#120 Richard Ball - Executive Chairman Calcot Collection
Release Date: 01/11/2021
#136 Thomas Gent - Gentle Farming
Humans of Hospitality
Thomas is a 4th generational farmer in Cambridgeshire.
info_outline
#135 Adam Phelps - Cellar Society
Humans of Hospitality
Adam has been working at the top end of prestigious events for 22 years. Chatting through some of the choreography and planning required to deliver for clients who expect perfection, and are happy to pay for it was inspiring. 100 meals delivered to the table in perfect synchronisation by 50 model looking FOH members, immaculately presented is just one that creates a vivid picture in my mind.
info_outline
#134 Nathan Outlaw - Chef
Humans of Hospitality
Many of your will know today’s guest Nathan Outlaw from his various TV appearances, Michelin stars, all round love of hospitality and the author of 5 well regarded books. Chatting to Nathan you can see why he’s such a popular hospitality human. Relaxed, positive, knowledgeable, with no pretentiousness and happy to chat about the challenges, lows and highs of his hospitality adventure.
info_outline
#133 Stefan Leser - CEO Langham Hotels & Resorts
Humans of Hospitality
I spoke to Stefan to get an insight and understand how different markets across the globe are performing and wether that performance is in part due to governments taking a different approach on how to manage Covid. We recorded this show a few weeks ago, but at the time Stefan’s hotels across China, Australia and New Zealand were trading pretty well, whilst London obviously was closed. Where his hotels were doing ok, they were aimed at the domestic market only.
info_outline
#132 Dan Austin - MD Lake District Farmers
Humans of Hospitality
A tale of perseverance, of business acumen, of learning and making things up as you go, of responding to business catastrophe and adapting fast to keep the business running. Dan and his team's perseverance and commitment comes across in so many of the stories he tells. Wether that’s being found half clothed having slept in the delivery van before meeting an important potential customer, or relocating the entire business over a weekend following a fire.
info_outline
#131 Victoria Searl - DataHawks
Humans of Hospitality
I’m fairly techie and I’ve found it frustrating over the years seeing the potential of data in the hospitality sector. Cleary unlike for example selling double glazing, we operate in a social space where people often want to hear from us. Where guests are happy to take photos and share them to social media, where they are happy to check in and arrange to meet friends. And whereby perhaps sharing data on birthdays, or dietary preferences or working patterns are all things the customer is happy to s
info_outline
#130 Phil Haughton - Better Food Stores & Cafes
Humans of Hospitality
Phil Haughton has had a great food adventure over many decades. He has just written a book ‘Food for Thought’ that brings together this journey, combined with recipes and producers he’s met along the way. Phil’s current business is the Better Food stores and cafes dotted around Bristol. That combination of combining the hospitality of a cafe drawing people into the building and then hopefully inspiring them to leave with some exceptionally ethical and delicious food and drink.
info_outline
#129 Hamish Martin - The Secret Garden - Edinburgh
Humans of Hospitality
Hamish is a brave soul who at the age of 41, with his own business and a career working around the wine and whisky trade decided that his number one love in the world was plants. Not only was he brave enough to sell the business, he was crazy enough to have no idea where his next adventure would take him. He pretty much let the plants decide.
info_outline
#128 Darren Venables - Estate Manager - Chewton Glen
Humans of Hospitality
Darren has been working at the Chewton Glen for over 30 years so really has seen a huge amount of change, and as far as the grounds are concerned has curated much of that himself. Developing an orchard of 250 of the rarest trees in the country perhaps, breeding your own Queen bees, or surveying wildlife on an annual basis, or attracting a wider species of birds into a habit for the first time in decades, to growing food for a cookery school, to planting xmas trees and so so much more.
info_outline
#127 Sarah Heward - Real Food Cafe - Scotland
Humans of Hospitality
Sarah has been pretty vocal throughout the pandemic in representing the Scottish Hospitality Sector. We chat about being the MD of a decent sized company in the city of London, to buying an ex Little Chef by the side of an obscure road in rural Scotland. Along the way driving revenue to over £1.7 million per year from a pretty small footprint. Sarah has embraced technology to revolutionise how this road side cafe operates. Motivated by the pandemic, but along the way learning some really interesting thi
info_outlineRichard is a great example of a 'Human of Hospitality' having worked in the sector almost all of his working life. Richard started the business with his Dad and his family, and recognises all that his family risked, even selling grandmas house to purchase a run down manor, covered in vines and a somewhat dilapidated air. They started small with only 7 bedrooms, but had a vision and a yearning to create something special and to look after people. That journey was tough in those earlier years and he very nearly lost it all before the adventure had really even properly started. But the stars aligned and through working hard and never losing site of the vision, and in many ways fulfilling his destiny through partnership, investment, continual improvement and not being in a hurry to expand, Richard and his team have created something beautiful.
Regular listeners will know that I have a love of the independent side of the sector. What Richard has created would not be of interest to the global brands of the world. It’s too small and eclectic and complicated and challenging to run. A number of properties, arguably with not enough rooms to make operations easier in the traditional sense of operating hotels and restaurants. But the properties look stunning and it takes people like Richard to create and operate such miniature beauties. I hope his story, along with the those of the likes of Robin Hutson and Gerrard Basset sleeping on the sofa in the bar because they could not afford to employ people overnight, will inspire others to know that you don’t have to start a business with unlimited resources to invest.
We touch on re-wilding land, the early benefits of naivety, 18% mortgage rates, the dangers of michelin stars, running venues as satellites, wider challenges and opportunities for the sector in 2021 and our mutual hope that people will strive for a more simple, perhaps less luxurious life, where time with other humans is the greatest priority over and above material items.
See more on the Calcot website, or on instagram or twitter and find the Sally Beck podcast we mention here.