncil.org.