Advertise on podcast: What's Cooking? | A Podcast from Nory

"You can still open in New York." Matt Rodbard, founding Editor in Chief of TASTE, on what operators get wrong when they try. Conor sets up this episode on the three-times cost of entry in New York — the number that decides who is allowed to try at all. Matt's reply reframes the hour in his first line: "You can still open in New York. So I hope that's like a headline from it." The rest of the conversation holds that tension. The opex is real (over $100 per square foot in Manhattan, $70 wage plus payroll taxes), and NY menus have become more uniform because of it (seared fish, steaks, roast chicken, whole fish). London is quietly where more creativity is happening right now because the opex is lower. Chicago is the overlooked US city (great restaurants in black-box spaces at roughly a tenth of NY rent). Hawksmoor, Gymkhana and Carbone Las Vegas now land in a way they wouldn't have ten years ago. The "hotshots" who get this wrong fail because they don't ingratiate themselves to the community. Restaurant books are either a serious brand builder or "the most expensive business card you'll ever produce." Payroll tax reform (Camilla Marcus's proposal) is the single intervention that would most help NY operators. And restaurants functioning as third spaces is a public-safety issue, not a nice-to-have. Plus a Quick Turn (where to open right now: LA, London, NY in that order; the belief about the industry he's changed in the last five years; the best-run NY restaurants he's eaten in recently; his favourite food city globally), a flag on Eye Level, the new TASTE podcast on grocery and CPG, and a closing flip where Matt turns the mic on Conor's chicken-sandwich reputation. KEY TAKEAWAYS "You can still open in New York." The three-times cost of entry is real, but Matt's headline is that it is still possible — and the operator-facing question is what you do, not whether you try.London is quietly where more creativity is happening right now, because the opex is lower. NY menus have become more uniform (seared fish, steaks, roast chicken) as a direct consequence of what the city costs to operate in.Chicago is the overlooked US food city. Great restaurants in black-box spaces at roughly a tenth of NY rent, James Beard winners, a supportive dining community, and under the radar for most operators."Hotshots" fail when they open in a new city without ingratiating themselves to the community. Great press and great food is not enough.Payroll tax reform is the single intervention that would most help New York restaurants (Camilla Marcus's proposal: rebate two thirds of the payroll tax back to the restaurant to reinvest in PTO and staff benefits). The civic case is that restaurants = third spaces, and third spaces = public safety. USEFUL LINKS & RESOURCES Matt Rodbard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattrodbard/Matt Rodbard on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattrodbard/TASTE: https://tastecooking.comMatt's author page on TASTE: https://tastecooking.com/author/mrodbard/The TASTE Podcast: https://tastecooking.com/category/the-taste-podcast/ CONNECT WITH THE SHOW All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcastsNory: https://www.nory.ai/Nory blog: https://www.nory.ai/blogNory on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asknory/Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/

Missed the full episode with Topher Bertone-Ledford, VP of Operations at Emmy Squared Pizza? Here's the bite-size cut. Keep an eye out for our next episode of What's Cooking, hosted by Conor Sheridan, CEO of Nory, the AI operating system for hospitality. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/how-to-rebuild-a-struggling-restaurant-region-with/id1825066598?i=1000784508559&l=nl Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/18MabMxvjNe0CS2lkLkyV1 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYcdNaALdhg CONNECT Topher Bertone-Ledford on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/topherbertoneledford Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/ Nory: https://www.nory.ai/ All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcasts

There's a split happening across hospitality right now that doesn't get talked about enough. Restaurant groups that opened after Covid built their operations for a world we're actually in: leaner teams, faster decisions, tighter margins, all from day one. Groups that existed before Covid and survived it are often still running on assumptions from a different era. Surviving the pandemic and surviving what came after are two very different problems. Topher Bertone-Ledford, VP of Operations at Emmy Squared Pizza, has spent the last two years living inside exactly that gap. He took over the group's New York region in a challenging state and rebuilt it from the ground up. Today, New York is the group's top-performing region on profitability. In this conversation with Conor, Topher walks through the operational reality of a post-Covid rebuild: why the middle of hospitality has disappeared, why "cleanliness is respect" is the foundation of everything, the labour acquisition speed problem no one has solved yet, the 12 Steps of Service campaign Emmy Squared rolled out in a three-month sprint, and the total-experience math the guest is actually doing at the end of every meal. Plus a frank closing take: the hospitality industry needs to stop pretending it's like any other industry. KEY TAKEAWAYS - The middle of hospitality has disappeared. Fast casual has streamlined; fine dining has doubled down on opulence. The mom-and-pop with linens and a $35 pork chop no longer works. Operators have to run to the edges to be successful. - Cleanliness is the foundation, not a nice-to-have. Topher's Emmy Squared turnaround started with one question walked through every restaurant: "Are we seeing the same restaurant?" Leaders who couldn't moved on. - Labour acquisition is a speed problem, not a salary problem. The talent pool has shifted post-Covid. The operators who move fastest on decisions and communicate vision fastest win the "diamonds in the rough." - Data has to be real-time to be useful. Running the business off a two-week-old P&L means being two weeks behind the bell curve. - Guest experience is total math, not dish math. The guest never knows the numbers. They do a split-second equation at the end: does this total match the experience I just had?

Missed the full episode with Harts Group CEO Sam Hart? Here's the bite-size cut. Keep an eye out for our next episode of What's Cooking, hosted by Conor Sheridan, CEO of Nory, the AI operating system for hospitality. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-harts-group-multi-brand-playbook-what-to/id1825066598?i=1000777855873 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3k5D3ehnKxeVb1krbspP7D?si=664c4a5bc49e4bbf YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmuhq3S1uIw CONNECT Sam Hart on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-hart-23581851/ Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/ Nory: https://www.nory.ai/ All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcasts

Harts Group CEO Sam Hart on running eight distinct hospitality brands, centralising the systems that scale, and protecting the individuality that drives the reputation. Most multi-brand hospitality groups end up looking like a head office running several businesses that happen to share a name on a group balance sheet. Harts Group has done the opposite. Since 2003, the family-run business behind Barrafina, El Pastor, Quo Vadis, Parrillan, Bar Daskal, Drops and El Siete has scaled to 16 sites in London plus a first international opening in Dubai, while keeping each brand genuinely distinct in culinary identity, sourcing and guest experience. In this episode, Sam walks Conor through the operational architecture underneath: what gets centralised (finance, comms, HR, estates, one shared tech stack), what stays bespoke (menus, sequence of service, chef and MD leadership per side of the group), and the deliberate cultural decisions that let a group with 470 staff protect quality while absorbing a 38% minimum wage increase since 2022. Plus the two-year tech review Harts just completed, the AI task force building custom tools for restaurant ops (including an internal reservation bot), the Yum Pingo dish-level customer data that drives menu decisions, and the international expansion into Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Bangkok. A rare conversation with an operator who has held the line on individuality while genuinely scaling. KEY TAKEAWAYS The group owns the systems, the brand owns the identity. Centralise finance, HR, estates, comms and the tech stack; protect menus, sequence of service and culinary leadership per brandLived experience is the guardrail on new brands. Harts opens restaurants where founders or partners have genuinely lived the cuisine. It's the discipline that keeps the portfolio credibleThe tech stack should be best-in-class and open. Standardised across the group, single source of truth, but modular enough to swap components as the market movesData at dish level changes menu decisions. Popularity alone lies. Rating-per-dish across thousands of reviews (Yum Pingo) is how Harts improved customer satisfaction while cutting labour 18%Being privately owned is a structural advantage. No forced timelines, board consensus over votes, and the freedom to pause when the world changes. That patience compounds into brand quality USEFUL LINKS & RESOURCES Sam Hart on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-hart-23581851/Harts Group: https://www.hartsgroup.co.uk/Barrafina: https://www.barrafina.com/El Pastor: https://www.tacoselpastor.co.uk/Quo Vadis: https://www.quovadissoho.co.uk/Parrillan: https://www.parrillan.co.uk/Bar Daskal: https://www.bardaskal.co.uk/El Siete: https://www.elsiete.co.uk/Drops: https://www.thedropbar.co.uk/ CONNECT WITH THE SHOW All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcastsNory: https://www.nory.ai/Nory blog: https://www.nory.ai/blogNory on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asknory/Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/

Missed the full episode with Gabriel Shohet, co-founder and co-CEO of Black Sheep Coffee? Here's the bite-size cut. Keep an eye out for our next episode, featuring Sam Hart, CEO, Harts Group Hosted by Conor Sheridan, CEO of Nory, the AI operating system for hospitality. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conviction-over-consensus-with-the-co-ceo-of/id1825066598?i=1000775914193 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Rh8V1D5ehW6adnTPW0Cje?si=V004WR3hRkGBussUbRj7Ng YouTube: https://youtu.be/nIQeeaaa3Kg?si=71RcnyqwP6eqfbVQ CONNECT Gabriel Shohet on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gasho/ Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/ Nory: https://www.nory.ai/ All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcasts

Black Sheep Coffee co-CEO Gabriel Shohet on building a 135-site brand by betting on the bean the specialty industry rejected. In 2013, two university flatmates from St Andrews quit their corporate jobs the same day, moved to London with around £20k between them, and built a coffee company on the bean the entire specialty industry had written off. 13 years later, Black Sheep Coffee runs 135+ locations across five markets, opens roughly 1.5 shops per week, and remains majority founder-owned. In this episode, Gabriel walks Conor through the conviction behind the Robusta bet, why customer satisfaction is the only growth metric they look at, the decision to operate 50 corporate shops before franchising, how they pick franchise partners (minimum unit thresholds, territory exclusivity, no mom-and-pops), why both founders relocated to Florida to lead the US expansion, the Sun Belt entry strategy, and the company slogan that explains the whole approach: never fear competition, open right next door instead. Plus a frank take on the David and Goliath fallacy, the role of data in a hypergrowth business, and why "great ideas" aren't what builds a brand. KEY TAKEAWAYS Conviction over consensus. When the industry tells you you're wrong, stress-test the belief harder rather than abandon it fasterCustomer satisfaction is the only growth metric. When it stays high, open more shops. When it drops, stopBuild the proof before you franchise. 50 corporate shops before the first franchisee landedFilter out the mom-and-pops. Territory minimums and development schedules align partners with growthNever fear competition. Open right next door instead. If your strategy is to avoid competition, you'll fall on your face eventually CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: building on a conviction the industry thinks is wrong 2:50 Welcome, Gabriel 3:12 St Andrews flatmates, Sunday Skype calls, quitting jobs the same day 5:33 Why coffee: low capex, vertical control, revenue from day one 7:36 The Robusta thesis: going against the 100% Arabica industry 10:39 The unique insight: how Robusta got its bad reputation, and how to fix it 14:11 From street markets to Fitzrovia: the Kickstarter that almost wasn't 16:09 Ambition from day one: building to be number one, not number four 17:12 Hypergrowth: 1.5 shops per week, customer satisfaction as the only metric 21:58 Why data is key: clean, real-time, the 80% of the work 23:11 The franchising decision: 50 corporate shops before the first franchisee 25:28 Looking franchisees in the eye: the network average and the proven model 28:25 Why no mom-and-pops: minimum unit thresholds, territory, exclusivity 30:58 Majority ownership: turning down PE, raising from customers and family offices 32:57 The US move: why both founders relocated to Florida 35:01 The Sun Belt decision: Texas, Florida, broad-market proof 37:11 Localisation and competition: thinking ahead, not reacting 38:43 The first 36 months in the US: starting from scratch all over again 40:11 Building culture in an empty office 42:25 Challenger vs incumbent: when does a brand become a chain? 45:04 The Quick Turn: rapid-fire questions 45:10 What competitors would steal (and why it doesn't matter) 48:08 The metric that can't be summarised 49:15 "Never fear competition, open right next door" 51:03 The slingshot fallacy: hard work beats clever shortcuts 56:55 10 years out: no business plan, just stay true to the mission 59:00 Shift Notes: Conor's closing reflections USEFUL LINKS & RESOURCES Gabriel Shohet on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gasho/ Eirik Holth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eholth/ Black Sheep Coffee: https://blacksheepcoffee.co.uk/ CONNECT WITH THE SHOW All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcasts Nory: https://www.nory.ai/ Nory blog: https://www.nory.ai/blog Nory on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asknory/ Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/

Missed the full episode with Ed Loftus, Global Director of Jamie Oliver Restaurants? Here's the bite-size cut. Keep an eye out for our next episode, featuring Gabriel Shohet, Co-Founder, Black Sheep Coffee. Hosted by Conor Sheridan, CEO of Nory, the AI operating system for hospitality. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-second-act-with-the-global-director-of-jamie-oliver-group/id1825066598?i=1000773076049  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/32R0AG6m2m3g5WvQmCDGHB?si=ae9cb9f4e2414b24  YouTube: https://youtu.be/BEYMHzyMeUg?si=6Ly-f2AdAuyKPFy3  CONNECT Ed Loftus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edloftus/  Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/ Nory: https://www.nory.ai/ All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcasts

Ed Loftus on bringing Jamie's Italian back to the UK, scaling Jamie Oliver Group to 80+ sites in 24 countries, and the discipline behind a real second act. Very few people in UK hospitality ever get to attempt a real second act. Jamie Oliver Group has just done it: Jamie's Italian back in Leicester Square in March 2026, seven years after the 2019 administration that closed the UK estate. The man who's been at the company through all of it (nearly 15 years, employee number one of the post-2019 strategy) is Ed Loftus, Global Director of Jamie Oliver Restaurants. In this episode he walks Conor through what it actually took to get here: building globally first (80+ sites, 24 countries, 7 brand formats), the franchise-first pivot, the partnership architecture behind the UK return (Brava Hospitality Group with Cain International), and a 30% smaller menu doubling down on fresh pasta made on premises every day. Plus 16 global partners, a head office that's banned PDFs, why "my Jamie is not your Jamie" matters when scaling a celebrity-chef brand, the John Lewis Cookery School partnership, and Ed's frank case that "people" is the operational metric most operators ignore. KEY TAKEAWAYS A good brand doesn't necessarily make a good business. The 2019 UK administration wasn't a demand problem, it was a flexibility-and-capital problemBuild globally first, then come back home. Jamie Oliver Group spent six years proving the model in 24 countries before relaunching in the UKFranchising is a marriage. Partner selection is the single most important decision; the right partners weather macro shocks togetherSimplicity scales. Complexity does not. The technology backbone (digital intranet, no PDFs, LMS, sentiment) starts from that principleDon't recreate the past. When a brand returns to market after a setback, the question isn't what to bring back, it's how the strongest attributes should show up in today's market CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: what a genuine second act looks like in hospitality 2:43 Welcome, Ed 3:12 From chef to global director: 15 years across kitchens, multi-site, commercial 6:42 The scale today: 80+ sites, 24 countries, 7 brand formats 7:32 Reading the 2019 administration: not demand, but flexibility and capital 10:35 Why he stayed: Jamie himself, the brand, and a challenge worth taking 11:16 Post-2019 strategy: franchise-first, employee number one, building a team 14:54 Localising a celebrity-chef brand without losing the DNA 18:05 The technology backbone: digital SOPs, LMS, sentiment, no PDFs 20:33 Franchising as a marriage: partner selection is everything 22:18 The UK return: how the Brava Hospitality Group partnership came together 25:18 What's different at the new Jamie's Italian: design, menu, fresh pasta 29:23 Multi-zoned spaces and the modern casual-dining environment 31:16 Building experiences outside the venue: John Lewis Cookery School 34:00 Working with Jamie: a creative force who lived the kitchens 37:20 What a week in the global director's life looks like 39:24 The 200-site ambition and what has to go right 40:43 The Quick Turn: rapid-fire questions 45:29 Shift Notes: Conor's closing reflections USEFUL LINKS & RESOURCES Ed Loftus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edloftus/Jamie Oliver Group: https://www.jamieolivergroup.com/Jamie's Italian: https://jamiesitalian.co.uk/Brava Hospitality Group: https://www.bravahospitalitygroup.com/Cain International: https://cainint.com/John Lewis Cookery School with Jamie: https://www.johnlewis.com/our-services/jamie-oliver-cooking-school CONNECT WITH THE SHOW All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcastsNory: https://www.nory.ai/Nory blog: https://www.nory.ai/blogNory on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asknory/Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/

Missed the full episode with Oliver Rodbard, COO of Creams Cafe? Here's the bite-size cut. Keep an eye out for our next episode, featuring Ed Loftus, Group Director, Jamie Oliver Restaurants. Hosted by Conor Sheridan, CEO of Nory, the AI operating system for hospitality. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rebuilding-the-franchise-with-the-coo-of-creams-cafe/id1825066598?i=1000770899848 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Hw7MUETsBzoWbBV9bu3gc?si=zGAuftnkSQiJqcv598mTiw  YouTube: https://youtu.be/3eigJuiT-4g?si=44ni1HAZbdmEyf3m CONNECT Oliver Rodbard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliverrodbard/ Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/ Nory: https://www.nory.ai/ All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcasts

Creams Cafe COO Oliver Rodbard on scaling a franchise system, vertical integration as franchisee protection, and what it takes to make every visit count in a discretionary category. Oliver Rodbard, COO of Creams Cafe, sits down with Conor to walk through the operational reality of running a 98%-franchised, ~100-site business through UK family restaurant visits halving, aggregator commissions of 20 to 30%, and a tech transformation built to give margin back to franchisees, not extract it from them. 17 years across YUM! Brands, Pizza Hut Europe and Canada, Freshii, and Soul Foods Group give him a perspective rooted in both sides of the franchise table. He explains why vertical integration (Creams' own gelato and dry-mix plants) has held Creams inflation to ~19% while UK food service has run ~59.5%, why "trust governs the relationship, not the contract", and why every change Creams makes is consumer-tested then operationally tested before it lands. Plus a frank view on aggregators, the new Creams Direct delivery platform that's already done close to £1m in 10 weeks, and the philosophy that anchors all of it: when the category is discretionary and visits are down, every experience has to be worth it. KEY TAKEAWAYS Trust, not the contract, governs the franchise relationship. The cleanest way to lose a franchisee is to forget thatVertical integration done right is a margin gift to franchisees, not an extraction tool. Creams held inflation to ~19% while UK food service ran ~59.5%The guest experience will never be better than the team-member experience. Build the back of house and the front followsCapability beats control. Every franchise system thinks tighter rules = better outcomes; the durable answer is better-trained operators with more flexibility CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: the franchising model and rebuilding trust 2:13 Welcome, Oliver 2:30 17 years across YUM!, Freshii, Soul Foods to Creams 5:21 The service model transformation: theatre over function 7:00 "Maniacal" testing: consumer panels, then operational reality 8:30 Brand purpose: "bringing people together" as operational framework 10:47 Nobody needs a dessert: the experience-led shift 12:30 How younger customers and hyperlocal community have changed engagement 14:30 Franchise mix: 60 franchisees across nearly 100 cafes 16:08 Onboarding: capability, cultural fit, and the "divorce is painful" filter 17:50 Multi-site progression: nobody's born with the skill set 21:23 When franchisees go quiet: re-reading "no news is good news" 23:40 Vertical integration: gelato in East London, mix in Northamptonshire 24:50 The numbers: 19% Creams inflation vs ~59.5% UK food service 29:22 Creams 2.0: tech, growth, kiosks for travel hubs 31:55 Site selection at scale 33:55 The tech stack: new EPOS, new app, Creams Direct 37:21 The Quick Turn: rapid-fire questions 42:25 Shift Notes: Conor's closing reflections USEFUL LINKS & RESOURCES Oliver Rodbard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliverrodbard/Creams Cafe: https://www.creamscafe.com/ Creams Direct: https://www.creamscafe.com/order-online/ CONNECT WITH THE SHOW All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcastsNory: https://www.nory.ai/Nory blog: https://www.nory.ai/blogNory on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asknory/Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/

Missed the full episode with Louisa Richards, Restaurant Director, Hawksmoor? Here's the bite-size cut. Keep an eye out for our next episode, featuring Oliver Rodbard, Chief Operating Officer, Creams Cafe Hosted by Conor Sheridan, CEO of Nory, the AI operating system for hospitality. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eight-weeks-to-open-louisa-richards-restaurant-director/id1825066598?i=1000768692257  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ay1zWTEixfw8z8UY43Dgk?si=1nYKu94xTP-WjM5x-zSvJQ  YouTube: https://youtu.be/e6AlaT0MeKQ?si=TYHgtFjnifMqae9z CONNECT Louisa Richards on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-richards-1b498942/ Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/ Nory: https://www.nory.ai/ All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcasts

Hawksmoor restaurant director Louisa Richards on opening St Pancras in eight weeks at peak Christmas trading, and what it took to do it without breaking the culture that 13 years has built. Louisa Richards has been at Hawksmoor for nearly 13 years, opening Manchester, opening Edinburgh, running Air Street through Covid, and now overseeing the eight-site London estate as Restaurant Director. In this episode she walks Conor through the eight-week opening of Hawksmoor St Pancras: contracts signed in September, doors open in December, peak Christmas trading, training compressed to seven days, internal-only GM and head chef, tronc-matched pay to make internal moves fair, and the Martini bar that took everyone by surprise (more sold in one night than across the other seven London restaurants combined). Plus the echo-chamber risk of a 20-year senior team that's worked together since day one, why "calm leadership beats chaotic charisma" is her hiring filter, and why she's pushing Hawksmoor away from people-over-process before scale forces the issue. KEY TAKEAWAYS A compressed opening only works on the back of long-tenure leadership; the St Pancras GM and head chef were both internal hiresMake internal moves fair: tronc-matched pay during peak trading periods turns "yes" into a real choicePeople over process becomes a liability at scale; Hawksmoor's next phase is systemising what's currently in 12 GMs' headsThe metric most operators ignore is repeat custom. CSI is the headline; segmenting by "new vs lifer" is what changes operating behaviourCalm leadership beats chaotic charisma. Heroics don't scale; consistency does CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: speed vs standards in multi-site openings 1:49 Welcome, Louisa 2:10 13 years at Hawksmoor: Spitalfields, Manchester, Edinburgh, Air Street, London director 4:33 Opening St Pancras in eight weeks at peak Christmas trading 8:49 Pulling senior leadership out of the highest-volume sites 9:50 Tronc-matched pay so internal moves don't punish people 10:54 What "all hands on deck" actually looks like in support functions 12:34 Hiring on personality when training is compressed to seven days 17:16 Controlling covers per quarter-hour: protecting CSI in the soft launch 19:11 Holding culture across geographies, the long-tenure advantage 20:43 The echo-chamber risk and why people-over-process is dangerous at scale 24:44 KPIs: CSI as North Star, repeat custom as the underlooked metric 26:06 Heat-mapping covers per hour to find the soft hours in mature sites 29:09 People systems: traffic-light reviews, four impact tiers, clarity at scale 33:48 The "messy middle" of an opening, and how to lead through it 34:11 What surprised them: the Martini bar that broke the fridges 38:03 Non-negotiables: a head chef + GM you trust, slow + steady covers 38:29 What scaling Hawksmoor needs next: framework, tech, systems 40:36 The Quick Turn: rapid-fire questions 44:42 Shift Notes: Conor's closing reflections USEFUL LINKS & RESOURCES Louisa Richards on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-richards-1b498942/Hawksmoor: https://thehawksmoor.com/ CONNECT WITH THE SHOW All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcastsNory: https://www.nory.ai/Nory blog: https://www.nory.ai/blogNory on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asknory/Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/

Missed the full episode with Alasdair Murdoch, CEO of Burger King UK? Here's the bite-size cut. Keep an eye out for our next episode, featuring Louisa Richards, London Restaurant Director, Hawksmoor. Hosted by Conor Sheridan, CEO of Nory, the AI operating system for hospitality. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/discipline-at-scale-alasdair-murdoch-ceo-of-burger-king-uk/id1825066598?i=1000766387278  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6LTWT7hAQyMko3sGhaHSaU?si=YaChoOUDQYCA2AEg1BfO6A  YouTube: https://youtu.be/qwZLNjJRGCA CONNECT Alasdair Murdoch on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alasdair-murdoch-4105a611/ Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/ Nory: https://www.nory.ai/ All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcasts

Burger King UK CEO Alasdair Murdoch on running 600 sites, washing the estate, and the discipline that holds labour flat through a 50% rise in the living wage. After 30 years across KFC, Pizza Hut International, Pizza Express International, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and now eight years at Burger King UK, Alasdair Murdoch sits down with Conor to walk through the operational mechanics of running a 600-site QSR network through delivery's structural shock, beef inflation and tightening regulation. He explains the £1m-per-site capex discipline behind ~30 openings a year, why "washing the estate" is essential portfolio hygiene, why cash margin matters more than margin % on delivery, how labour cost has only crept up under 1% through a 50% rise in the living wage, and what the Gordon Ramsay Wagyu Whopper says about innovation as a brand lever. Plus a frank view on UK VAT, the operating rhythm that holds it all together, and the lessons in handling pressure he carries from time spent in the army. KEY TAKEAWAYS Delivery isn't a threat for QSR. It's an accelerant; cash margin matters more than margin %"Washing the estate" is portfolio hygiene; opening 30 a year only works if you're brave enough to closeLabour productivity is the moat. Burger King UK's labour % has barely moved through a 50% rise in the living wageTwo suppliers per key line: tension and food security beat the false economy of oneInnovation is a lever, not the engine. The Wagyu Whopper brings new people in who still order the Whopper CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: the structural impact of delivery 2:43 Welcome, Alasdair 3:04 30 years across QSR (KFC, Pizza Hut, GBK, Burger King) 4:04 Bridgepoint and the master franchise buyback 6:25 Franchising with corporate travel partners (SSP, Moto, Welcome Break) 9:15 Forecourts and the EG / Motor Fuel Group playbook 10:51 Site selection, Precisely and £1m per drive-thru 16:15 Washing the estate: closing what doesn't work 21:07 Delivery: cash margin and the three-aggregator strategy 26:14 Why QSR is having a moment vs casual dining 30:08 Beef +50% and pricing discipline 32:41 Labour productivity through minimum wage hikes 35:17 Two suppliers per key line: Kepak, Dovecote Park, food security 36:29 Innovation, big taste and the Gordon Ramsay Wagyu Whopper 42:43 VAT and the case for hospitality 44:44 Leadership: Mondays, asking the right question, ex-army calm 50:43 The Quick Turn: rapid-fire questions 55:04 Shift Notes: Conor's closing reflections USEFUL LINKS & RESOURCES Alasdair Murdoch on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alasdair-murdoch-4105a611/ Burger King UK: https://www.burgerking.co.uk/Bridgepoint: https://www.bridgepoint.eu/SSP Group: https://www.foodtravelexperts.com/Moto: https://www.moto-way.com/Welcome Break: https://www.welcomebreak.co.uk/Motor Fuel Group: https://motorfuelgroup.com/Kepak: https://www.kepak.com/Dovecote Park: https://www.dovecotepark.com/Gordon Ramsay × Burger King Wagyu Whopper: https://www.burgerking.co.uk/wagyu Tax Out campaign on hospitality VAT: https://www.ukhospitality.org.uk/campaigns/taxedout-budget-2025/  CONNECT WITH THE SHOW All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcastsNory: https://www.nory.ai/Nory blog: https://www.nory.ai/blogNory on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asknory/Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/