Tony Griffin

My initial role as Operations manager had the primary function to help plan and develop the closure and relaunch of Barasti, a Dubai Stalwart. Due to the protracted timeline for Barasti I was quickly assigned to the Lock Stock and Barrel concept as Brand Operations manager.

• Spearheading operational leadership of the Lock, Stock & Barrel brand across 4 venues (~AED 95M annual turnover).
• Revitalized entertainment programming and improved product offerings, including custom tequila and new draught beer.
• Maintaining F&B costs to 20% through process optimization.
• Led personnel restructure at Business Bay and Abu Dhabi venues.

Approached by Tonic recruitment agency to take the roll as GM at F1 Arcade Birmingham.

• Localize the business and break the copy and paste model brought from London.
• Introduce a localized pricing structure alongside a complete new wine list.
• Reworked the food menu to ensure a perceived better value for money whilst retaining the targeted food margin.
• Introduced seasonal special drinks.
• Restructure of the business and head count, allowing roles and responsibilities to be clearly defined and reducing labour in the process by a clear 7%.
• Increased NPS from 70% to 85%.
• I found myself leaving the business prematurely to pursue the original plan of working with Solutions Leisure in the UAE.

Following a small sabbatical whilst waiting for an opportunity in the UAE I opted to keep my brain active and help a friend within Tattu. Tattu is a fantastically ran premium Asian restaurant where I found myself enjoying shift management, learning new skills and spending time with a great set of people with little to no responsibility. This short stint enabled me to be fully guest focused and enjoy every moment, remembering exactly why I joined the industry all those years ago.

Mission Mars is one of the leading hospitality companies in the UK, the proud owners of Rudy's Pizza, Alberts Schloss, Albert Hall and Alberts Schenke. Alongside an extremely talented Exec team I helped Navigate the company through the successful exit of Covid and not only took Alberts Schloss Manchester to pre-covid success but opened two new Alberts Schloss in Birmingham and Liverpool. An average weekly sales of £200k Net per site requires a robust approach to product, delivery and team engagement which led me to the following key achievements:

• Part of a team that successfully implemented a raft of core initiatives to lift our team engagement and reduce team turn over from 100% to 75% in 18 month.
• Introduced journey planning or group goal setting sessions every 6 months resulting in higher team engagement and ownership with clear and agreed goals set by Management.
• Opened two Alberts Schloss in two years, the very successful Birmingham and Liverpool sites, both of which are exceeding company expectations and has ultimately given the company the momentum to open their 4th site on Shaftesbury Avenue in London.
• Helped take sales from £26mil to £46mil per annum.
• Navigated the Manchester flagship store out of Covid through the difficult early stages back to pre-covid levels and maintained its £15mil turn over and company EBITDA.
• Increased group NPS from 65% to 80%. The lead initiative in this was the implementation of our guest experience manager - no extra head count just a simple reconfiguration of responsibility.
• Mission Mars is one of the leading hospitality companies in the UK, the proud owners of Rudy's Pizza, Alberts Schloss, Albert Hall and Alberts Schenke.

T&T is a painting and decorating business operating in the domestic property market. Running my own business has allowed me to appreciate every penny and be proud to be providing for my family in a difficult time. Developed my sense of owner operator by navigating the world of self-employment. T&T is a painting and decorating business operating in the domestic property market.

Gusto is a premium, Italian restaurant and bar company which has been majority owned by Palatine Private Equity since April 2014. I was responsible for 700 team members and had 3 Operations Managers reporting into me along with the Learning & Development team and Property & H&S Managers. As part of the Gusto leadership team I worked closely with the Managing Director, Finance Director, Marketing Director, Head of People and Executive Chef.

The role required me to spend a significant amount of my time in the restaurants engaging with the teams and ensuring the company values and standards were being followed.

During my time there I helped take Gusto from 9 sites to 18, rolled out the NPS review process and saw improvements of ticket times, end to end guest journey, consistency of product and cleanliness, reduced team turnover from 120% to 90%, led a labour efficiency project in 2019 which resulted in very significant savings through focusing on hours rather than £s converted to approx. 2% reduction in the wage %, created a SPH initiative in 2018 and a new set of KPIs to target and measure performance and introduced new systems such as, surefoot, Trail, QSR, Selima and Hand held tills.

Gusto is a premium, Italian restaurant and bar company which has been majority owned by Palatine Private Equity since April 2014.

Board level responsibility for all areas of operations for Gusto, The Alchemist, Olive, Artisan and Oast House brands where I maintained and helped grow company EBITDA in all concepts.

A key part of the role was to ensure each brand remained on brand and operationally successful through maintaining and motivating the operations team of senior ops manager, head of training, two company trainers and company head chef.

I also worked closely with accounts managers to ensure maximum profitability was met in all areas, helped produce and develop all menus throughout the year both food and Liquor whilst reporting directly to the Managing Director.

Responsible for Gusto, The Alchemist and Est Est Est brands.

During this time I was proudly part of the founding team that brought the Alchemist to the high street whist converting all Est Est Est venues into another new high street brand, Gusto, reporting directly to the Operations Director.

I was in control of all aspects of operations covering health and safety, compliance, Company EBITDA, labour and team engagement.