Name
Matteo Ferrari
Age
38
Job title
Co-founder and innovation director
Company and location
White Rabbit, Oxfordshire and London
Education
Degree in Philosophy
Favourite food/drink
A classic Neapolitan slice made with 48-hour biga dough and an glass of Franciacorta
What inspired you to enter food?
It started with a love for pizza—but not just any pizza. I’ve always been obsessed with quality, craft, and the idea of elevating something so familiar into something exceptional and different. When working at the White Rabbit pub in Oxford and seeing just how many people couldn’t share in this joy, I knew there was a gap to build a brand that made artisanal pizza accessible for everyone.
Tell us about your role
I lead the business across innovation, product and manufacturing development.
What does a typical day look like?
Mornings often start with a run to clear my head, followed by a check-in with the team. I’m based in our dedicated gluten free bakery in Oxfordshire and split my time between product innovation—yes, still tasting a lot of pizza—operations, supplier conversations, and long-term planning. It’s always very busy but that’s what I thrive on.
How did you get to where you are today?
Through a mix of instinct, research to fuel constant innovation and a lot of hard lessons. We haven’t taken any shortcuts, and I’ve never been afraid be agile and pivot if something wasn’t working. We’ve used all the knowledge and experience gained over the past 10 years to get to where we are now: a genuinely compromise free product.
When you’re having a bad day, what cheers you up?
Journaling in the evening to reconnect with what really matters and run in the morning to re inspire within the nature. By its nature the gluten free shopper is a very emotive one and getting back to the ‘why’ of founding White Rabbit and the motivation to help them drives me.
What’s your favourite part about the food sector?
The immediacy of it—you can create something with your hands that can very quickly be loved nationwide. You get to make thousands of people happy every day and improve the lives of people who thought they would have to miss out and compromise on delicious Italian food.
If you could change one thing about the Food sector what would it be?
Too many products are designed for margin making not actually for the people who eat them. We’re passionate about flipping this with our consumer-led approach. For example, we have a think tank of nearly 1,000 gluten free shoppers that we run focus groups with, new product testing etc.
What’s next for you/what’s the dream?
Continue innovating and growing White Rabbit, taking it to the next stage, while also nurturing our growing team.
