How did Hawksmoor grow from a single Shoreditch steakhouse into a global brand, and can UK hospitality survive rising tax burdens?
In this episode of The Business, Hawksmoor co-founder and Chief Executive Will Beckett joins Hannah Prevett at Hawksmoor St Pancras to reflect on what he's learned from 20 years in British business, and what UK hospitality wants from Chancellor John Healey's budget.
He breaks down the harsh financial pressures facing the industry, including how tax changes, rising business rates, and employment legislation impact hospitality margins.
“I know that the hospitality industry would like me to say, ‘big, sweeping change’ - I just think it's unlikely,” he tells the programme. “Anything that is just relieving the tax burden or relieving the pressure slightly, that, in a way that would help smaller independent businesses flourish, I think has to be good news.”
Beckett, who runs the business alongside his co-founder, Creative Director Huw Gott, also discusses scaling the steakhouse chain across London and taking on private equity investment to take the brand to the US with major openings in New York, Chicago, and Boston.
"We've learned about how to pitch Britishness and London. Boston's really well known for lobster rolls, but in Hawksmoor Boston, we do a lobster crumpet.”
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Guest:
- Will Beckett, chief executive and co-founder of Hawksmoor
Presenter:
- Hannah Prevett, associate business editor of The Sunday Times
Producer: Hope Federico
Executive Producer: Miriam Hall and Emily Leahy
Get in touch: thebusiness@thetimes.com
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