How did you get into the drinks and hospitality industry?
Family dinners. I cooked and served hospitable Sunday lunches for our family of seven from the age of three (with a little help from my Mam). By 16 I had progressed to a kitchen porter position at our local North Yorkshire Hotel, then I came to London to study acting and started waiting tables and stocking and serving at bars part-time.
How would you describe your style of management?
Martin Williams has become one of the most respected and dynamic UK restaurant leaders
Visionary. In every sense of the word. In all seriousness, I do try to create an aspirational vision, which excites, stimulates and challenges the team. Then once we have established the strategy on the ‘How’ (we deliver the vision), I become very light touch in my approach and let the experts do their thing.
What is your approach to managing and motivating people?
I want everyone who works with me to be able to look back on this period of their careers with pride. My entire approach (and duty as a chief executive), is to facilitate excellence across the entire business. Most companies are paralysed through being unable to see past barriers. I try to outthink the nay-sayers and reasons ‘why not’ through intelligence and failing that, I encourage a ‘Steamroller style’ approach!
How do you retain good talent?
Authentic company-wide engagement, a shared contagious passion for heightened hospitality, excellent leaders throughout the entire business, maintaining a values led culture, offering excellent benefits and rewarding recompense.
How do you deal with unmotivated and non-performing members of your team?
I always lay out expectations and explain where a team member is failing to achieve these goals through their performance. Then I encourage a healthy two-way discussion on what both they and we can do to improve performance or motivation.
How has the role of business leader changed?
The Gaucho experience starts from the moment you order your table and arrive to be greeted by its hospitality team
I think the role is what you want it to be and always has been. Play to your unique strengths and surround yourself with the best talent in the sector, who have different skills to you. That alongside a naturally empathetic approach has certainly been the secret of our success at Gaucho and M.
Have you had business mentors in your career and what have you learnt most from them?
The most impactful advice I received was from the late Donald Storey, my operations director when I joined Gaucho. He encouraged me to begin a ‘Five Star Hotel’ / ‘Michelin Restaurant’ odyssey. It has been a great principle of how to live my life for the past 20 years.
Zeev Godik, the founder of Gaucho, reminded me regularly that my instinct was almost always correct, so to not over pontificate – just to go for it! My brother Alun, managing director of Stylist Magazine Group (previously Hearst), is a constant mentor. Books by Danny Mayer (Union Square) and Isador Sharp (Four Seasons) became my hospitality bibles.
If you have a problem in a business what are the steps you out in place to try and solve it - Can you give an example?
It’s almost always solvable, just think it through and go back to your values, whilst looking for the opportunities.
Covid was clearly a serious problem. My chief operating officer, Ross Butler, and I made the decision to use it to demonstrate strong leadership and an empathetic culture, so we took pay cuts at an executive level to top up our teams salaries beyond furlough, to create a purpose, as well as introduce initiatives to help feed NHS workers and the homeless.
All of which helped us improve our staff engagement, whilst we invested in our terraces and opened as big and quickly as possible with a full workforce. This in part led to 25% like-for-like growth in 2022.
Who do you admire in business and why?
Ross Butler is a joy to work alongside on a daily basis. I admire his ability to connect with all our people and deliver extraordinary results. Joel Williams and Markus Theslef are ones to watch.
Inside drinks and hospitality
Martin Williams works hand in hand with his drinks suppliers and has built strong, loyal relationships with key figures in the trade like Simon Jerrome who has worked with Williams from the launch of M Restaurants and his time at Gaucho supplying wine from Matthew Clark and now the C&C Group
There are partners inside the drinks industry who have supported me or presented opportunities at times, when I needed it most. I am incredibly loyal to those individuals. I am also in full admiration of those who are brave and brilliant. So to name a few that fit into those categories: Michelle Cartwright, Stephen Cronk, Richard Siddle, Richard Larkin, Cory Soutar, Simon Jerome, Michael Saunders, Giles Henton, Andrew Maidment and Stuart Procter - I’m excited to see what he does to the Beamount. The drinks industry is a great one.
Outside drinks and hospitality
David Campbell is our new chairman (Ex F1, AEG, IVY, Virgin). I’ve always respected his multi sector, illustrious career. Craig Donaldson (Ex Metro), David Batstone (Not For Sale movement), William Kim (Ex Burberry and All Saints), Richard Fitzgerald (Ex Villa and RCM) and Andrew Harding (Your Golf Travel) are all great friends and epic business leaders with purpose.
If you are interested in buying a business what are the key questions you need to ask to determine whether it is a possibility or not?
Do you have enough working capital? Do you have a viable exit, based on someone wanting to buy your business and then sell it themselves further down the line?
What is it that gets you out of bed in the morning in running a business?
Martin Williams is always looking to learn and take inspiration himself from great leadership, hospitality and those creating memorable experiences for their customers
People, purpose and profit. Then my labradoodle, wanting to go for a run.
What are you doing personally to improve your skills as a business leader to keep up?
I am always looking to learn from other sectors and territories, looking for inspiration and adapting it to hospitality.
If you had not worked in wine and drinks industry what would have been your dream career or business to look after?
I like Seb Coe’s career path; Olympic athlete, politician and now a mix of both. Creating memorable experiences, like the best meal of your life, followed by an epic sporting or music event, is my dream job.
Favourite business book and why?
As I have already mentioned books by Danny Mayer ‘Setting the table’ (Union Square) and Isador Sharp’s ‘The Story of a business philosophy’ (Four Seasons) have become my hospitality bibles. I also think Alistair Campbell’s ‘Winners and How they succeed’ is excellent.
* You can find out more about what Martin Williams is doing at Gaucho at its website here.
* To find out more about M Restaurant click here.
