Today at MYA, we’re marking Founders’ Day and remembering Margaret Young (1938–2023).
Margaret believed that good food in education and society should be a basic human right, not a luxury. From her first role as Catering Manager for Norland Nannies in Hungerford, she was a pioneer in educational food; her ideas were formed by her own childhood experience growing up on the edge of the Second World War. Together with her daughter Carla, she built MYA into a consultancy working across the globe on some of the world’s most iconic projects, still driven by her conviction that hospitality can and should serve a better, fairer society.
In Margaret’s name, the team today has donated to our local food bank, recognising both the example she set and the reality that too many people still struggle to meet this most basic need.
Outside work, Margaret was anything but conventional: a committed motorcyclist, a competition glider pilot and a skilled yachtswoman. The image here shows her on her fastback Norton Commando, commuting to Norland on two wheels rather than taking the expected path. Adventurous, determined, entrepreneurial to the end.
Today, we salute Margaret, her legacy, and the values that continue to shape MYA.