Entertainment venue operator, Big Fang Collective has announced the appointment of its new CEO, Natasha Waterfield. She joins after an eight-year stint across two roles at The New World Trading company, as HR Director them Chief Operating Officer.
Natasha became HR Director at The New World Trading Company in 2015. This led to her leading and building the HR department from herself to a 9-strong team and sitting as part of the senior leadership team as the business grew from 5 to 26 sites. Natasha led, innovated and developed both the team and the company to 10th (2017), 7th (2018) and 5th (2019) in the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies.
In 2020, Natasha took on the role of Chief Operating Officer at The New World Trading Company. She navigated the business as it emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic through negotiation and strategic planning with all stakeholders, as well as delivering new, strong and highly profitable sites whilst introducing a variety of technology to aid the delivery of exceptional customer service and insight.
Beginning in January 2023, Natasha’s remit in her new role at Big Fang Collective will see her focus on building on the already strong culture within the brand and develop the strategy to enable the business to roll out the Golf Fang brand and different concepts within The Big Fang Collective’s portfolio, both in the UK and internationally.
Big Fang Collective owns the Golf Fang brand, which was founded by Kip Piper and Daniel Bolger in 2016 when they opened their first site in Liverpool inside of the 25,000 sq-ft Cains Brewery.
The company now owns and operates five sites in Birmingham, Newcastle, Liverpool, Sheffield and Glasgow, with its Golf Fang and Birdies Bar brands. Big Fang Collective is now looking to expand further and acquire new venues across UK cities, with seven already planned to launch across the next two years.
Big Fang Collective’s focus on delivering next level entertainment spaces, coupled with the brands’ market-disrupting nature, attracted investment from Imbiba earlier this year. Renowned for investing in high growth, category leading leisure and entertainment brands, Imbiba invested £5m in Big Fang Collective to aid its growth in the UK and internationally. The investment will help the company as they look to expand across the UK.
Natasha said, “I am so excited to be joining the Big Fang Collective as their CEO. I’ve long admired the group’s gutsy ethos and I’m looking forward to overseeing its growth as we roll Golf Fang and Birdies Bar, whilst developing new concepts, out across the UK.”
Kip said, “We’re thrilled to welcome Natasha to the Big Fang Collective team. Natasha brings a wealth of experience to the role as well as plenty of passion for what we do. We are all looking forward to Natasha joining us in January as we head into a busy year kicking off with the launch of our Cardiff site in Q1.”
Andrew Stones, Partner & Head of Portfolio at Imbiba, said, “In Natasha we’ve found the perfect partner to deliver our domestic and international vision for The Big Fang Collective. We’re confident that the group will flourish under her guidance and look forward to welcoming her into the role of CEO in the new year.”