Carla McKenzie

Managing Director

Carla has led MYA for the past 23 years in some of the most challenging industry environments. She is renowned for her vision and industry expertise across all sectors; hotels, arts venues, education, healthcare, events, travel, leisure and retail. Carla is a hands-on leader with specialist skills in:

  • Strategic thinking and planning
  • Project leadership
  • Financial audit and evaluation
  • Food concept development
  • Professional development and training
  • Food safety and legislative compliance
  • Tender management
  • Nutritional advice
  • Change management
  • Business modelling for small or multi-site operations
  • Procurement strategies
  • Environmental & sustainability strategies
  • Strategies for catering and housekeeping environments

When not at work, Carla puts her energy into supporting various charities, in a very personal way.

In 2015 Carla completed a ground-breaking adventure, when at the age of 50 she embarked on a journey to ride from John O’Groats to Lands End, mostly on unsurfaced roads, while raising money for British military charities jogler.wordpress.com.

In September 2018, Carla undertook a pioneering journey, riding from London to Paris on green roads by electric motorcycle. The journey highlighted the importance of preserving the planet and raised substantial sums for Kent, Surrey, Sussex Air Ambulance and the Joan Seeley Memorial Trust.

  • Carla and her team have broad experience in the industry. Apart from being very supportive in inventing (new) concepts, they also make use of their many years of experience when implementing these concepts. Their ultimate goal is to let people enjoy honest and good food.

    Marcel Bisselink, Owner, Daily Fresh Food, Galeen, Netherlands

  • Carla and her team worked tirelessly with us to ensure our very international and cross-cultural needs were met with great creativity and skill. They listened to us, responded to our needs and delivered above expectations.

    Angela Hencher, Director of Business Administration, Dulwich College, Shanghai Pudong

  • They are brave enough to challenge others in pursuit of the ultimate solution, whether it be behind the scenes with kitchen flow and catering management, or front-of-house service and design.

    Richard Russell, Catering Equipment Distributor Director, Western Blueprint

  • If all companies who serve the independent school sector had your breadth of vision and openness of mind, I have little doubt that the sector would be a richer and more exciting place to be.

    Phillip Godfrey, Bursar, Halliford School

  • During the negotiation process, Carla’s knowledge and expertise enabled our company to achieve a very strong commercial outcome, and some significant savings were yielded from the exercise.

    Penny Arnold, Commercial & Operations Director, Fusion Lifestyle