Casual Dining 2020 will host over 60 speakers in three Keynote Theatres when it returns to ExCeL London on 25-26 March. With such high calibre speakers taking to the stage, Casual Dining wanted to ask some of them ahead of the show “What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?”
“Don’t always sit in the same chair in your restaurant or pub, or park your car in the same space, as you’ll only ever see your business from one angle and will never get a view of it from the other tables and spaces that your customers use.
Also, a saying that I picked up in my early days in restaurants and still use to this day: To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late and to be late is unacceptable.”
Mark Teed, Food Strategy & Implementation Manager, Star Pubs & Bars
“You are given so much advice throughout your career. It’s not always a single piece of advice that sticks with you, but instead watching and learning from industry leaders over the years and learning from them. There are so many extremely talented individuals in the industry, and I’ve been lucky to work with a number of them.”
Baton Berisha, MD, The Ivy Collection
“Hot Food Hot, Cold Food Cold. We are in the business of delivering great experiences, don’t over complicate things for the sake of it.”
Steve Hill, Operations Director, Bone Daddies
“Give direct, fair and appropriate feedback to everyone that reports into you. Be honest and hard on the problem not the person.”
Steve Phillips, Operations Director, Busaba
“Be kind, be fair, be consistent.”
Laura Morris, Co-founder, Yard & Coop
“Without the right amount of servers, you’ll leave cash on the table. Any idiot can cut wages but controlling and delivering service is key.”
Chris Stagg, Operations Director, The Peach Pub Company
“There’s no such thing as a mistake unless you make it twice, and the second you think you know what you’re doing you’re screwed.”
Mark Wogan, Co-founder & Creative Director, Homeslice
“I’ve been given so much and wish I had listened to a bit more of it. Things I try to keep in mind are:
- The difference between hospitality and service
- We should constantly aim to do less but better
- If it can’t be explained in one short sentence, a prospective guest is never going to get it!”
Simon Allison, Head of Marketing, Inception Group
“Retail is detail (it really is – sweat the detail!).”
Mark Mcfadyen, Group Operations Director, Brewhouse & Kitchen