Footdown have brought together an impressive group of people from a wide range of backgrounds. It's rare to find a group with such depth of experience and a positive open attitude. It was fun and stimulating to participate in a workshop with them.

John Barnes is the first - and probably the only person - to take a fish and chip shop, Harry Ramsden’s, and build it into an international brand. Giving up successful careers with blue chip companies, such as Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo and with only a shoestring marketing budget, John and his partners grew Harry Ramsden’s from the single shop they bought in 1988 to a business boasting 70 outlets in 7 countries, at the time of its sale to Compass plc in 1999.

Along the way, John developed the idea of Marketing Judo, an unconventional approach to marketing designed for people and companies who want to build a business or brand but don’t have big budgets. He has now captured this idea in his book - “Marketing Judo; Building your business using brains not budget”.

Since selling Harry Ramsden’s, John has continued to apply the principles of Marketing Judo to his own businesses, such as La Tasca restaurants which he bought in 2001 and floated on AIM in 2005, having increased the business from 15 to 65 restaurants. John also coaches fellow business people in the principles of Marketing Judo and recently ran a workshop for the Bath Fifteen group.