M&C Report talks to the “Godfather of casual dining” Ian Neill. The man who has played key roles in the growth of chains such as Pizza Express, Wagamama and Jamie's Italian looks back on his time in the sector and talks about new project K10, the health issue, franchising and who he currently admires in the industry. Read more
Ian Neill is laughing. He says he feels a little guilty for doing so. He has just read the news story in The Sun (not his paper of choice, he stresses – a friend forwarded him the link) about the tragi-comically ironic death, from a heart attack, of a man who ate daily at fast food restaurant in Las Vegas. Its name? The Heart Attack Grill.
The fact that the restaurant’s slogan is “a burger to die for”, that it is famous for its 9,000 calorie burger and it has waitresses dressed as nurses tickles him even more. He can just imagine a UK version with NHS-uniformed staff and ECG machines and defibrillators for decoration.
Sadly, he reflects, this article is exactly the kind of fodder loved by those happy to demonise restaurateurs, particularly those in the QSR sector, blaming them for many of the ills of society. Neill, however, believes fast food operators have a lot to be thanked for.
“A lot of people have issues with QSRs. I don’t. People have to take responsibility for their own actions when it comes to eating and there is nothing wrong at all in having that kind of food on occasions – it’s nice and it’s good value,” he says.
“QSRs helped change the face of Britain. They taught people that it is OK to eat food away from home now and then. Before they came along, people only ate out for functional reasons, such as at canteens, or on very special occasions – even well-off people.
“It really irritates me that people jump up and down about the likes of MacDonald’s and KFC – overall they are good for lots of reasons, including employment.”
Neill does believe the restaurant industry has a role to play in the health agenda.
However, he thinks the majority of people who use restaurants, particularly the kind he has been involved in for the last 40-plus years, are primarily after a fun experience when they eat out. He feels Prezzo has reached a good compromise, only printing calorie counts for the ‘Light’ options on its menu, making the assumption that most customers are clever enough to work out that the non-light selections have more calories.
Neill suggests that a good place for the Government to start ensuring food is sufficiently nutritious would be the outlets it is more directly responsible for, such as hospitals and schools – all very pertinent given the current ‘equine meat-extender’ scandal, as he amusingly calls it.
What is especially important for all restaurateurs when it comes to these macro issues such as health and sustainability, Neill says, is honesty – over-egging your brand’s stance on these things, he explains, is a potentially damaging mistake that in this day and age would easily be uncovered.
The economy, and all the elements that feed into that from food price inflation to diminishing disposable income, is the biggest current challenge, Neill says. This is the longest downturn he has experienced, but he feels the industry on the whole is working through this one much better than it has in the past; helped by the fact that eating out has become such a normal thing to do, particularly in the mid-market space he has famously occupied for so long.
He is flattered by the ‘Godfather of Casual Dining’ title that is often bestowed upon him, especially since his success in growing the Wagamama chain, but feels it is more befitting to the man he worked with for 11 years at Pizza Express. Neill credits Peter Boizot with pretty much single-handedly inventing what back then was known as “popular catering”.
Neill believes it is important to support the industry by recognising the achievements of others. He says Simon Blagden is “a terrific leader”, running the Jamie’s Italian concept (of which Neill is a non-executive director, as he also is at Las Iguanas) as a successful, consistent brand that people go back to, not just somewhere they try once because of the celebrity chef connection.
He is full of praise, too, for Alex Reilley, citing his Loungers’ bar and restaurant chain as a good example of the kind of “really clever innovation” that can come about in a difficult economic climate. He qualifies this by explaining “it is low budget in terms of how they execute it and they have identified areas in the market where they can get sites and have a decent run at it”.
Robin Rowland at Yo! Sushi is another industry compatriot he admires. One of Neill’s latest ventures is taking him into the same sub-sector, although pitched at a slightly different level. As chairman of K10, the Japanese restaurant that opened its second site in Appold Street, London, at the end of February, Neill invested £500,000 in the business and helped with a financial reorganisation that led to funding from Chrysalis VCT that will cover a third restaurant too, hopefully by end of the year.
He has known Maurice Abboudi, who has owned the now 12-year-old original K10 in the City of London since 2010, for well over 20 years. They go back to his Pizza Express days when Abboudi was a fellow pizza restaurant operator with Famous Moe’s in Brighton. But it was not just their friendship that drew Neill to this business.
“I have never been a huge sushi fan – I am from Yorkshire, I like things in batter,” he jokes. “But they also do lots of other things, like blackened cod, very well. What’s more they have loads of happy customers and it trades extremely well.”
He finds being at this stage of a restaurant brand’s development very exciting and is particularly enjoying it, at the age of 64, from the vantage point of chairman (a position he also holds at Company of Cooks, the contract caterer, and Peach Factory, the publishing firm). While there are no stated ambitions to take K10 nationwide,
Neill points out that Wagamama was a similar size when he joined.
“If you work hard to build firm foundations for any embryonic business, with good products and systems, and look at how you execute consistently to make sure everything you do is geared towards getting customers back; make sure the people who work in the business are enthusiastic and happy, and that you are…then you can look at growth later,” he says.
In the early part of Neill’s “go with the flow” career path, he had a spell at Sainsbury’s, where not only did he find that high volume grocery retail is “the most relentless business going – and even worse now with the trading hours compared to when I was there”, he learned useful lessons about ordering systems and, as he said at his exit interview, discovered that he “wanted to write the manuals, not read them.”
Along the way since, he has evolved his skill set, recognising the role of methodology and systems in delivering a consistent product while also allowing for flexibility and individuality.
“There are a lot of people who love to make rules but I think the main thing is to only make rules that you need.
“We used to get a tremendous amount of compliments for the ability and enthusiasm of our staff at Wagamama and I think that’s partly because we never had rules about things like tattoos, haircuts and piercings, and so we used to attract smart people with different views. The excitement your staff engender and communicate to customers is something you want to hang on to; it is your identity. Once you lose that you are in danger of losing your ‘mojo’.”
This approach was one of the reasons Neill believes Wagamama has so successfully made the transition from “sexy insider” into a chain. He says any small outfit wanting to grow large without losing its integrity needs to accept its customer profile will change. It therefore needs to make conscious management decisions, covering everything from supply lines to training, accordingly, to ensure the product and service delivered meets the brand promise.
Many of the same principles apply to franchising, something he knows a thing or two about having originally joined PizzaExpress in 1978 to set up franchising operations.
When it comes to international franchising, he advises, the key is staying in control – ensuring you know what you are talking about in your chosen territory while keeping focussed on why you want to expand internationally and ensuring that franchisees are true partners who share that vision.
Not only does he make it sound simple, he has repeatedly made it look easy too. And while Neill may no longer be involved in day-to-day operations, it is clear that when it comes to knowing how to develop a successful chain, his ‘mojo’ is well and truly still in place.
