Tom Kerridge and BrewDog top Telegraph’s food and drink 'power list'

23-Apr-2017 - Last updated on 24-Apr-2017 at 09:33 GMT

On a high: star chef Tom Kerridge named as big food influencer

Cheeky publican Tom Kerridge is the second biggest food influencer in the UK, according to the Telegraph’s Food Power List 2017, which recognises food and drink producers changing the way we eat and drink.

The list, compiled by the paper’s food and drink team and published last week, named Kerridge’s Hand & Flowers gastropub in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, as “groundbreaking”.

Read: The Telegraph’s list of food and drink movers and shakers

Kerridge’s Michelin-starred Hand & Flowers also topped the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs list three times in-a-row before being retired to the ‘hall of fame’ in 2015.

BrewDog founders James Watt and Martin Dickie, meanwhile, were placed high on the list of drinks movers and shakers, with the newspaper describing their brewing achievements as “phenomenal”.

Global head of Diageo’s whisky, rums and tequilas David Gates has also been highlighted as an important force in the sector.

A nod to the gin revolution saw Jamie Baxter, founder of East Midlands' Burleighs Gin, recognised as the “leader” of the craft distilling movement.

One judge said of him: “The quiet industry figure behind the new flashy gin trend.”

Sophisticated softs

Meanwhile, Ben Branson, creator of the non-alcoholic botanical ‘spirit’ Seedlip, was credited with “waking up” the drinks industry to the need for “sophisticated” soft-drink options.

Another non-alcoholic drinks producer recognised as shaking up the segment was Fever Tree.

See the full list of the most influential people and brands in UK food and drink below.

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