2013 saw Levent Büyükuğur team together with entrepreneur Sanjay Nandi to launch a new venture, Good Food Society, helping to develop new hospitality concepts in international markets. In 2014 the Good Food Society and Diana Frescobaldi partnered to launch Ristorante Frescobaldi.

 

Levent Büyükuğur is founder of Istanbul Doors, the first corporate restaurant group in Turkey. Its first success came with the opening of concept restaurant Da Mario in Istanbul in 1993. Vogue Restaurant followed in 1997 and then Anjelique, Istanbul’s trendiest nightclub. In 2007, Levent entered into a joint venture with Azumi Group of London to open Zuma Istanbul. The company’s first venture in the UK was the expansion of Tom Aikens in 2011.

 

Sanjay Nandi, who holds an MBA from the London Business School, is currently an Operating Partner with Private Equity firm Trilantic Europe. He has been involved in several deals in the hospitality industry and has been a member of the Board of Directors of Istanbul Doors and the London-based Tom Aikens Group Ltd. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking in 2007, Sanjay was a member of the Lehman Brothers Mergers and Acquisitions Team in London participating in various corporate finance transactions with deal values in excess of $40bn.