Sarah Willingham is the founder and Chief Executive Officer at Nightcap PLC, an award-winning group of premium cocktail bars, comprising of The Cocktail Club, Tonight Josephine, Disrepute, Blame Gloria, Barrio and Dirty Martini cocktail bars.  Sarah, with husband Michael, founded Nightcap in 2021 with a clear mission to be the UK’s leading bar group.  

Sarah, who achieved a place on the Sunday Times ‘500 most influential people in Britain’ is a prominent entrepreneur and serial investor working mainly in the hospitality and lifestyle sectors across her career. 

In her twenties, Sarah led the international expansion of Pizza Express and Planet Hollywood before going it alone to buy Bombay Bicycle Club, turning it into the UK’s largest chain of Indian restaurants. These successes helped establish her as a leading figure within the restaurant industry being recognised through a range of accolades such as being named as one of the  The Times 35 Most Successful Women under 35,  awarded Business Weekly’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year, listed in the Courvoisier Top 500, 100 most influential entrepreneurs in the UK by City AM and entry in the Who’s Who of British Business Leaders.  

Sarah recently picked up the ‘Business Leader of the Year’ award at the 2023 prestigious Publican Awards and is also a recognised media personality, appearing as a judge on Raymond Blanc’s ‘The Restaurant’ . She then appeared as a Dragon on the BBC’s top show Dragons Den with Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Nick Jenkins and Touker Suleyman.  

Sarah is a Chair and investor in at Tonkotsu, award winning chain of ramen restaurants.