The Secrets to Hospitality, Restaurant Success and The Future of Dining - Live Podcast @ The Barbican!
Get ready for a live podcast recorded at the Opentable Hospitality Summit at a sold-out Barbican, where we're joined by a heavyweight trio from the heart of UK dining. Please welcome Hawksmoor co-founder and CEO Will Beckett, Dom Hamdy of Ham restaurants, and Florence May Maglanoc, founder and chief executive of Donya and Panadera. Our panel lifts the lid on what really matters right now. Will reveals the story behind Hawksmoor St Pancras and what London can learn from the high-voltage hospitality of New York and Chicago. Dom breaks down the shift toward high-value, high-theatre experiences that make dinner feel like a show without the ticket price shock. Florence speaks to the joy and grind of running both restaurants and bakeries, the rise of 45 past the hour bookings, and how to keep service swift without losing soul. Together they tackle the big questions. Earlier dining, smaller plates, smarter bar food, and the art of making guests feel not just comfortable but special.Then we go under the hood. Operations, margins, and the tech that actually helps. From AI-powered fixes on a broken ice machine to the real game of showing up where diners now search, our guests map the road ahead. Expect sharp takes on perceived value, pre and post theatre flows, relentless incremental improvement, and how to keep regulars coming back with names remembered and off-menu surprises. If you want the blueprint for hospitality that wins in 2025, this live episode is your seat at the table.----- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Chris Galvin - Why Sir Terence Conran Hated Me Winning Him A Michelin Star - Launching The Wolseley With Jeremy King & The Tragedy of Michael Quinn!
Today we're delighted to be joined by Michelin starred chef and restaurateur the wonderful Chris Galvin, who has been one of the important chefs in London over the last 40 years, from winning Sir Terence Conran his only ever Michelin star to launching one of the most famous restaurants in history in 'The Wolsely' with Jeremy King and Chris Corbin.Stories tumble out. Michel Roux Sr. once told a 19-year-old Chris never to take a restaurant with fewer than 70 seats. Anthony Worrall Thompson was already running a small-plates playground that felt like the future. At The Ritz, Michael Quinn flipped menus into English and put British cheese on a pedestal. Later, Chris joined Jeremy King and Chris Corbin to sketch The Wolseley after a whistle-stop tour of Europe’s great cafés, locking in icons like the schnitzel and even commissioning hand-wrapped chocolate coins with pastry star Claire Clark. Sir Terence Conran’s notes sharpened Chris’s eye. Pierre Koffmann’s grouse with ceps still sits in his personal hall of fame. It is a roll call of British gastronomy and the impact still echoes through London dining rooms.Chris is clear-eyed about the business. He tracks the return of the long lunch after the hits of Brexit, the pandemic, and a thinned-out City week. He talks about value in a Michelin-starred room, why sharing plates suit how people want to eat, and why consistency is the quiet superpower. He is honest about the ledger too, from paid-by-the-hour labor to ingredient costs that keep faith with farmers and winemakers under climate pressure. Strikes can wipe out six figures in a day. Even so, he argues the restaurant table is one of the last places we look each other in the eye, do deals, celebrate, and live fully in the moment.------Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Blinq—POS made simple: £69/month, unlimited devices, 24/7 UK support, no contracts or hidden fees. Use code GOTOBLINQ for a free month. Got a true kitchen nightmare? Send it in—Ben’s favourite wins a year of Blinq. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Margot Henderson - How Fergus & I Started London's Restaurant Revolution!
The Go To Food Podcast returns with a legend. Margot Henderson OBE joins us for a gloriously frank, funny, and deeply human conversation about the craft of hospitality. From the early days at The Eagle and The French House to the white heat of opening St. John with Fergus Henderson, Margot traces the rise of modern British cooking, the joy of whole-animal kitchens, and the art of building atmosphere without gimmicks. Expect big stories, bigger flavours, and the kind of kitchen wisdom only a lifetime in service can teach.We record at The Three Horseshoes in Batcombe, Somerset, where the tomatoes burst like fireworks and the faggots arrive wrapped in caul and pride. Margot lifts the lid on a life spent nurturing chefs who fly the nest, the realities of PR, and why a great waiter can save a meal. She celebrates the producers around Bruton, tips her hat to Wescombe’s cheddar cave, and recalls the art world and Anthony Bourdain putting rocket fuel under St. John. This is a rolling feast of memories, mishaps, and moments that changed the way Britain eats.There are love stories too. Sweetings proposals, bar counters, the rhythm of service, and the calm conviction that simple food, cooked honestly, can move a room. -------Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Blinq—POS made simple: £69/month, unlimited devices, 24/7 UK support, no contracts or hidden fees. Use code GOTOBLINQ for a free month. Got a true kitchen nightmare? Send it in—Ben’s favourite wins a year of Blinq. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Merlin Labron-Johnson - From School Cook To Creating 'Osip' The Best Rated Michelin Starred Restaurant In The UK!
In this episode of The Go-To Food Podcast, we sit down with one of Britain’s most brilliant young chefs, Merlin Labron-Johnson—the visionary behind OSIP, the tiny Somerset restaurant recently crowned Restaurant of the Year by the Good Food Guide. Merlin opens up about his move from the intensity of London’s dining scene to the calm of the countryside, explaining why creativity needs “mental and physical space” and how the stars over Somerset matter more than Michelin ones. He reflects on leaving the chaos of Portland and Clipstone behind to build something truer to his roots—a farm-led restaurant that grows almost everything it serves.From learning to cook school lunches at 14 after being kicked out of multiple schools, to enduring the brutal kitchens of France and Switzerland, Merlin’s story is one of resilience and redefinition. He shares vivid tales of his early mentors—Michael Caines’ “Thai puree” at The Abode, and the revelatory salt-baked celeriac at In De Wulf in Belgium, where a chef finally asked him, “How are you feeling?” That question, he says, changed everything about how he cooks and how he leads.Merlin also pulls back the curtain on life at OSIP today—where there’s no menu, dishes arrive as surprises, and the chefs might also be the ones who picked your carrots that morning. He talks about resisting culinary clichés (“Everyone needs to relax on caviar”), his devotion to balance and storytelling on the plate, and the creative discipline of cooking from what the land gives. From his love of Fergus Henderson’s prose to his dream pub pint of nameless cider at the Seymour Arms, this is an episode that captures the soul of a chef who’s rewriting what fine dining can mean.-------Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Blinq—POS made simple: £69/month, unlimited devices, 24/7 UK support, no contracts or hidden fees. Use code GOTOBLINQ for a free month. Got a true kitchen nightmare? Send it in—Ben’s favourite wins a year of Blinq. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Emily Chia & Alex Keys On; Cooking For Anthony Bourdain - St John's Infamous Xmas Parties & Their New Restaurant 'Dockley Road'!
It’s a Go-To Food Podcast first — we’re coming to you from the hottest new opening of the year, Dockley Road in Bermondsey, where the doors officially open this week. We sit down with Emily Chia (Ex Head Chef at St John) & Alex Keys (Ex Head Chef at Rochelle Canteen) the creative minds behind this much-anticipated spot, to hear about them coming together to open this wonderful new restaurant. The result? A lively, behind-the-pass chat about friendship, food philosophy, and how years of experience in world-class kitchens have come together to shape one of London’s most exciting new restaurants.From banh mi terrine inspired by Parisian-Vietnamese bistros to Lancashire hot pots inspired by St John's famous mince on toast and local stout, the chefs take us through their playful, thoughtful menu. They talk about sourcing from Bermondsey’s legendary suppliers, collaborating with cocktail wizard Nick Strangeway, and why this space fills a gap London didn’t know it had — a place to eat, drink, and shop the city’s best produce all in one spot.There are plenty of stories too: burning soup on trial shifts at St. John, cooking for Anthony Bourdain, and learning the realities of restaurant ownership the hard way (hello VAT bills). It’s an episode packed with wit, warmth, and the kind of culinary energy that makes London’s dining scene so electric. Whether you’re a chef, a foodie, or just someone who loves a great opening night story, this one’s a feast.---------Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Blinq—POS made simple: £69/month, unlimited devices, 24/7 UK support, no contracts or hidden fees. Use code GOTOBLINQ for a free month. Got a true kitchen nightmare? Send it in—Ben’s favourite wins a year of Blinq. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Go-To Food Podcast is where the world’s most influential chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and critics share the stories behind their craft. Hosted by award-winning presenter Freddy Clode and chef and food writer Ben Benton, this weekly show dives deep into the experiences, inspirations, and “Go-To” favourites that define a life in food. From hidden gems to the restaurants they return to time and again, each episode serves up intrigue, insight, and the untold moments that shaped their journey. With food and drink inspired by their stories, expect stories from the food world, insider knowledge, and a true celebration of food culture at its finest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Netherlands