15 Food and Beverage Leaders in Queensland to Know

Last updated: August 2026.

Queensland's food and beverage sector runs on people who show up long before sunrise and long after the dinner service ends. This list introduces 15 of them: chief executives, founders, chefs and winemakers currently leading real organisations across the state, from Brisbane boardrooms to a new wine cave on the Granite Belt.

As of August 2026, Queensland's food and beverage economy spans beef processing, craft brewing, hospitality, horticulture peak bodies, seafood advocacy and food relief, and the people behind it rarely get the same public attention as the brands and venues they run. This list works through several sub-sectors rather than one: agribusiness and beef, hospitality and pubs, restaurants, beverage manufacturing, wine, coffee, artisan dairy, and food security. Some names will be familiar from award nights and trade press. Others lead organisations that quietly move enormous volumes of Queensland-grown or Queensland-made food and drink without much fanfare at all.

The scope here is honest rather than exhaustive. Fifteen leaders appear below with a full profile, presented alphabetically by first name for easy navigation, and selected because their current role, organisation and at least one distinctive fact could be verified through the organisation's own materials or independent, current reporting. A further set of leaders appears in the companion LinkedIn post for readers who want a wider view of the sector.

Whether you are hiring, partnering, sourcing a keynote speaker or simply curious about who runs Queensland's food and drink economy, this list is a starting point for understanding the people, not just the brands, behind the state's food and beverage sector.

Why food and beverage leadership matters

Food and beverage leadership in Queensland matters because the sector touches almost every part of daily life, from the coffee that starts someone's morning to the beef, seafood and produce that reach dinner tables across the state and well beyond it.

The leaders in this list are not chosen for public profile alone. Each one currently holds real authority over an organisation that Queenslanders interact with, whether that is a peak body setting industry direction, a family business now in its second or third generation, or a newly opened venue already shaping how a region is known. Their decisions affect suppliers, staff, growers and the wider communities around Brisbane, Bundaberg, Toowoomba, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and the Granite Belt.

Queensland's food and beverage sector is also unusually varied for a single state list. It includes large, vertically integrated agribusinesses that manage their own supply chains from paddock to plate, peak bodies that represent thousands of smaller operators, hospitality groups that have grown from a single pub to a multi-venue portfolio, and specialist producers, such as a Swiss-trained cheesemaker or a newly opened Granite Belt winery, who compete on craft rather than scale. Reading across this list is a useful way to see how differently leadership plays out depending on whether an organisation is built for advocacy, for volume or for craft.

1. Alfan Musthafa

Head Chef and Co-Owner, Warisan

Alfan Musthafa is Head Chef and Co-Owner of Warisan, the Indonesian restaurant in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. Originally from Cirebon, Indonesia, he brings traditional Indonesian technique into a Queensland kitchen built around local produce, giving Warisan a genuinely distinctive place in Brisbane's dining scene.

In 2025, Musthafa was crowned Queensland Chef of the Year, a title decided by a single point after a two-day cook-off against the state's other finalists, following three years of entering the competition before finally reaching the final round.

2. Andrew Gregory

Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Domino's Pizza Enterprises

Andrew Gregory is Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Domino's Pizza Enterprises, headquartered in Hamilton, Brisbane. Leading one of Queensland's largest quick service food companies puts him at the centre of how customers across Australia and internationally experience pizza delivery and franchise food.

Gregory joined from a senior McDonald's role and assumed full responsibility for the position by early August 2026, bringing an outsider's perspective to an already dominant Queensland-headquartered franchise brand at the very start of his tenure.

3. Andy Williams

Chief Winemaker, Meteora Vineyard

Andy Williams is Chief Winemaker at Meteora Vineyard in Ballandean, in Queensland's Granite Belt wine region. He oversees an estate-grown, Mediterranean-leaning wine program built around fiano, vermentino, montepulciano and aglianico, varieties suited to a warm, high-altitude growing climate.

Meteora Vineyard opened on 2 July 2026 and includes Queensland's first underground wine cave, a striking addition for a region still building its national reputation, placing Williams in one of the newest and most closely watched winemaking roles in the state.

4. Anthony Lee

Chief Executive Officer, Australian Country Choice

Anthony Lee is Chief Executive Officer of Australian Country Choice, the Brisbane-based business behind Australia's largest vertically integrated beef supply chain. The company's operations span cattle breeding, growing and feedlotting through to processing, boning and packaged beef, all run from its Queensland base.

Lee joined the family company in 1994 and worked through labouring, supervisory and executive roles across processing and agribusiness before reaching the top job, and holds a Bachelor of Business Management from the University of Queensland.

5. Ben Baldwin

Chief Executive Officer, Australian Macadamia Society

Ben Baldwin is Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Macadamia Society, headquartered in New Farm, Brisbane, and representing Australia's macadamia growing industry, much of which is concentrated across Queensland's growing regions and the state's northern New South Wales border areas.

Baldwin was appointed effective 13 April 2026, bringing more than 25 years of experience across agriculture, food systems and research commercialisation, including previously leading a 32 million dollar operational investment portfolio for Queensland's Department of Primary Industries, work that gave him a government-side view of the industry he now represents.

6. Bernie Hogan

Chief Executive, Queensland Hotels Association

As Chief Executive of the Queensland Hotels Association, Bernie Hogan leads the Brisbane-based peak body representing hospitality businesses across the state, including pubs, hotels, accommodation venues and entertainment precincts from the Gold Coast to Cairns and the Queensland outback.

Hogan joined QHA in 2016 after a career spanning advocacy, media and government work, having started out as a barman in a pub, and he now hosts the association's own Here's Cheers podcast, sitting down with the people who live and breathe Queensland hospitality.

7. David Bobbermen

Chief Executive Officer, Queensland Seafood Industry Association

David Bobbermen is Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Seafood Industry Association, the Queensland peak body representing the state's wild-caught seafood sector, covering trawl, crab, line and net fisheries built largely on small operators and family fishing businesses.

Through 2026, Bobbermen has been a regular public voice on issues affecting Queensland seafood supply, including barramundi availability for south east Queensland consumers and biosecurity advice during bird flu concerns, putting him at the centre of conversations that directly shape what appears on Queensland seafood plates.

8. Emily Pullen

Chief Executive Officer, Mighty Good Food Group

Emily Pullen is Chief Executive Officer of Mighty Good Food Group, a beef jerky, biltong and smallgoods manufacturer and exporter based near Toowoomba, competing in national and export markets from a regional Queensland base rather than a capital city headquarters.

Pullen also serves on the Australian Meat Industry Council Board and as Vice-Chair of the National Smallgoods Council, giving her a direct hand in shaping industry-wide standards and advocacy well beyond the operations of her own company.

9. Ian Abadiano

Founder, Coffee Mentality

Ian Abadiano is Founder of Coffee Mentality, the specialty coffee roastery he built in Woolloongabba, Brisbane, since 2015, now recognised as one of the city's leading independent specialty roasters and a regular presence at national coffee competitions.

In 2026, Abadiano was named Coffee Industry Hero for Coffee Education at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo, recognising his mentoring and inclusive leadership within the wider Australian coffee community, well beyond the day-to-day running of his own Brisbane roastery.

10. John McLean

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Bundaberg Brewed Drinks

John McLean is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Bundaberg Brewed Drinks, the Queensland beverage manufacturer known nationally for its brewed soft drinks made in Bundaberg, in the state's Wide Bay region.

McLean has led the company since 2007, an unusually long tenure at the top of a well-known consumer beverage brand, helping Bundaberg Brewed Drinks keep a consistent identity through a period when many food and beverage brands have changed hands or leadership several times over.

11. Kylie Porter

Chief Executive Officer, Queensland Farmers' Federation

Kylie Porter is Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Farmers' Federation, the Brisbane-based peak body for agriculture and food security advocacy, representing growers, producers and rural communities across the state through 18 member organisations.

Porter is a fifth-generation regional Queenslander who previously led the Greater Whitsunday Alliance and was a founding Non-Executive Director of C-Res, a social enterprise that has awarded more than 1.5 billion dollars in procurement to more than 1,400 businesses across remote and regional Australia.

12. Markus Bucher

Founder and Master Cheesemaker, Maleny Cheese

Markus Bucher is Founder and Master Cheesemaker at Maleny Cheese, the artisan cheese producer he built in Maleny, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, a business that now draws visitors specifically to taste what the region makes rather than only to pass through it.

Born in Switzerland to a dairy farming family, Bucher trained for nine years as a Master Cheesemaker before founding Maleny Cheese in 2004 with his wife Sara and fellow locals David and Heather Simpson, turning European training into a distinctly Queensland artisan food business.

13. Rob Comiskey

Director, Comiskey Group

Rob Comiskey is a Director of the Comiskey Group, the family hospitality business he co-founded with his father Paul and brother David in 2004, now spanning hotels, resorts and entertainment venues across South East Queensland from a base in Brisbane's north.

In 2026, the Comiskey Group was jointly named Hotelier of the Year at the QHA Awards for Excellence, recognition that followed the group's 2025 acquisition of Eumundi Brewery from Lion, its first move into brewing after two decades of building pubs and resorts.

14. Sam Evans

Chief Executive Officer, Foodbank Queensland

Sam Evans is Chief Executive Officer of Foodbank Queensland, the state's largest hunger relief charity, having commenced the role on 27 July 2026 after extensive chief executive, senior executive and board experience across commercial, government and for-purpose organisations, including deep experience in housing and community services.

Foodbank Queensland provides 17.8 million meals and 1.7 million breakfasts a year to Queenslanders experiencing hunger through more than 320 community partners and 500 schools, making Evans responsible for one of the state's largest food distribution networks.

15. Stephen O'Brien

Chief Executive Officer, Mort and Co

Stephen O'Brien is Chief Executive Officer of Mort and Co, a vertically integrated agricultural and beef business based near Toowoomba in Queensland's Darling Downs. The company runs one of Australia's largest privately owned feedlots and exports Angus and Wagyu beef brands internationally.

O'Brien has led Mort and Co since January 2020, only the second chief executive in the company's 27-year history, and has grown the business to more than 300 staff and over 400 million dollars in annual revenue.

What these leaders show us about food and beverage leadership

Reading across these 15 profiles, a few patterns stand out. The first is how much of Queensland's food and beverage leadership sits inside family businesses, some in their first generation and some in their third or fourth. Long-serving leaders who have spent a decade or more inside the same organisation appear repeatedly on this list, suggesting that continuity, not constant change, is what actually builds a recognised Queensland food or beverage brand.

The second pattern is geographic spread. This is not a Brisbane-only list. Leaders here are based in Bundaberg, Toowoomba, the Sunshine Coast hinterland and the Granite Belt, as well as Brisbane itself, and each is running an organisation with real weight in its own region rather than a token regional outpost of a capital city business. Queensland's food and beverage sector clearly does not concentrate all of its leadership in one postcode.

A third pattern is how differently leadership plays out depending on what an organisation is built to do. Peak body leaders representing hospitality, farming and seafood interests spend their time on advocacy and representation for entire sectors. Operational leaders running a single business, whether a beef supply chain, a bakery-scale cheesemaker or a newly opened winery, spend their time on the more immediate demands of product, staff and customers. Both kinds of leadership are essential to how the sector actually functions, even though only one type usually makes the news.

Finally, several of the people on this list are relatively new to their current role, having started or been appointed during 2026 itself. That is a useful reminder that Queensland's food and beverage leadership is not static. New chief executives, new venues and new appointments are arriving regularly, and this list reflects a single point in time rather than a fixed picture of who leads the sector.

How to use this list

This list is designed to be useful beyond a single read. If you work in hospitality, food manufacturing or agribusiness, start with the people leading organisations closest to your own corner of the sector, and look at how they describe their own priorities in interviews, on their organisation's website or through their peak body's public updates.

If you are hiring, sourcing suppliers or looking for a speaker for an industry event, the organisations represented here span advocacy bodies, large processors, hospitality groups and specialist producers, giving a reasonable starting map of who to approach depending on what you need. A peak body chief executive is a useful contact for sector-wide trends and policy questions. An operational leader running a single business is a better contact for supply, partnership or product questions specific to that organisation.

If you are newer to Queensland's food and beverage sector, use this list as an orientation exercise. Look up each organisation's own website, read how it describes its current priorities, and notice which sub-sectors are represented, from beef and horticulture through to craft coffee and wine. That range says something honest about how varied this sector actually is in Queensland, well beyond the small number of brands that dominate everyday visibility.

However you use it, treat this as a starting point for your own research rather than a finished directory. Roles change, and the organisations behind them are worth following directly for updates.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who leads Queensland's food and beverage industry?

There is no single leader. Queensland's food and beverage sector is represented by chief executives of large agribusinesses, peak bodies for hospitality, farming and seafood, and independent founders running breweries, wineries, restaurants and specialist producers across the state, each with real authority over a different part of the sector.

What is the biggest food and beverage company headquartered in Queensland?

Several large Queensland-headquartered food and beverage businesses operate at national scale, including Domino's Pizza Enterprises in Brisbane and Australian Country Choice, which runs Australia's largest vertically integrated beef supply chain from its Brisbane base. Both employ large workforces across processing, distribution and franchise operations.

Which peak bodies represent Queensland's food and beverage sector?

Queensland's food and beverage sector is represented by several distinct peak bodies, including the Queensland Hotels Association for hospitality, the Queensland Farmers' Federation for agriculture, the Australian Macadamia Society for horticulture, and the Queensland Seafood Industry Association for the wild-caught seafood sector.

Are there well known Queensland chefs on this list?

Yes. Alfan Musthafa, Head Chef and Co-Owner of Warisan in Fortitude Valley, was crowned Queensland Chef of the Year in 2025. Several other chefs and restaurateurs appear in the companion list of leaders worth following across the state's dining scene.

Is Queensland's wine industry represented in this list?

Yes. Andy Williams, Chief Winemaker at the newly opened Meteora Vineyard in Ballandean, represents Queensland's Granite Belt wine region, home to the state's cooler climate wine production and, as of mid-2026, Queensland's first underground wine cave, a distinctive addition to a region still building its national reputation.

How is Queensland's food and beverage leadership spread across the state?

This list includes leaders based in Brisbane, Bundaberg, Toowoomba, the Sunshine Coast hinterland and the Granite Belt, reflecting a sector whose leadership is genuinely spread across regional Queensland rather than concentrated only in the capital. Several of these regional businesses compete nationally and, in some cases, internationally, from their Queensland bases.

Conclusion

Queensland's food and beverage sector is larger and more varied than the handful of household names most people could name without thinking. Behind every recognisable brand and dining destination sits a leader making decisions about staff, supply, quality and growth, often with far less public visibility than the organisation itself.

The 15 people profiled here represent only part of that leadership picture, chosen because their current role and at least one distinctive fact about their work could be confirmed through solid, current sources. A further set of Queensland food and beverage leaders worth following appears in the companion LinkedIn post published alongside this list, for readers who want a wider view of the sector beyond these full profiles.

Whether you work inside Queensland's food and beverage sector, supply it, cover it as media, or are simply a curious reader, the practical next step is straightforward: pick two or three organisations from this list that are closest to your own interests, look at what their current leaders are actually saying and doing right now, and follow their updates directly rather than relying on secondhand coverage. Queensland's food and beverage leadership changes regularly, and staying close to the primary sources is the most reliable way to keep an accurate picture of who is actually running the sector.

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Leading a food and beverage business, hospitality group or peak body brings its own pressures, from managing a family business through succession to keeping a growing team aligned around one set of priorities. If your leadership team would benefit from a facilitated Working Genius workshop, a leadership offsite or a keynote built around the real challenges of running a Queensland food, beverage or hospitality organisation, Jonno White works with leaders across schools, corporates and nonprofits to help teams get clarity on where their energy and focus should go. To enquire about a keynote, workshop or facilitated leadership session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

About the Author

Jonno White is a Brisbane-based leadership consultant, keynote speaker and Certified Working Genius Facilitator, and the author of Step Up or Step Out. He works with schools, corporates and nonprofits around the world. To enquire about a keynote, workshop or facilitated leadership session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.