Caterfood appoints Steven Lyons as director of group sales

Caterfood Buying Group has appointed Steven Lyons as director of group sales.

Lyons (pictured) has more than 20 years of senior foodservice experience across UK wholesale and distribution. He has led national and regional sales teams, secured multi-million-pound contracts within the education and leisure sectors, and delivered structured commercial transformation in high-growth businesses.

His previous roles include sales director at Thomas Ridley Foodservice and change management director at Brakes.

In his new role, Lyons will lead Caterfood Buying Group’s group purchasing organisation (GPO) and framework strategy, creating a single commercial interface for procurement partners while maintaining the independence of each regional member. Key focus points include clear pricing frameworks, simplified group price file access, structured tender coordination, incremental volume growth and consistent reporting standards.

On joining Caterfood Buying Group, Lyons said: “Caterfood Buying Group has something powerful – strong independent businesses with deep local relationships. My role is not to change that. It’s to give GPO partners one clear route into the group, make tenders, pricing and basket analysis simpler, and ensure we grow the right business in a disciplined way.

“We want to be easy to work with. Clear commercial frameworks. Regional execution partners who deliver. No noise, no confusion.”