Salmon worked initially as a kitchen trainee and then as a food buyer in the family firm of Lyons.[1]
Salmon was in the RAF from 1940 to 1946, rising to senior catering officer.[3] He was the catering officer for the Indian sub-continent when there were "minor mutinies" over food complaints.[1] He returned to the UK with jaundice and worked in the bakery and then hotel divisions of Lyons, before joining the governing board in 1961.[1]
In the early 1960s, Salmon introduced the Wimpy hamburger to the UK, first in Lyons' cafes, then in a chain of Wimpy restaurants.[1]
From 1949, Salmon chaired the catering committee of Westminster Hospital. He later joined the hospital's governing body.[1]
In the 1960s, Salmon was appointed to chair the Salmon Report on senior nursing staff structures and training, which became "one of the bases of the modern profession".[1][3]
From 1974 to 1977, Salmon was the chair of Camden and Islington Area Health Authority. He also worked with the Tavistock Institute, the Royal College of Nursing and the London & Provincial Nursing Trust.[1]
In 1972, he was appointed a CBE. On his retirement in 1977, he was succeeded as chairman by his brother Neil Salmon, who merged Lyons with Allied Breweries to become Allied Lyons.[1]