All interviews – Page 58
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InterviewsBone Daddies co-founder Demetri Tomazos: ‘The rules of the game are being decided by others, all we can do is adapt’
Bone Daddies has never been shy of trying something new. Since its inception in 2012, the then single-site ramen bar has grown into a multi-concept restaurant group, with nine bricks and mortar sites across London under its three brands – Bone Daddies, Shack-Fuyu and Flesh & Buns. So, when the coronavirus crisis forced the business to close its doors back in March, “we saw it as an opportunity to put into practice all the ideas we hadn’t had a chance to do previously,” co-founder Demetri Tomazos tells MCA.
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InterviewsRevolution Bars CEO Rob Pitcher: ‘We’ll tackle no-shows with retrospective fee’
Revolution Bars Group will be implementing a fee for consumers who pre-booking and failing to turn up, CEO Rob Pitcher has revealed.
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InterviewsInception co-founder Charlie Gilkes: Customers have embraced safety measures
Inception Group co-founder Charlie Gilkes also described how customers have embraced new safety measures, such as temperate checks and track and trace when returning to the London bar estate.
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InterviewsDeltic CEO Peter Marks: Wait to reopen ‘frustrating’ but has advantages
Deltic Group CEO Peter Marks has told how the late-night operator is in a difficult position being among the last to reopen, but that it gives consumers a chance to adapt to the new normal.
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InterviewsFive Guys UK CEO John Eckbert: Trading ‘really unpredictable and really different’
Five Guys UK CEO John Eckbert has described reopening the entire estate for dine-in as a “fairly modest, incremental step”, having remained open for takeaway for the majority of lockdown. Speaking on MCA’s The Conversation, Eckbert said keeping takeaway online meant the brand had already redesigned its store format to ...
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InterviewsPunch CEO Clive Chesser: We need to be ready for more worst case scenarios
Running a pub company when the pubs are closed was always going to be difficult, Punch Pubs & Co CEO Clive Chesser admits, describing the coronavirus crisis as the “most challenging period of my career to date”.
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InterviewsAlchemist CEO Simon Potts: Safety measures more important now than ever
As the number of consumers returning to bars and restaurants increases, strong and visible safety measures will be more important than ever, The Conversation has heard.Speaking at the event, Alchemist CEO Simon Potts said that although it is undoubtedly positive news that the Government has started encouraging consumers to return to the sector, this next wave of consumers may not be so fearless as the first.
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InterviewsBrasserie Bar Co. MD Richard Ferrier: ‘Government rent intervention will do more damage than good’
With sites across the home counties, along the Thames, up to Leeds and down to Bournemouth, Brasserie Bar Company’s rent bill doesn’t come cheap. In the capital, some of the group’s prime locations include Southbank, the Tower of London and Threadneedle street. With this in mind, it may come as a surprise that managing director Richard Ferrier not only sees government intervention in the rent stalemate as unnecessary, but is actively against it.
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InterviewsM&B CEO Phil Urban: ‘People want to go out and be social again’
As social media storms go, it was up there with the silliest.
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InterviewsMarston’s CEO Ralph Findlay: ‘We’ll pull out all the stops’
Marston’s CEO Ralph Findlay would have preferred more notice to get his pub estate open, having leant his voice to industry calls for three weeks. In the event it was more like 10 days.
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InterviewsHonest Burgers co-founder Phillip Eeles: 'Let’s innovate, let’s be nimble, and let’s crack on'
For countless operators across the sector, the extent of their ambition through the coronavirus crisis amounts to one thing – surviving. And rightly so. Faced with a three-month closure and a complete collapse in like-for-likes overnight, even to survive this period would be no mean feat for many businesses. But as co-founder Philip Eeles tells MCA, Honest Burgers isn’t one of them.
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InterviewsBoxpark founder Roger Wade: ‘The rent code of practice isn’t worth the paper it’s written on’
After three months of forced closure, to say that a confirmed industry reopening date is a relief would be a severe understatement. But for Boxpark founder Roger Wade, without a resolution on rent, for many operators this relief could be painfully short-lived.
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InterviewsLuke Johnson: ‘This lockdown has been incredibly harmful. We can’t allow it to happen again’
As restaurants, pubs and cafes set about preparing to reopen on 4 July, entrepreneur and investor Luke Johnson discusses what the future of the hospitality sector may look like.
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InterviewsHawthorn Leisure CEO Mark Davies: The business will be stronger than ever
Positives have been in short supply during lockdown, with even the prospect of reopening failing to raise many spirits, as the government dithers and delays over a definitive date.
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InterviewsChop’d MD Eddie Holmes: We can’t open without rent solution
Whether it be the end of June, the beginning of July, or tomorrow, for Chop’d managing director Eddie Holmes, the government’s proposed hospitality reopening date is irrelevant. For Holmes, it’s not a question of when, but how, and without a workable solution to the rent issue, the 14 Chop’d sites across the UK won’t be opening any time soon.
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InterviewsLoungers chair Alex Reilley: Government not treating us like grown-ups
Loungers chairman Alex Reilley has excoriated the government’s communication over the lifting of lockdown as “maddening” and “irresponsible”.
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InterviewsSun Capital Partners founder Hugh Osmond: Two-metre distancing an “absolute nonsense”
Getting the “nonsensical” two-metre distancing rule reduced should be considered the “most important fight” in the short term for hospitality operators, Hugh Osmond has said.
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InterviewsLiberation Group CEO Jonathan Lawson on reopening pubs early
Pubs with gardens may have the chance to open earlier than planned on 22 June, if the English weather makes it worthwhile.
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InterviewsLoungers CEO Nick Collins: ‘Delivery isn’t something our customers would enjoy’
Despite the raft of operators choosing to introduce delivery as an alternative revenue stream through recovery, it’s not a route Loungers is going to take, CEO Nick Collins has told MCA.
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InterviewsYoung’s CEO Patrick Dardis: Pubs can’t resemble operating theatres
With picturesque riverside pubs clustered around the Thames, as well as by East Devon’s Exe Estuary, more than half of the Young’s estate has a large beer garden.