Founder & Managing Director of Brigade & Boardroom. Twenty-plus years running, fixing and launching F&B businesses across the UK and overseas. Now working with the operators who need it.
I've spent my career in hospitality operations, not hospitality consultancy. I built and ran multi-site F&B businesses with 650+ employees and £57.5M in targeted net sales. I sat on boards, owned P&Ls, negotiated with PE investors, launched franchises, fixed kitchens, cut costs, engineered menus and hired chefs. Brigade & Boardroom is what I do with that experience when operators need it, without the overhead of a full-time executive.
I'm not a consultant who studied hospitality. I'm an operator who became one.
F&B consultancy serving restaurant groups, hotel operators, investors and franchisors. Five pillars: diagnostics, fractional leadership, turnaround, franchise and market entry, and concept mobilisation.
Leading the UK launch of a PE-backed US QSR master franchise. Built supply chain, operating framework, site P&Ls, unit economics and cross-functional delivery model. Board member and PE partner.
Procurement, supply chain and operational excellence for a multi-brand hospitality group with 650+ employees and £57.5M targeted net sales. Board member. Drove menu optimisation, food cost control and kitchen design through inflationary headwinds.
Procurement, logistics, menu development and supply chain for the UK division of a premium Danish bakery chain. Grew sales 8% and improved food margins 5% through supplier negotiations and central production.
Founding board member. Procurement strategy, operational model design and financial efficiencies across multiple brands. Launched events and banqueting operations generating £5M annually. Standardised kitchen layouts, BOH processes and training.
Procurement, menu development and supply chain for a 42-site restaurant group. Streamlined purchasing, reduced food costs, maintained brand integrity. Led the culinary team for the inaugural Royal Caribbean collaboration aboard Quantum of the Seas (2014).
Founded and led a multi-revenue hospitality business in Bath — counter-serve deli, artisan café and corporate events catering. Full P&L from inception to exit. Nominated for UKTV Local Food Hero Award (2007).
Built foundations in professional cookery across leading kitchens in four countries.
I've been the person who has to make the numbers work. Not the person who writes the report about the numbers. That's the difference. I understand the pressure of a P&L, the reality of a kitchen at 7pm on a Friday, the cost of a bad hire, and what a 2% margin improvement actually feels like on the bottom line. I've been the board member, the PE partner, the operator and the chef. I know what each of those roles needs and what they don't.
Hotel & Catering Management, Brighton College of Technology
Certified. Full HACCP and food safety systems.
Member
French (conversational)
Pretty concepts that don't pay back. Reports that sit on a shelf. Theory without implementation. If you need a deck, there are plenty of people who'll write you one. If you need the kitchen fixed, the margin recovered, the franchise launched or the site opened, that's what I do.