Marcus Carter - Founder
Marcus grew up in North Wales and left school at 16 to work on sheep and cattle farms in Australia. Marcus returned to the UK in 1988 to study Agricultural Management before entering sales for the dairy-farming sector. Marcus’s passion was always food based and in 2008, further to 10 years at Patchwork Pates, the family business, he started his own BBQ sauce range. Armed with this knowledge and personal experiences of the challenges that food producers face, Marcus created ‘Carter Food House’ a national wholesaler to butchers and fish shops and the ‘Virtual Farmers Market’, an online sales platform for artisan producers.
“My passion to help independent food companies have a voice has been the driving force behind many of my ventures and is my primary aim with The Artisan Food Club”. Marcus Carter
Hannah - Head of Customer Experience
Coming from a strong customer service background, Hannah has worked in a range of roles from Hotel Management to Online Fraud Investigations, and then onto Logistics where she first met Marcus whilst managing the Artisan Food Club account at E2B.
Hannah is now Head of Customer Experience at the artisan food club and works with suppliers and retailers to ensure the best possible service for both sides.
‘I’m excited to be joining the artisan food club and to be a part of this wonderful new online adventure! I am in awe of people that follow their dreams, to make these amazing products and bring them to market!’
Olly Ashton - Lead Sales Manager
Olly started his career as a film director in 1995, making dance hip hop movies for the Arts Council of England. Olly then quickly moved over to TV as a producer working in the gaming sector at the birth of live internet streaming and interactive television. Always an artist, innovator and a cook, Olly took the plunge in 2013, and set up his own artisan food company, Ollybars, a vegan gluten free energy bar. What started out as a bit of hobby soon turned into a national UK brand, manufacturing from his bakery in Hoxton and exporting to ten different countries.
“I’ve always been a bit of salesman but Ollybars really taught me how to create a food product from scratch, get out there and sell it into shops”. Olly Ashton
Steve Reice - Digital
Over the past 20 years Steve has developed a range of digital and physical products that have attracted several large companies, including a global supermarket chain and the UK’s leading radio group.
Despite this, Steve’s passion has always related to cooking and the process of visiting shops and markets to select ingredients. In 2019, having become increasingly disillusioned with the level of customer experience and product choice offered by many retailers, Steve decided to launch the Artisan General Store. Now in 2022, Steve is joining the team at the Artisan Food Club.
“I am genuinely excited to join Marcus and the team at the Artisan Food Club. I have never experienced a company with such a genuine love and interest in helping those within the sector.” Steve Reice
Catherine Peters - Financial Accountant
Catherine qualified as an accountant in 1993 and has almost 30 years experience working across a broad variety of industry sectors, advising, and assisting clients with their financial reporting. More recently Catherine has focused on the food sector, specifically working with small food companies responsible for the improvement and redesign of their financial controls. After an injury, Catherine had to change her diet and discovered that not all the porridges were sugar free, so she set up her own sugar free porridge company called the ‘Magic Porridge Pot’. This has given her a direct understanding of artisanal food world as well as the rules and regulations within the industry.
“The Artisan food Club takes on my guidance and is open to new ideas, and Marcus is really enthusiastic to work with, which is lovely”. Catherine Peters.
