Helping hospitality directors optimise EBITDA & propel operational excellence with a continuous improvement approach focused on driving engagement. Diagnostics | £ Tracked Action Plans | Unique Optimisation Framework
A blast from the past!! My business now is all about supporting hospitality operators to…well, the blunt truth is, make more money. Generally that is conversation number 1 and it should be. Yes we will no doubt find some lucrative quick £ wins. But, the reality is, for sustainable improvement the team who are vital to your offer will play the biggest part in any future success and therefore should be ignored at your peril. I had a phone call out the blue yesterday from a friend who I met working back in 2006/7 (I had to check when the smoking ban came in as a date reference!) The Living Room Oxford - now sold on and rebranded into history. It reminded me about what can be achieved with great people and that when you are building a team in hospitality, experience is good, but personality and values are much better! This was a beautiful looking site, had been trading for maybe 11 months and for many reasons had “not got off on the right foot”, let’s just say that! I was asked If I would “go and have look mate” of course the great and very sadly late Tim Bacon didn’t mean it nonchalantly – translated “it fucking needs sorting!” So moved to Oxford. Fortunately it wasn’t all bad, lovely city! The business though, had 1 restaurant manager left out of a management team of 5 - (and they had put their resignation in, FFS!). No GM, No AGM, No Bar manager, No head chef. 180 covers inside with 3 lovely outdoor areas including a BBQ (I remember arriving in Oxford and lying about where I was working to a hairdresser so I could hear what they really thought….Ouch!!!) The extremely short version is, it got sorted, and it really did! It wasn’t easy and it didn’t happen over-night. We had a plan and we stuck to it. We knew the training system and tools worked (they still do!) and they needed to be delivered really well and inspire a new team, and of course we had high standards. May I say quickly, high standards can mean seriously good fun with the right people. I don’t look back in any way at those times and think how low things were at first, complaints, daily firefighting and stress. I look back and think how much fun we had doing it and actually how it needed to be like that for ultimate buy in. We wanted, sorry needed, people to come to work and love it! Just thinking as i write this. Instilling and living that today as one of your values, I don't think your business would be doing so bad! 17 years ago...where did that time go!! #people #hospitalityindustry #training #values #talent #retention
A great read Ewan!
Good times indeed, burning the candle at both ends….with a blow torch !
Thanks for blowing the dust off some long neglected memories, Ewan. Oxford was a hell of site that deserved the love it got from the people that made it work. I'll echo Dave Mansbridge's comment though, some periods were definitely character building!
Can’t believe that was 17 years ago!
Love this article- thank you for writing it. And you’re right Mr. Thompson- high standards, ultimate buy in, and a heck of a lot of fun!!
#oneteam Ewan Thompson
Some say the “Oxford years” were character building. There’s not much that we couldn’t deal with back then. Obviously, the magic pen helped….. 😂
Helping hospitality directors optimise EBITDA & propel operational excellence with a continuous improvement approach focused on driving engagement. Diagnostics | £ Tracked Action Plans | Unique Optimisation Framework
11mo😂 brilliant. It certainly did!