ABOUT US
The perfect pairing starts with real experience.
With a combined 60 years working across every corner of the venue and catering world, Lauren Lacava and Mark Wright offer a rare dual lens on what makes hospitality perform - and what holds it back. Together, they’ve become one of Australia’s most trusted and connected hospitality consulting partnerships.
They’ve led from the floor to the boardroom, shaping the strategy, culture and commercial success of some of the country’s most high-profile venues and events.
Their work spans leadership, operations, customer experience, growth strategy and everything in between - always grounded in real-world experience.
What sets them apart isn’t just expertise - it’s how they apply it.
Strategic, hands-on and deeply collaborative, Lauren and Mark work side by side with venues and events to turn potential into performance.
YOUR TEAM
MARK WRIGHT
Principal Consultant - Operations & Commercial
After 25 years in the food, beverage and events space and hands-on experience managing many thousands of events, Mark’s status as a highly-respected hospitality specialist is hard to beat.
As a former Executive Chef and General Manager with the world’s largest catering companies, (including Sodexho, Compass Group UK & Ireland), AEG Ogden and Melbourne Stadiums Limited, Mark has played a significant role in the progress and success of catering at many top venues that include Twickenham (London), Millennium Stadium (Cardiff), Aviva Stadium (Dublin), Allphones Arena (Sydney) and Etihad Stadium (Melbourne), where he was also responsible for the membership of the prestigious Medallion Club, Diamond Club and Corporate Suites - three of the most premium membership products in Australia. In addition to Mark’s venue duties, he has also taken on responsibility for numerous new stadia builds at Twickenham, The Oval, Edgbaston, Ricoh Arena, and Aviva Stadium, as well as one-off events that include the G20 Summit, 2006 Asian Games and European Open Golf.
Mark is a world-renowned hospitality specialist consulting venues on catering operations and environmental solutions. He has built a solid reputation for delivering outcomes, engaging a wide range of stakeholders at all levels, with a process-driven approach from creation and development to implementation. His breadth of expertise covers all aspects of the venue catering business. This includes working with architects, builders and designers on layout and design of kitchens, public retail outlets, restaurants, as well as honing skills as a master negotiator of supplier agreements across all food and beverage products, design, costing and pricing of menus, interface with venue operators and sponsors to deliver their rights, all event operations, staff training, health, safety and hygiene control and financial management.
LAUREN LACAVA
Principal Consultant -
Sales & Marketing
Lauren Lacava has 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and management at some of Australia’s most successful catering, hospitality and event organisations and venues.
As a hands-on General Manager and Sales and Marketing Manager for a diverse range of venues and catering companies, she has refined superior skills in sales and marketing strategy, strategic planning and business development – supported by the academic knowledge of her Masters Degree in Business Marketing. Lauren’s appetite for the catering industry has seen her work closely with a variety of caterers from boutique operators through to the world’s largest catering businesses in addition to selling and marketing hospitality and events at some of Australia’s most exciting major events including Spring Racing Carnival and Caulfield Cup Carnival.
Lauren has worked closely with all manner of venues – from boutique wineries and wedding receptions venues through to large sporting venues and iconic landmark venues such as Melbourne Museum, Royal Exhibition Building and National Gallery of Victoria.
In recent years, Lauren has carved out a reputation as a sought-after consultant for Australia’s best venues and her passionate vision to help hospitality and events businesses become bigger and better inspires her to create and implement streamlined sales and marketing strategies that deliver measurable results.