As a new leader, you will need support and sparring
At times, the leadership role can feel lonely, but you are not alone — and fortunately, there are plenty of places where you can find support. Read more here.
By Pia Fuglsang Bach, Community Manager at CfL, September 2025
The pace is sky-high, deadlines are ultra-short, and sublime results are expected — every time.
These are the conditions when working in catering, large-scale kitchens, and canteens, and they also characterize the work culture, where structure helps ensure that everyone performs within specific time slots.
Fortunately, this is also what motivates people who choose a career in the culinary field — but the idea that it requires a loud and shouting head chef is simply a thing of the past.
At least at Jespers Torvekøkken, where in recent years they have been working on both leadership development and leadership well-being.
The nationwide canteen and catering company, with around 700 employees, is one of the companies that participated in the Leadership Well-being Analysis 2025, and in our new leadership relay — which explores how CfL’s member companies work with leadership well-being — we are giving the floor to CCO Kristina Steenfeldt Madsen.
Kristina Steenfeldt Madsen, who is CCO and Director of Sustainability at Jespers Torvekøkken, highlights two key initiatives in the company’s work on leadership well-being. The first is self-leadership:
“There are many things you can work on when it comes to leadership well-being, but one of the areas that matters most to us is self-leadership,” she says.
“It’s about our leaders feeling they have room for self-leadership, that they have influence, and that they contribute to creating results. Our culture is characterized by freedom and responsibility close to operations, which means leaders can manage and structure their daily work locally,” she explains.
That self-leadership is an important lever for creating well-being is supported by the Leadership Well-being Analysis 2025.
In the survey, which is based on responses from 1,326 leaders across different levels and industries, as many as 61% said that self-leadership and structure are what support them the most in their work life. It is the single factor with the highest score.
When asked what excites leaders the most, delivering results ranks at the top with 65%, which aligns well with the efforts at Jespers Torvekøkken.
Administrative tasks are also a challenge at Jespers Torvekøkken, and Kristina Steenfeldt Madsen highlights the reduction of administrative burdens as a key priority.
As a kitchen manager or head chef, your core tasks are to make great food, motivate your staff, and ensure happy customers — and administrative tasks can get in the way of that.
“With around 100 locations across the country, leaders can easily end up feeling far away from each other and from headquarters. That’s why we’ve worked on building a support network so leaders know who they can reach out to for the backing they need.”
“If there are areas where they lack competencies or where they spend too much time, they should be able to get help,” says the director, adding:
“If we go back three years, we didn’t receive the same positive feedback about our support functions. We’ve invested time, money, and resources in building the network, and it’s really rewarding that leaders now feel they’re getting strong support. When you’re far from the operational core, it can be hard to judge, but the survey shows that we’re on the right track,” she says.
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CfL is a leadership organisation owned by its members, which provides a unique opportunity to share perspectives and experiences.
In a new round of our relay, we give the floor to a number of leaders from our member organisations — this time to learn how they work with leadership well-being.
After each interview, the relay is passed on with a new question. In this way, we uncover how one of the major leadership agendas unfolds in Danish workplaces.
The second interview in the series is with Kristina Steenfeldt Madsen, CCO and Director of Sustainability at Jespers Torvekøkken.
Kristina has worked at Jespers Torvekøkken since 2017 and joined the executive management team in 2021. She holds a master’s degree (cand.merc.) from Aarhus Universitet and has previously worked at, among others, Deloitte.
This is the second year in a row that CfL has examined how Danish leaders are doing. What surprises you in the Leadership Well-Being Analysis 2025?
“I recognize many of the conclusions. We know there’s an imbalance between demands and resources, and that the pace is high in many leadership roles. Unfortunately, that’s a general issue, but I was actually surprised by how much insufficient administrative support weighs across all industries.”
“I thought we were particularly challenged in this area, but it’s widespread,” says Kristina Steenfeldt Madsen.
“It makes me reflect on all the compliance requirements we place on each other. Of course, we need to document and report that we’re doing things the right way — for example, Jespers Torvekøkken is B-Corp certified — but we should consider whether all these administrative tasks actually create real value.”
The first interview in the series on leadership well-being was with Nathalie Skovgaard, Leadership Partner at Københavns Politi. Her relay question to the Director at Jespers Torvekøkken was:
There is a major imbalance between demands and resources. I’m therefore curious about your vision for supporting leaders’ well-being in a sustainable and long-term way.
Kristina Steenfeldt Madsen:
“Our vision is that, as a leader or employee at Jespers Torvekøkken, you feel that you are making a difference. When you can see a higher purpose in your work, it becomes easier to accept that things are sometimes busy.
“That’s why we are working systematically to remove tasks that don’t create value, ensuring that leaders have the time and space to focus on their core responsibilities. For example, this might mean creating a structure where a leader from one of the staff functions takes over certain responsibilities so the kitchen manager can focus on food, employees, and customers.”
The director emphasizes that well-being especially arises where frameworks are clear and teams are stable.
“It may sound a bit lofty to talk about making a difference, but we work on making it concrete. You make a difference when your customers are happy, when your employees enjoy coming to work, and when you deliver fantastic food — or make an important contribution in an administrative role.”
“It’s crucial that our leaders experience this and also have strong teams around them. Trust and mutual support are vital to leaders’ well-being and to achieving results in everyday operations.”
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Is a nationwide canteen and catering company with around 700 employees across approximately 100 locations.
Over the past five years, the company has achieved double-digit growth rates, which has increased the need for further training of middle managers. The company therefore initiated a collaboration with CfL back in 2023.
Jespers Torvekøkken is B Corp-certified, meaning it meets a range of international standards for social and environmental responsibility, transparency, and governance.
When CfL launched its first major survey on leadership well-being in 2024, it was with the support of Københavns Kommune, led by Mette Kjærgaard-Svendsen, senior consultant and project manager in the municipality’s Mental Health Initiative.
In the next leadership relay, we will revisit Københavns Kommune, and we have therefore asked the director of Jespers Torvekøkken to pose a relay question to Mette Kjærgaard-Svendsen, as follows:
"Has Københavns Kommune experienced cases where leaders or employees perform administrative tasks that initially seem outside their core responsibilities but ultimately prove to create value — for example through documentation or reporting? Can you point to specific examples where administration has actually made a positive difference?"
At times, the leadership role can feel lonely, but you are not alone — and fortunately, there are plenty of places where you can find support. Read more here.