Meet the team behind
Blend Culinary Foundation
At the heart of Blend Culinary Foundation and the Cookery School is a passionate team.
This talented team are dedicated to bringing people together through food. With decades of experience across patisserie, fine dining, hospitality, and food education, they are our experts.
With a commitment to making a real impact in all they do. Whether it’s tackling food insecurity, championing diverse cuisines, or delivering unforgettable cookery experiences, they are at the heart of everything we do.
Let’s meet the team…
Lauren Bartlett
Head of Blend Culinary Foundation
Originally from the United States, Lauren came to Sheffield to pursue her MBA at the University of Sheffield and, like many before her, found a sense of home here. With a background in community engagement, programme management, and non-profit development, she brings a wealth of experience from working with grassroots organisations across both the UK and the US.
Lauren joined the team initially to support class delivery and became a familiar face in the kitchen and beyond. Now, in her new full-time role as Head of Blend Culinary Foundation, she is helping to shape the future of Blend by building new partnerships, supporting strategic development, and expanding the Foundation’s reach.
She’s especially passionate about using food as a tool for connection, inclusion, and community empowerment. Working closely with Niki and Wendy, Lauren is focused on developing strategy, raising awareness of Blend’s impact mission, connecting with organisations across Sheffield and beyond, and helping more people access the Foundation’s growing range of programmes and events.
Niki Baker
Curator & Community Engagement Lead
Niki lives and breathes the Blend Culinary Foundation. With a career spanning over 25 years, initially, as a trained patisserie chef, she has extensive experience across the food & drinks industry covering new product development (NPD) & manufacture, food research & training, hospitality & events and communications & marketing.
Niki met Matt and Nina back in 2009 whilst working freelance, writing the initial session plans for the Milestone Cookery School and was delighted to be asked to develop and lead the Blend Culinary Foundation for them.
She is committed to delivering an exciting, innovative portfolio of social cookery classes that are both informative and fun.
Alongside the cookery school element Niki is passionate about forging relationships that enable the foundation to fulfil its aims, and is dedicated to supporting a proactive approach to the implementation of initiatives that reach and support as many local communities as possible.
Wendy O'Brien
Resident Head Chef
Wendy began her Chef career under the eagle-eyed tutelage of Albert and Michel Roux Jnr at the revered 3-Michelin star restaurant Le Gavroche in London. The Roux chose Wendy, who also has a passion for travelling, to send on ‘stages’ (chef style ‘placements’) to their affiliated venue based in the Adirondack mountains, New York State and then onto ‘Micheal’s Waterside’ in Santa Barbara, California.
Eventually, on returning to London, Wendy worked at some of London’s best-known modern eateries including Kensington Place, Orso, Joe Allens and Launceston Place, eventually taking on the position of Specialist Canape & Patisserie Lead Chef for a high-end catering company where she enjoyed a number of years delivering a huge variety of styled events.
On relocating to Yorkshire Wendy set up a number of cake companies and most recently you may have enjoyed her skills as Head Chef at Marmadukes. Wendy possesses a wealth of experience across numerous cuisines and is a fantastic teacher, eager to share her knowledge with all of you who come and join us here at our Cookery School!
Jo Dingwall
Chef Instructor Alfred Works
Jo Dingwall is the new Chef instructor at Blend Culinary Foundation’s new Cookery School at Alfred Works in Digbeth, Birmingham! Though her first foray into the Custard Factory was clubbing in the 90’s, Jo is excited to be back in Digbeth in a new role that merges her culinary talents with her passion for community.
With over 25 years of kitchen experience, Jo’s career includes stints abroad and in London. From working at 5-star hotels to blue-chip companies and running high-end events, Jo has extensive experience creating culinary dishes that inspire.
Jo is excited to be back in her hometown and is intent on using her cooking skills and expertise to help the foundation fulfil its aims, to contribute to the community and charitable initiatives.
With her passion for mentoring aspiring cooks of all ages and eagerness to welcome adults, young people, and families into the new Cookery School at Alfred Works, we at Blend Family and Blend Culinary Foundation cannot wait for Jo to continue helping us deliver meaningful social impact through food!
Ben Wong
Business Admin Apprentice
Ben is our new Business Administration Apprentice! We feel incredibly lucky to have him join the team. This role has been made possible thanks to the support of Regency and Compass (longtime suppliers of Blend Family), who are funding the apprenticeship, and we’re also grateful to HIT Training for supporting Ben’s on- and off-the-job learning and development with us.
Ben’s role is important to the future of our cookery schools. He will be working across our operations, learning our systems and processes, and supporting the smooth integration of our booking, reporting, compliance and administrative systems.
A key focus of his role will be helping us build stronger operational foundations as we grow, ensuring we remain efficient, compliant, and consistently deliver the high standards our guests expect.
Over time, we hope this role will develop into a permanent position overseeing cookery school operations, strengthening cross-team collaboration, and helping us continuously improve our operations across sites as the Operations Lead.