YouSaid · the spoken record

Nick Jones

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2022-07-25
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2022-07-25
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  1. “I could just see it because there wasn't many people to give feedback to. I wish there was more customers in there giving me feedback. But people did give feedback. But I didn't have the tools to be able to get it better. I didn't know I started going down a sort of... Kept running out of money. At the end, it was just me in the kitchen serving. And we even set up a delivery service to try and boost a sales, but that didn't work.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  2. “Well, I think feedback's key. And people, it's funny, being a Brit. People are funny about complaining, aren't they? In restaurants, they think it will offend you. They think, well, I'm not going to, I can't complain to Nick about, I had a bad meal last night because he might be, you might upset him. But to me, you can only get better by getting really honest feedback. And I'm lucky now because I have members who all have my email address and they're not happy. They email me. So I think listening to feedback is super, super important.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  3. “I didn't feel it was a failure. I just thought I was on a journey of learning and I really, even now encourage all our people that making a mistake is not a problem. You know, if you don't make mistakes, you're not pushing yourself. You're not trying. You're not taking yourself out of your comfort zone. And so I really encourage people to think that failure is not what it sounds like. You know, okay, it's just part of a journey.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  4. “Bad. And, you know, it just sort of taught me how to manage a business with little cash and with no cash, how to pay the staff every week, how to use initiatives to try and get more customers in. And I think it taught me at a very early age marketing restaurants is not the way to solve a restaurant. You just have to make the restaurant good because the customer is so clever. They know what good is and they know what bad is. And it taught me that very early on. There was no way that you could fool a customer. They know. And you could walk into overtop and you could sort of feel you could sense that it wasn't wasn't good enough. But what I learned at that time was it sort of...”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  5. “Yeah, I think I never made me feel like that. You know, my dad, I think he was proud that I was trying to do something. I was trying to do something on my own because he had his own small business. But he never made me feel like that. And the other shareholders, you know, I think in their head, when they first came and tried the restaurant, they sort of probably knew that it wasn't going to lead anywhere. But actually, you know, the company is still the same company as it is today. It never went bust. We hang on in there and eventually opened Cafe Boem in 1992, which was really all the experience of getting over top so wrong. And let me explain what overtop was. You either chose a burger, a piece of chicken, a bit lamb, or a steak. and over the top of it you could choose one of ten sources. But the saucers were terrible. And it was just.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  6. “My dad put a bit of money in, family friends put a bit of money in, and I got to the bank to put some money in. So I was lucky, you know, I was given that chance to be able to open my first restaurant. And it's something, you know, we do a lot now. I love people doing that. When anyone comes to me and wants to be an entrepreneur and start something up, I really make time to Stephen and help them. And I was lucky, I was given an opportunity. And I learned a lot.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  7. “It was terrible. The design, which is something I'm obsessed with now and I love design, you know, and that was my first design outing. And it really was terrible. The food was really bad. My friends had to come. And that showed, I really knew who my friends were because they would come and support me in the restaurant. But it was a good experience of getting something really wrong.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  8. “Not work for Truss As Forte, which was a big, big hotel company. And I was thinking, you know, I want to get out of this at some stage. I don't want to keep going on the ladder when you keep getting hopefully I would have kept being promoted into other jobs and then it would have been too difficult to leave. So I want to go when I'm still relatively at the bottom. And then I went and tried working in fast food restaurants or sort of casual restaurants. I went to work to Maxwell's and Covent Garden as a night manager. I then went to work at Paster Mania as a sort of Junior manager, and then during that time I was building my plan to open my first restaurant, which was called Over the Top. And that opened in 1988. And it was, you know, I was too young. I wasn't experienced enough.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  9. “I remember clearly serving in the Barman and I remember making cocktails for George Best. That was a highlight of he was such a nice guy. And I suppose at that time I always thought that determination was to open something, to open my own restaurant. This is, you know, I want to learn this. And then I ended up doing marketing at Truss House Forte and then I was marketing manager at Grover House in Park Lane. And it wasn't because I was brilliant at it. It was, you know, I was cheap. I just was, I didn't just cost a lot of money and that's what they were looking for at that precise moment. But I always, when I was working there, I was always working on a plan to...”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  10. “I went round lots of departments within Trust House Forte from Front Desk to BART to housekeeping. I was a housekeeper at the Clean the Rooms at the Westbury Hotel in Conduit Street. I was a barman at Brown's Hotel in Albemarle Street.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  11. “Has made me do that, you know, because it's easy route, because complication panics me and confuses me. So I spend a lot of time simplifying. And I think when you do simplify things, people understand it, they get it, they like it.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  12. “I wouldn't say it's a superpower, but I talk a lot about dyslexia because I really want people to feel that if they get the test and they're dyslexia, I don't want them to ever feel bad. I want them to feel good and go, well, this is a huge opportunity because I think when you look at things differently, and one thing being dyslexic, I have to simplify everything all the time. I have to, I want something on one sheet of paper. I don't want it on four sheets of paper. I want everything to be scaled down and simplified. And I think we live in a world where everyone's overcomplicating things always. And it doesn't matter what area of the business I work in now, whether it's the designers or the chefs or the tech people, it's all over complicated. And I spend a lot of my time just editing down and simplifying it. And I think dyslexic, being dyslexic.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  13. “I'd like to think not peeling potatoes or making porridge, but getting on with people and being part of a team and getting stuck in.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  14. “Wouldn't you know what it was? I was coming out of my shyness. I was learning how to get on with people. And, you know, I went to a private school. I was surrounded by people who went to private school, which is 7% of the population. And by going into the kitchen, you really learned to really get on with everyone. And I think that's an invaluable lesson. And I just enjoyed it. And even though it was hard, I just enjoyed the environment. I enjoyed creating food. I enjoyed the buzz. I enjoyed, I didn't mind the heat. I didn't mind the fact that it was long hours. I just enjoyed it.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  15. “Stuck and I was really sort of learning on the job, which I think is a really great way to learn anything. And I kept making mistakes, but I was determined to sort of fit in to the kitchen because it was an environment, you know, because I came from this sort of cotton wall middle class background. And then going into the kitchen, into the early 80s where it was long hours and someone who comes in with a slightly posh accent and it was a good moment. It was a good moment for me.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  16. “I was able to talk and I got onto a five-year course. And my first part of a course was a year in the kitchen. And it was at St George's Hotel in Langham Place, which is just here in London, off Oxford Street. And I arrived and the chef looked me up and down. And he called me a nickname, which I'm not going to say on this. It began with a C. And he threw a sack of potatoes at me, which landed in my belly. And he said, peel them. And so I went off to the area where you peeled the potatoes. And I hadn't really ever used a knife before. And the first potato I cut my finger and I thought, oh God, how do I hide this? And the water I was putting the potatoes in was getting redder and redder and redder. And I thought, oh no, this is... My first day, and the nickname”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  17. “No, I remember clearly the first answer to that is definitely no. My first day, I worked for Troshouse Forte. I was a management trainee and it was a five-year course. And I applied to the Savoy management training course to start with. And I remember it to this day, the interview I had. And I just froze. I couldn't speak. I was so nervous. I absolutely froze. And because I was a pretty shy kid. And, you know, I was shy at 17 when I was going for these interviews and I just was, I just got staged fright. I just couldn't, my mouth, no words came out of my mouth. And I didn't get into the Savoy management course. But then I applied for Trust House Forte. And luckily when I went for the interview,”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  18. “My brothers went in to work there. And I think my dad was keen for me to go and work there, but I didn't find insurance very exciting. I still don't. And I didn't find that world of working in the city and insurance and being an insurance broker interesting at all. I did have that as an opportunity, but I really felt I wanted to try hospitality and catering.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  19. “Well, and I really had to, I mean, when I was at school because I wasn't good at getting exams, so I had to rule university out. There was not much choice for me. There was a person with very few O-levels, as they were called then. And I think I got an E and an A level. I scraped through on economics, I think. And, you know, with that, there was really not a lot of choice. My career as master at school sort of said, I think it's catering, Nick. So when my careers master said that, I sort of thought, and also the fact that I thought there was real opportunity in this. And my dad owned a small insurance broken company.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  20. “Well, not over time. I mean, occasionally they did it. But when they did do it, I love to be part of them trying to create a fun evening. And I think that's probably where I suddenly realize that hospitality was the root for me. Because we're going back a long, long time. I was sort of 13 at the time. And I was, you know, go to the local sports club and work behind the bar as a clean-the glasses. And weirdly I enjoyed that. I enjoyed the interaction with people. I enjoyed seeing people just have a nice time. And back then, people were not going into hospitality. I mean, it was really at the bottom of a ladder of industries that people went into. So I thought that was an opportunity.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  21. “Yeah, I was while my brothers were on the sports field. I weirdly liked doing the supermarket shop with my mum. I found supermarkets fascinating. I found food fascinating. I then found the whole preparation of how to give people a good time, you know, fascinating. I loved watching how you could create an environment where people had a laugh and fun.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  22. “I didn't think either way. I was just sort of thinking of just getting through school and I wasn't really planning that if I was going to be a success or not a success. And I think that's an interesting, how you define success. And I don't think success has just been successful running a business or creating a business. I think it touches all sorts of things.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  23. “Yeah, I think so. You just branded thick. And, you know, because if you couldn't read or you couldn't write, I mean, my handwriting is still very not, I try and avoid handwriting at every possibility. So it's still really bad. And I think, yes, because people didn't understand it there. But people understand it now and people talk about it. They should talk about it. To me, it's if you have dyslexia, you look at things very differently because you have to look at things differently. You have to simplify things. And by simplifying things, I think that gives you a different perspective on things.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  24. “Didn't need that. I only needed half a man of time anyway to fill up the paper because I didn't have enough information. So to get another hour was just another hour of just fiddling around with your pencil. So, yeah.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  25. “Just really bad at exams. I'm hugely dyslexic. And so I find spelling really difficult. I find pronunciation difficult. I find all sorts of things difficult at school. I mean, I've since learned that dyslexia is the greatest thing to have, but at school it isn't. But I was lucky enough that my mum was all over it. It was discovered that I was dyslexic at the age of 12, which is very young for a lot of people are still discovering contemporaries of mine are still discovering a dyslexic right now of the age I am, which is 58. So I was lucky and I got support and I sort of got through school by weird things like they'd give you extra hours on your exam.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  26. “Well, my childhood was, I don't think I'd say I was counted out. I was in a nice middle class family where I had two older brothers and a sister, a younger sister, mum and dad. But my two older brothers were, you know, they were the sort of stars. They were great at school. They were good at sport. And I was a bit not so good at sport and not so good at school. And it was a sort of different sort of childhood that I suppose that they had. And I think it probably put me in good stead, but at the time it was probably quite tricky.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  27. “I wanted to prove that hospitality could be done differently. I can't think of a time where I was thinking about making an aspirational brand. I've always been obsessed about the member, and that was always my number one thing. They've created that. You don't make mistakes, you're not pushing yourself, you're not taking yourself out of your comfort zone. Maybe I was trying to prove to my family that I could do this, and I think that's an invaluable lesson.”

    2022-07-25 · The Diary of a CEO · Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT