68. Ex Gordon Ramsay Group CEO reveals his turnaround playbook | Stuart Gillies
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
welcome to all about business with me james reed the podcast that covers everything about business management and leadership every episode i sit down with different guests who bootstrap companies masterminded investment models or built a business empire they're leaders in their field and they're here to give you top insights and actionable advice so that you can apply their ideas to your own career or business venture
What does it really take to scale a founder-led hospitality business? And how do you make tough decisions when your reputation and livelihood are on the line? Today on All About Business, I'm joined by Stuart Gillies, founder behind No.
What was Stuart Gillies' early career journey in hospitality?
8 Sevenoaks and Bank House Chislehurst, independent restaurants rooted in seasonal cooking, thoughtful hospitality, and strong local communities. Stuart is the former CEO of the Gordon Ramsay Group, where he helped lead one of the UK's most recognisable hospitality brands through a major transformation, experience he now draws on in building his own ventures. Stuart offers a rare perspective on what it takes to move from chef to CEO, make high stakes decisions in hospitality and build resilient businesses in one of the toughest industries there is. Well, today on All About Business, I couldn't be more delighted than to welcome Stuart Gillies. Stuart is a chef, restaurateur and former CEO of the Gordon Ramsay Group.
He currently runs, with his wife Cecilia, two famous restaurants, No. 8 in Sevenoaks and The Bank House in Chislehurst. you've got an amazing story that i'm looking forward to sort of excavating stuart and i'm looking forward to hearing all about your journey but i just looked up i looked up number eight and seven oaks on my computer just before you came and it's very highly rated google 4.7 out of five but i noticed on tripadvisor that there are 103 restaurants in seven oaks So how do you stand out? How do you compete? How do you make a business work in such an environment?
How did working at Daniel Restaurant impact Stuart's career?
That's my first question because I think it might begin a conversation in an interesting way. Well, thank you for inviting me today. That's a real pleasure. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. So, yeah, I didn't know there were that many restaurants in Sevenoaks. Neither did I. I was amazed.
What challenges did Stuart face as CEO of the Gordon Ramsay Group?
We don't spend a lot of our time looking out, I'll be honest. We look in. And that's, I suppose, the essence of what we do. Every day we look at what we do as a business and if it's good enough for us then we hope people like it and that and we're really tough on detail micro detail attention to detail team energy atmosphere all the 360 of what going out and hospitality is that that we've learned my wife and i so i wouldn't have known there were 103 restaurants we notice new competition when it comes and we look at it and we and we that take a view but generally we're always judging ourselves i would say um looking internally uh judging the food the drinks the atmosphere the team the way people engage so that when people arrive it's unique and it's got something that is almost living it's got a heartbeat and that that's what we've always done with our businesses
Right. And you've got a 30-year career history in hospitality. You've obviously learned a lot along the way, coming to this point where you now focus so much on detail. Where did you begin and what were your first lessons? Well, I wasn't born into hospitality. The youngest of four kids, Glaswegian parents who weren't foodies at all. We were brought up on, you know, the famous smash from Mash Get Smash. Oh yeah.
How did COVID-19 affect Stuart's new restaurant ventures?
Brilliant advert from the seventies. That and boiled mince was a pretty normal meal at our house and a posh dinner with steak at the weekend that my dad would get and I'd get off cuts.
What is it like to run a family business with a spouse?
So I didn't have a culinary upbringing at all. We'd go up to Glasgow quite regularly, see cousins and things and eat ashit pie and tatty scone and fruit slice that was super excited to me as a young kid from Crawley and Sussex. So it was only really when it was mid 80s and the recession was on and Thatcher was trying to rebuild the country.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:40
2
What was Stuart Gillies' early career journey in hospitality?
0:40–2:03
3
How did working at Daniel Restaurant impact Stuart's career?
2:03–2:18
4
What challenges did Stuart face as CEO of the Gordon Ramsay Group?
2:18–3:41
5
How did COVID-19 affect Stuart's new restaurant ventures?
3:41–3:56
6
What is it like to run a family business with a spouse?
3:56–4:43
7
What advice does Stuart give for successful couple business partnerships?
4:43–4:59
8
How can leaders maintain a growth mindset under pressure?
4:59–1:03:11
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from James Reed: all about business
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