Rising Star: JKS ops director ‘in the trenches’ with teams

They may be one of the most talked about restaurant operators in London in recent years, but Sunaina Sethi jokes that in the early days, JKS Restaurants were still figuring out “what the hell we were doing”.

Thankfully, the sibling founder-owners had an invaluable asset in Joanne Searley, who came on board eight years ago to lead operations.

Previously of D&D London and ETM Group, she brought some much-needed experience and discipline to operations at the then early-stage company.

“When she joined us, we were still relatively young,” Sethi tells MCA.

“It was nice to have someone who came from a slightly more structured background, and to have that experience that she could bring to the table.

“She had more formal training, whilst we were very much in our growth period, where things can be a little bit erratic and sporadic.

“She was a stable force coming in to help guide us essentially.”

Helping launch JKS’ first foray into more casual dining with BAO, Searley has become an essential element of the company, with an influential voice at the table with the senior leadership team.

She now has oversight over pretty much every single operation at JKS - which is “no mean feat”, according to Sethi.

“It’s very rare that you have someone who is in the trenches with everyone and will understand every single service,” she says.

With various different brands, she is able to jump in and out and put a different hat on based on which restaurant she’s based.

“She has all bases covered, which I think is a phenomenal talent to have,” Sethi says.

“She will still do three or four evenings a week, out of a genuine love of wanting to know exactly what’s going on and wanting to understand the businesses inside out.

“She wants to make sure that nothing happens without her knowing it, so she can act and react and pre-empt things and ensure that things are running as they should.

Searley has been at the heart of each new opening for JKS, which has involved an increasingly complex variety of formats, including food halls, pubs and casual dining operations.

This has made the opening machine under Searley smoother with each new launch, Sethi says.

“You learn a lot from the mistakes of the previous opening, you have to look back at some of your long-standing restaurants and say, okay, what works there and what did we get wrong? What are we now having to retrospectively fix?

“It’s really important to have experience in openings and ongoing operations, because going into a new opening without having ever done one before can be quite daunting.

“The process she’s put in place and the planning that goes ahead of it means it is no longer like, whoa, where do we start?

“We’re getting to a nice slick process of engaging the right people in the right teams at the right time, so everyone knows what they’re doing. It’s a nicely orchestrated process now.”

With more challenging launches such as Arcade Food Hall and Brigadiers involving complex service styles, Searley has again been a steady but ever-adaptable hand.

“You do have to deviate away from your comfort zone to be able to execute things and we definitely went on that journey together, we all learnt some good and powerful lessons from it.

“It adds that versatility to the way that we do things and the way that we approach any new opening any new brand, any new sector.”

For Sethi, operations is all about detail but also surrounding oneself with specialist talent.

“I think it’s less about being a jack of all trades, but essentially understanding every element of what’s going on into running any site or venue.

“You might not be the person who’s jumping behind the bar to shake cocktails, but you understand if something’s about to go down that you need to fix something. It’s always being that one step ahead.”

The group operations director is now very part of the JKS senior leadership team.

“Myself and my brothers feel like she’s got a very strong voice at that table,” Sethi adds.

“Whether its her views on new projects and potential collaborations, we value her input quite highly

“She’s very much part of JKS through and through.”

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