Francis Loughran - Founder, Francis On Food
Food and Hospitality Consultant, Thought Leader, Mentor, Educator and Commentator.
Francis is an internationally renowned Food Service and Hospitality professional with over 40 years’ industry experience guiding countless businesses and individuals on their food and hospitality journey. He's helped them unlock optimum potential, prepare for future success, and empower them to advance towards their goals with confidence.
Francis believes success in hospitality destinations is about understanding what ‘good’ looks like to your customers and maximising their satisfaction. It’s about creating memorable experiences that make customers and staff feel valued, seen and heard. “Infuse people-focused thinking into your culture”, says Francis, “and you have the recipe for success”.
“Food Makes People Happy. The starting point for every food and hospitality project is to ask: Who are our customers, and what do they want? Placing the customer at the centre of the planning process ensures every detail is designed for them, from the menu, right down to the table napkin.”
– Francis Loughran
Services
Food Service and Hospitality Business Consultant
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Francis has worked with businesses in over 25 countries from entrepreneurs opening their first venue to some of the largest brands and food precinct destinations across the world. As the Founder and Managing Director of Australia’s leading food and hospitality consultancy, Future Food from 1992–2023, he has successfully driven the growth of hundreds of restaurants, bars and food service groups. He has also maximised asset value, sales and profits in diverse lifestyle destinations, including shopping malls, leisure centres, public spaces, airports and hotels through his keen eye for excellence and future trends, all centred around the needs and aspirations of the end customer.
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Francis offers a global perspective of what ‘good’ looks like to inspire and guide his clients, collaborators and the industry. That’s because not only does he travel the world to understand what customers want, both now and in the future, but his expertise spans a range of hospitality disciplines - from concept to delivery and everything in between.
Francis works with you to curate a presentation or workshop to explore and test the possibilities, replacing the human fear of ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ through a lens of what others have made possible. These insights can be utilised to inject into your unique setting or develop and enhance your food and hospitality brief for internal and external stakeholders including consultants in various settings:
New projects - growth strategy
Existing projects - growth & development
Food & Beverage master planning & vision development for international projects
Trend scanning, scouting & foresight
Business analysis and financial strategy
Leadership development
Disruptor sessions that challenge the status quo and encourage fresh thinking on future strategies.
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Francis offers consultancy on long and short-term projects, as well as quick- fix thinking and peer reviews. He educates, inspires and facilitates clients, collaborators and industry leaders to create and develop the building blocks for future proofed food and beverage concepts for both new and established operations.
Francis brings commercial acumen, strategic vision and charismatic energy to any project, along with the practical capability of an array of professional partners in his extensive black book.
Leading and evolving Future Food over three decades before safely passing the baton to the next generation of proprietorship in 2023, Francis now translates and shares his enviable suite of skills, knowledge and networks to guide the industry’s current and future champions to think big and broadly.
These are some of Francis’ career highlights. A sample of successful food destinations, anchoring the following projects from his impressive client list:
Westfield Sydney, Bondi Junction, Newmarket
The Emporium, Melbourne
Chadstone, Melbourne
The Dubai Mall, Dubai
Airports including Auckland, Brisbane, Adelaide and Oman
The Galleria, Abu Dhabi, Auckland, Brisbane, Adelaide and Oman airports
Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town
KLCC, Kuala Lumpur
Hudson Yards, New York
Thought Leader, Speaker Commentator & Writer
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A go-to speaker for conferences, webinars, panels, and events, Francis’s thinking and experience have inspired audiences worldwide. With natural rapport and an engaging presentation style, his knowledge and cultural insights are renowned for igniting new thinking and empowering his audiences to carve out their own competitive edge. Francis is equally comfortable taking the spotlight on the stage or working with a group as a panellist to thrash out a solution for a grizzly problem, debate industry best practice or brainstorm the newest innovation with his peers and his audience.
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Francis is regularly called upon for industry foresight as a commentator and contributor to publications including Australian Shopping Centre News where he was Food Editor for six years. He reports on emerging trends and innovations, insights and best practices, and reflects on the strategies of the world’s most successful concepts and destinations.
Popular speaking and writing topics include:
Global Food and Hospitality Trends
Leadership in Hospitality Teams – Fostering strong relationships with individuals and teams, empowering them to reach their full potential and achieve business goals
The Business of Food - Maximising Profitability
Hospitality-focused Placemaking - Creating Places for People
Hospitality Mindset - Building Service Culture from the top down
Retail Food - Developing a Data-Driven Food & Hospitality Mix
Maximising Shopping Centre Food and Hospitality Space
Restaurant of the Future
What Good Looks Like - Operator and Concept Evaluation
Mentor for Leaders and Educators
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Francis is a course developer, coordinator and senior lecturer. and board member of universities and colleges across Australia and New Zealand. He’s also worked in this capacity in Scotland, Ireland and England. Under his guidance, thousands of aspiring hospitality professionals have gained the knowledge, confidence and practical skills to thrive in the industry and carve a successful career path.
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Francis works with many charities and Boards and is a member of the City of Stonnington’s LGBTIQA+ Advisory Committee. When he’s not working to support others, Francis likes to spend quality time on the weekends in his organic garden in Daylesford, Australia. Sharing his produce around the table with friends and family fuels his life-long passion for cooking and food.
“Master Planning food and hospitality projects globally required studying the local market for its social, cultural and economic nuances with a historical, current and future focused lens. Acknowledging traditions for today’s customers and adapting best practices, maximises food and beverage outcomes and customer experiences. We are all social animals who need and want social dining.”
– Francis Loughran
Francis’ Benchmark Projects
Social Dining In Malls
“For some time, successful shopping centres have become dining and entertainment destinations, far from simply a place to shop. Identifying the importance and value-add of social dining and associated entertainment across all spending categories will maximise marketability and value across the whole asset and all spending categories through increased visitation, dwell time and customer spend.”
– Francis Loughran
About Francis
Francis instinctively knows that gathering over a meal is one of the most ancient forms of community-building. In our modern world of technology, food plays an essential and pivotal role as the social glue in any place or precinct. But so too does the ability to adapt to what today’s customer needs and achieve the critical balance of maintaining an authentic relationship between creator and customer and as the centre of the decision-making process.
It is not surprising, given Francis’ obsession with what’s new in food that he has dedicated his life to travelling the world in his desire to remain at the forefront of emerging and evolving food and hospitality concepts and trends so he can share it with others.
Francis is best known as Founder and Managing Director of Future Food, Australia’s leading food and hospitality consultancy before entrusting his legacy to new proprietorship in 2023. Over three-decades, Francis built a global business working on numerous Australian and International projects in over 25 countries spanning international hotels, shopping centres, retail precincts, airports and mixed-use developments. He also guided entrepreneurs opening their first venue as well as established brands.
“Image is everything when it comes to food and hospitality. As humans we are naturally attracted to beautiful spaces. Therefore, food and design cannot be separate. They must be combined to create memorable experiences in memorable places, regardless of the size.”
– Francis Loughran
Committed to serving his industry and his ongoing development, Francis has founded ‘Francis on Food’ as a platform to share his global perspective and world-class skill set. Francis’ mission is to guide and inspire the industry’s champions to think big and broadly, carve out their own competitive edge and continually evolve what ‘good’ looks like across the globe.
Francis’ three areas of focus to support his mission in Food Service and Hospitality include:
1. Business Consultant
2. Thought Leader, Commentator, Speaker and Writer
3. Mentor for Leaders and Educators
Francis works with many charities and Boards and is a member of the City of Stonnington’s LGBTIQA+ Advisory Committee. When he’s not supporting others, Francis likes to spend time in his organic garden in Daylesford, Australia. Preparing and sharing his produce with loved ones around the table fuels his life-long passion.
“Food and dining are one of life’s greatest pleasures. Eating good food with family and friends is one of the most pleasurable moments for us all. Translated into commercial terms, it always makes sense to serve great food and offer excellent service”.
– Francis Loughran
Get in touch with Francis
“The Business of Food is about two things… Good Food and Good Business Planning.”
– Francis Loughran