John Nugent on Slow Growth, Strong Partnerships and Reimagining London's Most Iconic Spaces

Only a Pavement Away, Casual Dining and Energy wins

In this episode we catch up after Travis's first time punting in Cambridge, at a punt and dine event for Only A Pavement Away, and get into why more hospitality businesses still aren't taking a chance on people the charity puts forward. Also in this episode: * Tom's walk ins only strategy for the England World Cup match at the Carlton Tavern, and how it compared to a normal Sunday * Turtle Bay's declining sales and thin margins, and why niche cuisine brands have struggled to break into the UK market the way pizza and burgers have * The pressure ops teams are under in P&L reviews, and why so much of it comes down to structural issues rather than execution on the ground * Tom's recent wins on energy and gas procurement through Rye Utilities * New additions to the Ops Club tools page, including the Percy pricing checker and a business rates relief checker from Paddle - check them out at ops-club.com/tools [http://ops-club.com/tools] This episode is sponsored by Monotree the employee comms platform for multi-site teams who know email and WhatsApp aren't building culture or productivity. It's fast and intuitive, like your favourite messaging app, from inside your very own branded team app. And the numbers back it up: 4.2 daily opens and over 75% daily activity, with a rating above 4.9 stars. For multi-site employee comms, Monotree is my only recommendation, check them out: https://monotree.com/ [https://monotree.com/]

Emergency Licencing, the World Cup and the VAT Fight

In this episode we catch up after Tom's trip hiking and river floating in Switzerland. Also in this episode: * The emergency licensing changes for England's World Cup matches * Why Tom's pubs have moved to walk ins only for match days * What the World Cup actually means for pub trade * The political mood around hospitality and the bank holiday talk * Whether a VAT cut is the one thing that would actually help This episode is sponsored by Monotree [https://monotree.com/] - the employee comms platform for multi-site teams who know email and WhatsApp aren't building culture or productivity. It's fast and intuitive, like your favourite messaging app, from inside your very own branded team app. And the numbers back it up: 4.2 daily opens and over 75% daily activity, with a rating above 4.9 stars. For multi-site employee comms, Monotree is my only recommendation. Check them out: https://monotree.com/ [https://monotree.com/]

Kate Moscardini on her path through Caesars, Honest Burgers, and Dishoom

In this episode we sit down with Kate Moscardini, head of people at Dishoom, who has worked across the full spectrum of hospitality – from large corporates like Caesars, through independents and growing chains like Honest Burgers, to Dishoom today. We talk through that journey: starting out in retail and manufacturing, the guest-obsessed culture of casino hospitality at Caesars, and joining Honest Burgers on the first day of COVID with her laptop dropped off by bike and just seven people working in the business. She talks about what it's taken to build a genuine partnership between people and ops at Dishoom, including the shift to joint decision-making on team moves over the past 18 months, and what it means to keep "deepening, not diluting" as a business grows at pace.

Gail's, VAT and the World Cup

In this episode we catch up after a tough week for Tom of slow sales and a back to basics management meeting. Also in this episode: * Why so little has changed for hospitality in the last three years * Whether a VAT cut is the one thing that would actually help * Why the public has stopped paying attention to pub closures * Cheap chicken versus posh chicken * What the World Cup means for pubs * Tom building his own apps * The Gail's salty sandwich story * Why Manchester is booming

John Nugent on Slow Growth, Strong Partnerships and Reimagining London's Most Iconic Spaces

In this episode we sit with John Nugent, CEO and co-founder of Green & Fortune with Peter Millican, and co-founder of Daffodil Mulligan's and Gibney's with Richard Corrigan. We trace John's 37 years in London hospitality, from arriving in 1989 to manage the back of house at a 800-bedroom hotel by Tower Bridge, to becoming CEO of Searcy's in his mid-thirties, to co-founding Green & Fortune over a cup of tea and a chance introduction that turned into a 20-year partnership. John reflects on opening King's Place in King's Cross in 2008, just days before Lehman Brothers collapsed, and taking a long bet on an area few others believed in at the time. He shares why he has resisted private equity in favour of slower, more measured growth, his take on modern Irish hospitality in London beyond the clichés, the new project on the horizon, and the one piece of advice he gives every young manager he mentors.