Panel event: How to keep a happy team while scaling your business

How do you keep your culture, values and team spirit intact as you add sites, people and complexity? Following the announcement of CODE’s Happiest Places to Work 2026 yesterday in partnership with Planday - you can see the full list here - this is a chance to hear directly from four of the businesses on how they did it. On our panel: Seb Shaw, operations director at Black Bear Burger (overall winner of CODE’s Happiest Places to Work 2026); Sian Danks, HR director at Clays; James Fryer, director of Woodhead Restaurant Group, and Lena Young, operations director at Bancone.

They’ll share what they’ve learnt about building a business while making sure growth doesn’t come at the expense of the culture that made the business successful in the first place.

CODE members get tickets at the discounted price of £15 (usually £25). Tickets include the talk, drinks and snacks.

Speakers:

Seb Shaw - operations director at Black Bear Burger

Sian Danks - HR director at Clays

James Fryer - director of Woodhead Restaurant Group

Lena Young - operations director at Bancone

Timings:

6:00pm Arrival at Shoreditch Arts Club
6:45pm Panel talk
7:30pm Post-talk networking and canapés
8:30pm Finish

With thanks to

Great service starts before guests walk through the door, and great teams are built with intent. That’s why Planday is supporting CODE’s Happiest Places to Work again – to celebrate the businesses getting it right.

Get in touch for 50% off your first 6 months with Planday. 


Also with thanks to

CODE member price £15 (Use the access code available in the 'events' section in the CODE app)
Regular price £25
Become a CODE member today to save £10 (start your free trial now)

Ticket includes: Access to talk, food by Shoreditch Arts Club, and drinks from Liberty Wines, NOAM beer, Botivo, and BELU

T&C's

Tickets include refreshments & canapés. For the CODE member tickets price, please use the access code available in the CODE app, in the 'events' section. 2 tickets per member. Tickets are refundable until 7 days prior to the event.