Meet the Exhibitor: Wendy & James Harris from gobblr.co.uk

Meet the Exhibitor: Wendy and James from gobblr.co.uk

With the Cornwall Business Show bringing together businesses from across the region, we’re getting to know some of the people you’ll be able to meet on the day.

This week, Hannah Buck, Marketing Manager at Four Front Events, sat down with Wendy and James, the couple behind gobblr, to talk about Christmas parties, kitchen spreadsheets and building one diary that the whole venue team can trust.

James went from kitchen porter at fourteen to executive chef, while Wendy has spent fifteen years helping businesses move from paper to software. Together, they’re building gobblr for the places that feed people, and for the people booking them.

So, over to Hannah, Wendy and James…

Hannah: Let’s start with the big picture. Who is gobblr for?

Wendy: Places that feed people. Pubs, restaurants, cafés, hotels, wedding and event venues, and the caterers who turn up at all of them. If food is part of the reason people come through your door, gobblr is built for you.

There’s a second side coming too: the people making the booking. Someone organising an office Christmas do or a sixtieth should be able to find a place that’s actually free and book it without twelve emails. James and I call it two sides of the story.

Hannah: What’s one thing venues often struggle with that could be much simpler?

Wendy: Keeping track of events, big or small. Whether it’s a Christmas party for thirty or a wedding for two hundred, there’s usually a spreadsheet. Somebody’s typing up who’s having the turkey and who’s having the salmon, someone else is chasing the three guests who haven’t chosen yet, and half the team is checking whether they have the latest version.

It’s some of the best money a venue takes all year, and it’s often held together with sticky tape. The organiser has the same job at the other end, collecting choices over WhatsApp and trying to remember whose partner can’t eat nuts.

With gobblr, the organiser shares one link. Guests choose their own food and flag allergies. The venue sees it in one place the whole team can use, and the kitchen gets a sheet with every choice and allergen spelled out.

James spent years in kitchens working from that spreadsheet, so this part is personal for him.

James: It’s the calm version of a chaotic job.

Hannah: I like that. What do you each enjoy most about working with other businesses?

Wendy: The moment someone shows me how they really do it, which is rarely how it looks from the outside. I’ve spent fifteen years helping businesses move off paper and onto software that ends up at the heart of how they run.

My method hasn’t changed much: listen to the person with the problem, build something, take it back and see if it landed.

James: For me it’s working out how a place actually works. I spent two decades cooking and the last five years designing and fitting kitchens, big and small, so I’ve never really left one.

Every kitchen is a puzzle: where the team stands, where the plates land, what happens when it’s full. You only get it right by watching people work. gobblr is the same. We’ve had a handful of venues testing every corner of it, and the best feedback usually lands on my WhatsApp.

Hannah: So what’s the challenge you’re working on right now?

Wendy: Getting everyone on the same page. In most venues an event lives in more than one place: a spreadsheet on the manager’s laptop and a kitchen printout that was right on Tuesday. Several people update it, and nobody is quite sure which copy is the real one.

We’re pulling that into one diary the whole team works from, whether it’s a private party or a ticketed night. Every venue we’ve sat down with does things a little differently, so gobblr has to fit how they already work. That’s where we’re directing a lot of the AI behind it, so the diary stays right without someone babysitting it.

The listing is the other half. Every venue on gobblr gets a free listing. When the public side opens, people will be able to search for somewhere that’s actually free on their date. Until then, we’re inviting venues in privately to set theirs up first.

The back office has just gone live. I said to James there’s no such thing as the hard work being over. It’s different hard work now. Christmas is the first real test.

Hannah: I have to ask. Isn’t that what Google is for?

Wendy: Google is brilliant at telling you a place exists and when it’s open. It can’t tell you whether the function room is free on 12 December, or take thirty menu choices and a deposit for the party. That lives in the venue’s diary, which today is usually a spreadsheet.

gobblr is the diary, so when the public side opens, it can answer from what’s actually free. We’re not trying to replace anyone’s Google profile either. Your gobblr booking link can go straight into it.

Hannah: And the way people search is changing too, isn’t it?

Wendy: Completely, Google included. More people will simply ask an AI assistant to find somewhere near Truro that can host a Christmas party for twenty with a vegan option. That assistant needs something real to read, and most venues aren’t ready for it yet. We’re building every gobblr listing so assistants can read it properly.

There’s a lot of AI behind gobblr, but a venue shouldn’t have to think about it. If we get it working properly for a pub or restaurant, the admin that used to eat a manager’s evening gets done and they can get back to looking after people.

Hannah: What was the moment that told you you were onto something?

Wendy: We’d had our first feedback from the first few venues on events, ticketing and AI. Then one front-of-house lead asked if gobblr could take their table reservations too. We hadn’t pitched it. They were already paying for a booking system that didn’t talk to the till or their spreadsheets, and they wanted one place for all of it.

That changed what we built next. The diary exists because a venue asked for it, which is exactly how I’d want it.

Hannah: What does getting started with gobblr actually look like for a venue?

Wendy: Right now it starts with an invitation. The public listings aren’t open yet, so we’re inviting venues to set up privately: their spaces, seating, menus and the kinds of events they host.

You won’t be typing it all in. gobblr reads your menu from a PDF and drafts your listing from information already out there about your venue. You mostly check that it’s right. Then you add your first event. It could be a private Christmas party, with a link for each guest to choose food and pay, or a public ticketed night. Either way, it sits in one diary the team can see.

From there, you can use as much or as little as you like. There are table reservations with your own rooms and table plan, enquiries that become bookings, deposits and no-show fees. You can invite guests by link or QR code without an app, check them in at the door, and give the kitchen a pass sheet in service order.

If you get stuck, there’s help built in that answers in plain English, with one of us on WhatsApp behind it. It’s all included in every plan, including the free one.

What changes is how busy you are. The free plan covers thirty-five table bookings a month, and you move up as the diary fills. You choose the parts you want and pay for how much you use them. There’s no per-cover fee and no contract.

Hannah: gobblr’s first Cornwall Business Show is nearly here. What are you looking forward to most?

Wendy: Faces. I’ve stood on a lot of stands over the years, but this is gobblr’s first show. We’ve spent the summer heads-down building it, and I’m looking forward to people who run venues stopping by and telling us what drives them mad.

And to James talking kitchens with anyone who’ll stand still long enough!

Hannah: Who would you particularly like to come and chat with you?

Wendy: Anyone running a pub, restaurant, café, hotel or venue, whether you’ve got six tables or a function room for two hundred. And anyone who’s ever run a Christmas party off a spreadsheet and sworn never again.

Hannah: All right, what’s the challenge for someone visiting stand 68?

Wendy: Tell us how your venue keeps track of its Christmas parties right now. If the answer involves a spreadsheet and someone asking, “Is this the latest version?”, give us five minutes and we’ll show you the same party in gobblr.

Hannah: And is there an offer for Cornwall Business Show visitors?

Wendy: There is. The public listings aren’t open yet, but venues that come to see us on stand 68, or mention the show when they get in touch, get an early invitation to set up on gobblr now.

James or I will sit down with you and put your first event in together. gobblr does most of the typing, so you’re not staring at a blank form on a Tuesday afternoon. Email us at hello@gobblr.co.uk.

Could your next event run without the spreadsheet scramble?

For Wendy and James, the starting point is a familiar scene: a party booking, thirty menu choices and a team trying to work out which spreadsheet is current.

If you run a place that feeds people, come and meet them at stand 68 at the Cornwall Business Show 2026. Tell them how your events work, bring them the problem that drives you mad, and see what your first event could look like in one shared diary.

You can also read the gobblr story or contact Wendy and James at hello@gobblr.co.uk. Venues that mention the show can request an early invitation and help setting up their first event.

gobblr is one of the businesses you’ll be able to meet at the Cornwall Business Show on Thursday 8 October 2026 at the Royal Cornwall Events Centre in Wadebridge. Book your free ticket, come along and get involved.