[FOUNDER]
CHRIS
RICHARDSON.
FOUNDER · GRAIN INSIGHT · EST. 2026
TWENTY YEARS OF WALKING THE MARKETS, BEFORE WRITING THE DECK.
Chris has spent two decades building food & beverage brands across Asia and beyond. He has sat across the table from category buyers in Shanghai, distributors in Bangkok, retailers in Manila and operators in Sydney — and shaped strategy work for some of the most recognised names in the category.
In 2026 he founded Grain Insight to focus that experience squarely where his obsession has always been: how people across Asia Pacific eat and drink — and how the brands that listen to that truth quietly win the next decade.
PRIOR CLIENTS — BRANDS
- SIZZLER
- BONCHON
- DAIRY QUEEN
- KERRY FOODS
- PEPSICO
- SABMILLER
- CARLTON & UNITED BREWERS
- UNILEVER
- UBER EATS
CONSULTANCY ROLES
- GALKAL
- ACCENTURE
- FIFTY-FIVE FIVE
- KANTAR CONSULTING
- THE LEADING EDGE
MARKETS
- GREATER CHINA
- JAPAN & KOREA
- SOUTHEAST ASIA
- INDIA
- AUSTRALIA / NZ
DIRECT LINE
chris@grain-insight.com
[ABOUT CHRIS]
I DIDN'T LEARN FOOD FROM
BOOKS OR BOARDROOMS.
I learned it standing in kitchens, cafés, pubs, bars, and hotel backrooms — sweating through shifts, burning my hands on trays, and working alongside the kinds of people who keep hospitality moving long after everyone else has gone home.
My story started in Bourke, a small town in western NSW, inside a pub my family owned. At seven years old, I was standing on a crate in the Chinese kitchen out the back, learning how to toss fried rice through a screaming-hot wok and make myself useful during service.
By twelve, I was behind the coffee machine in our family café. By fifteen, I was working pizza ovens, washing dishes, carrying trays, serving cocktails, and finishing late-night shifts in bars and function rooms. Later came restaurants, cocktail lounges, and nightclubs inside a five-star hotel — polished on the surface, chaos underneath.
After university, I travelled and eventually found my way into market research and strategy. But it never felt like leaving hospitality behind. It felt like stepping back to understand it more deeply.
More than twenty years later, that lived experience sits at the heart of Grain Insight — helping food and beverage brands understand not just what people say, but how operators think, where culture is shifting, and why certain ideas catch fire while others disappear.
BECAUSE FOOD CULTURE DOESN'T START IN CONFERENCE ROOMS. IT STARTS IN KITCHENS, SERVICE ALLEYS, SUPPLIER CONVERSATIONS, AND THE PRESSURE OF REAL TRADE. THAT'S THE WORLD GRAIN WAS BUILT TO UNDERSTAND.
