Tom and I catch up after his first weekend of a two week birthday celebration, spent at a farmhouse retreat and spa in Suffolk, and get into the surprisingly calm reception to the new Prime Minister and Cabinet reshuffle. Also in this episode:

• The case for a VAT cut for hospitality, including the Tax Policy Associates' critique of the campaign, how the UK's VAT base compares to Ireland and the rest of Europe, and why business rates reform looks like the more politically palatable option
• What a VAT cut would actually let Tom invest in, from overdue toilet renovations to paying suppliers and improving the guest experience
• Plans for our budget breakdown briefing event with William Stanley & Co and Alison, running the morning after the Budget lands this time round
• Why hospitality remains a vital part of society even as AI and automation reshape other parts of life
• The rise of paddle, and why its tech-led, membership-free model is bringing in a new crowd

This episode is sponsored by Monotree, the employee comms platform for multi-site teams who know email and WhatsApp aren't building culture or productivity. It's fast and intuitive, like your favourite messaging app, from inside your very own branded team app. And the numbers back it up: 4.2 daily opens and over 75% daily activity, with a rating above 4.9 stars. For multi-site employee comms, Monotree is my only recommendation. Check them out https://monotree.com/

In this episode we catch up after Travis's first time punting in Cambridge, at a punt and dine event for Only A Pavement Away, and get into why more hospitality businesses still aren't taking a chance on people the charity puts forward. Also in this episode:

• Tom's walk ins only strategy for the England World Cup match at the Carlton Tavern, and how it compared to a normal Sunday
• Turtle Bay's declining sales and thin margins, and why niche cuisine brands have struggled to break into the UK market the way pizza and burgers have
• The pressure ops teams are under in P&L reviews, and why so much of it comes down to structural issues rather than execution on the ground
• Tom's recent wins on energy and gas procurement through Rye Utilities
• New additions to the Ops Club tools page, including the Percy pricing checker and a business rates relief checker from Paddle - check them out at ops-club.com/tools

This episode is sponsored by Monotree the employee comms platform for multi-site teams who know email and WhatsApp aren't building culture or productivity. It's fast and intuitive, like your favourite messaging app, from inside your very own branded team app. And the numbers back it up: 4.2 daily opens and over 75% daily activity, with a rating above 4.9 stars. For multi-site employee comms, Monotree is my only recommendation, check them out: https://monotree.com/

In this episode we catch up after Tom's trip hiking and river floating in Switzerland. Also in this episode:

• The emergency licensing changes for England's World Cup matches
• Why Tom's pubs have moved to walk ins only for match days
• What the World Cup actually means for pub trade
• The political mood around hospitality and the bank holiday talk
• Whether a VAT cut is the one thing that would actually help

This episode is sponsored by Monotree - the employee comms platform for multi-site teams who know email and WhatsApp aren't building culture or productivity. It's fast and intuitive, like your favourite messaging app, from inside your very own branded team app. And the numbers back it up: 4.2 daily opens and over 75% daily activity, with a rating above 4.9 stars. For multi-site employee comms, Monotree is my only recommendation. Check them out: https://monotree.com/

In this episode we sit down with Kate Moscardini, head of people at Dishoom, who has worked across the full spectrum of hospitality – from large corporates like Caesars, through independents and growing chains like Honest Burgers, to Dishoom today. We talk through that journey: starting out in retail and manufacturing, the guest-obsessed culture of casino hospitality at Caesars, and joining Honest Burgers on the first day of COVID with her laptop dropped off by bike and just seven people working in the business. She talks about what it's taken to build a genuine partnership between people and ops at Dishoom, including the shift to joint decision-making on team moves over the past 18 months, and what it means to keep "deepening, not diluting" as a business grows at pace.

In this episode we catch up after a tough week for Tom of slow sales and a back to basics management meeting.

Also in this episode:

• Why so little has changed for hospitality in the last three years
• Whether a VAT cut is the one thing that would actually help
• Why the public has stopped paying attention to pub closures
• Cheap chicken versus posh chicken
• What the World Cup means for pubs
• Tom building his own apps
• The Gail's salty sandwich story
• Why Manchester is booming

In this episode we sit with John Nugent, CEO and co-founder of Green & Fortune with Peter Millican, and co-founder of Daffodil Mulligan's and Gibney's with Richard Corrigan. We trace John's 37 years in London hospitality, from arriving in 1989 to manage the back of house at a 800-bedroom hotel by Tower Bridge, to becoming CEO of Searcy's in his mid-thirties, to co-founding Green & Fortune over a cup of tea and a chance introduction that turned into a 20-year partnership. John reflects on opening King's Place in King's Cross in 2008, just days before Lehman Brothers collapsed, and taking a long bet on an area few others believed in at the time. He shares why he has resisted private equity in favour of slower, more measured growth, his take on modern Irish hospitality in London beyond the clichés, the new project on the horizon, and the one piece of advice he gives every young manager he mentors.

In this episode we get into Tom's new site, the chaos of opening over Easter, and why the "river of operations" pulls even experienced operators under.

We talk Whitbread, Pizza Express, Franco Manca and why pubs are holding up while mid-market casual dining isn't.

And Travis shares what came out of the recent Ops Club's Q1 margins session.

In this episode, Travis and Tom get into the changing vibe of a well-known London pizza spot, and what it says about the gap between a great concept launch and operational reality.

They talk AI in hospitality - slow booking response times, stretched sales teams, and whether tech is the answer to an ongoing problem in the industry.

And they get into the economics of a pint. Guinness pricing, supply chain squeezes, and a nifty tool called Percy that could save independents serious money.