Shownotes
Another week passes and another superb story for you. Today, we're diving deep into the whirlwind journey of Bharti Radix, the dynamic Founder of Bloomsyard, a café wine bar concept born during the Covid pandemic. Bharti joins me to share her experiences rapidly expanding her business, the challenges of opening new sites, and the hurdles of building and managing a head office team.
Bharti's story is one of resilience and ambition—opening multiple locations, facing recruitment struggles, and questioning her move from a secure job to entrepreneurship. As a former finance director with a diverse career in hospitality, Bharti brings a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective on the importance of financial acumen and personal passion in business success.
We'll also touch on Bharti's commitment to promoting diversity in the hospitality industry and providing career development paths for her team. She candidly discusses her trials and triumphs, including navigating a male-dominated boardroom, mentoring female entrepreneurs, and the profound impact of kindness in business.
Join us as we explore the heart of Bharti's entrepreneurial spirit, her vision for Blooms Yard, and her advocacy for a more inclusive and recognized hospitality sector. Stay tuned for an inspiring conversation that offers valuable insights for anyone in the industry or aspiring to join it.
The Guest
Bharti is the founder of Bloomsyard, a café wine bar concept, currently operating in and around London.
Her career has seen her work with some amazing people and brands including Jamie Oliver, Luke Johnson and many others
Bloomsyard Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bloomsyard/
The Sponsor
Today’s episode comes to you in partnership with RotaCloud, the people management platform for shift-based teams.
RotaCloud lets managers create and share rotas, record attendance, and manage annual leave in minutes — all from a single, web-based app.
It makes work simple for your team, too, allowing them to check their rotas, request holiday, and even pick up extra shifts straight from their phones.
Try RotaCloud’s time-saving tools today by heading to https://rotacloud.com/phil
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Transcripts
And a huge hospitality meets. Welcome to Bharti Raddix.
Bharti [:Hello. How are you?
Phil [:I'm all right. How are you?
Bharti [:I'm doing well.
Phil [:Excellent. Where do we find ourselves today?
Bharti [:So, 100 Liverpool street, which was our second site opened, and actually it's our third birthday. So here we are in this wonderful. Thank you. In this wonderful, huge site, which is a bit of a whirlwind, because I. I think back on it and I wonder three years ago how I managed to get this site when we were pretty much a non existent business. So it does feel. It feels a little strange. But I'm very happy that we got the site and that we're still here and that it's doing well.
Phil [:Yeah, it's stunning. Really, really stunning site. I'm sure we'll get into the story of how that all came to be through the fullness of your journey. Just tell the world what it is that you do for a living.
Bharti [:So, I'm the founder of Bloomsyard. Bloomsyard is a café wine bar concept. We are a business that started in Covid. So sensible. So the business is like. I think that's four years old now. So four years ago, there we were in lockdown one and blooms yard was born with me at home writing in a notebook all of my ideas. And then it just happened from there, basically.
Bharti [:But, yeah, so café wine bar, you can get specialty coffee, well, being tea, wine, and then all the foodie bits to go with that. So cake, pastries, cookies, fresh sandwiches and salads. And then with the wine on the evenings or any time of the day, really what we call picky things, which is my take on grazing platters.
Phil [:Right. Got you. So a very sociable concept, then, in that regard. Lots of sharing plates and that type of thing.
Bharti [:Yeah, well, I hope so. And that's what I want it to be. You know, if you look on our website, the first kind of strap line says that we're an escape from the hustle and bustle. And that's what I wanted to create with blooms yard, to be a place to go and be relaxed, chill out, have really great food and drink and be, you know, that could be on your own or it could be with friends or having a meeting or something like that.
Phil [:Yeah. Good stuff. Yeah. Well, I mean, I suppose, having done a little tiny bit of research on you and your background, what I love about your background is that you, I suppose, from an entrepreneurial perspective, don't necessarily conform to the usual root of an entrepreneur, if there is such a thing. Your background is in finance, by the looks of things. So take us all the way back, and I'm super excited about this for a number of reasons. One is that we've not really had anybody with a finance background on the show before, but two, I'm really interested to understand where the entrepreneurial spirit came from within that. So, yeah, take us back to the beginning of your career.
Phil [:How did you get into hospitality in the first place?
Bharti [:Okay, so obviously went to uni, did business studies, preferred the finance route of that, and that was in Leicester, which is my hometown. So did all of that, and then got to looking for my first role after graduating and decided Leicester wasn't the place for me to stay. If I wanted the big job in the big company, doing lots of exciting things, I felt like I had to move to London, so I did that. And my first job, actually, well, in the. In London, was for a music company. So I was their kind of financial accountant and did that for a couple of years, and then I was looking for a change. Now I was in the city, big bright lights and all of that I wanted to do, you know, wanted to get into something else, and I kind of fell into hospitality.
Phil [:I've never heard that one before.
Bharti [:I didn't really know. I just, you know, I was with recruitment agencies, and one of them came up with this job as a senior management accountant for a chef, and I didn't know who he was, but I went along and it was Jamie Oliver, obviously. I'd done my research before, so I knew who it was by the time I got to the interview. But, you know, he wasn't. And, you know, that was so long ago that it was. It wasn't someone that everybody knew at the time, you know, that just came straight after and I think, you know, so I got the job and I. And I started in the industry then, and I just didn't really even know too much about it, you know, hadn't eaten out at so many places or tried many different things. But that's what really changed it for me when I started working for Jamie.
Bharti [:And our office was above the one restaurant he had at the time then, which was in Old street, and it was 1515, right? Yeah, yeah. So, you know, so this. We're talking all the way before Jamie's Italian was even a thing, you know, there was just this one brand.
Phil [:Yeah. And it was actually kind of socially conscious minded, wasn't it?
Bharti [:Definitely, yeah. So it had the charity side of it, LinkedIn, which I was also looking after, and that was the apprentice scheme. So you know, young people that needed a second chance for whatever reason and, you know, for them to be joining this program and learning to be, you know, professional chefs and it was fab and I loved everything about it, you know, from that whole. From the whole apprentice side to the whole, you know, like, just trying different foods and learning and, you know. Yeah. And from that point onwards, I was like, I'm never working in another industry again.
Phil [:Really. It was that you were the. That struck.
Bharti [:Yeah, well, I was with Jamie for five years then and, you know, we went from, you know, 15 restaurant to then Jamie's Italian, so it was like one restaurant and then some franchised fifteen s and then, you know, barbacoa and in between that there was Union Jacks and it was absolutely mental.
Phil [:Yeah. At that point in time, I think he was in that phase where everything he touched onto gold. Right. It was just because it was brand Jamie, really, and anything that. That he. Because he was doing the school dinners.
Bharti [:Thing then as well, Ministry of Food and school kitchen Gardens, that was all, like, I was involved in all sorts of bits and bobs there. So over five years, loads happened. But as he grew, so did my career progression, you know, as well. So I went from, I think so I joined as senior management accountant, then I was financial controller, then I was head of finance, you know, for the whole restaurant side, reporting into the group CEO then. So it was crazy mad fantastic time.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:And I always look back on my time there, that five years, it was rollercoaster, but had so much fun.
Phil [:Well, I suppose there's probably a few things in play. The roller coaster element means you're probably just learning constantly.
Bharti [:Yeah, yeah.
Phil [:Which is great. As long as you're that way minded, I suppose.
Bharti [:Yeah. As long as you're ready to, you know, roll up your sleeves and get involved, you know, there's so much to learn. So it doesn't matter if you're, you know, you've got your finance hat on. When it's a small head office team of a business that's just going crazy with growth, you just get involved in everything, you know, it doesn't matter like what you're doing. If something needs to be done and you are that way minded, you'll just get involved and then learn even more anyway.
Phil [:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So five years there. What happened next? How did you move from there?
Bharti [:And then I did. I did a short stint at Berry Brothers and Rudd, so the wine merchant. So that was fab. It was like in this on, you know, number three, St James, like so close to the palace, like this really old building. But yes, I did a bit of kind of wine, champagne, spirits, and then I got my first finance director role with the draft house. So I joined them when they had about three sites, I think, and three and a half years later, we'd grown to 16 sites.
Phil [:Right. You're like a fast growth company then, don't you?
Bharti [:Yeah, I mean, it's not like I set out to do any of that. It just kind of happened, so. And then. And then we sold to Brewdog, so that was. That was crazy. So in that three and a half years at draft house, we were buying businesses, so, like a small pub group and, you know, transforming those into draft houses. And then we did the sale as well.
Phil [:Right.
Bharti [:So as finance director, that was a few big ticks on my cv.
Phil [:Yeah. I was going to say that's, again, you're in a situation whereby you're probably learning new things to add into the mix of your cv.
Bharti [:Yeah. And it's not like in any. So definitely at draft house, I didn't have anybody finance above me, so there was nobody I could go and ask on how to do. So actually. Yeah, I mean, it was really. It was a really, really tough time because I'd gone into that role as the inexperienced FG, you know, and I was told that quite often in my time there. Great.
Phil [:Thanks for the confidence.
Bharti [:I know. Right. So. But I was just determined to, you know, do that role and do it well. I was in way above my head, you know, looking back on it now, but I was just. I just wanted to keep going. I just wanted to, you know, do a good job.
Phil [:I think you could.
Bharti [:You.
Phil [:You can be in way over your head, though, as long as you're, I suppose, surrounded by people who perhaps know that and then will support you in that process as well. If you're in over your head and you're just left to get on with it or to your own devices, then that can be, I suppose, a tricky place to be.
Bharti [:But actually, when I was hired, I was, you know, so that was a business that, where Luke Johnson was the investor, he was the chairman and an investor, and being then part of that group allowed me to connect with other FDs or CFO's in the Luke Johnson businesses. And actually they were my support, so they were the people. So I'd be introduced to an FD of here or a CFO here or whatever, and I'd be able to call them up or meet up with them for help and guidance.
Phil [:Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's also that struck me as, from your notes that you very kindly filled out before as well, it was also one of your scariest experiences.
Bharti [:Yeah. I mean, board meetings. Yeah. They were quite intense.
Phil [:Right. I was going to ask the. What made them particularly scary. It was Luke.
Bharti [:Yeah.
Phil [:Right.
Bharti [:If he's listening to this now.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:Yeah. It was a scary time. But, you know, like, it was just the kind of intensity of everything that. Of me having to perform in those meetings. And, you know, I was just. I was always constantly, like, I'll never be able to remember anything or everything that he might ask me. And then it was like feeling scared of not being able to give the answer or give the right answer or be right anyway. And I'd go in with, like, folders across the table between, in case I needed to, like, look something up quickly, and then, like, there'd be this disappointment from across the table of me, like, flitting through papers to be able to give the answer.
Bharti [:But, you know, a lot of that time, like, and I can only say this now because I've had time to digest and understand, you know, a lot of that time, it was just. It was just pure anxiety that made me not. Sometimes not even be able to speak, really. Right. If I was asked a question, I might just say, I don't know where. I totally did know.
Phil [:Right. But it was just because you were rabbit in the headlights type scenario. But then, I suppose, again, as you say, with the ability to look back on these moments, you probably don't appreciate it in the time that you're in, but these uncomfortable moments are the things that actually really help you move forward, don't they? I mean, at the time, you might be, you know, a little bit out of your depth, but that's the. Well, it's the uncomfortable zone, isn't it? That's what we all try to run away from, but in actual fact, we should be probably embracing it as much as we can.
Bharti [:Yeah. And so that what I can tell you about that, the understanding I can tell you about that now helps me in how I am with my team and how I develop people and, you know, because I have that understanding of what it was like for me then. So I try to use that now with my team and how I can kind of progress them and push them forward without them having those kind of anxiety moments.
Phil [:Well, although maybe they'll look back in ten years time if you're. Yeah, but if your boardroom meetings are a little bit user, more user friendly, then that also serves its purpose. Right.
Bharti [:Although, you know, I don't have board meetings because there's only me.
Phil [:Right. You are the board.
Bharti [:Exactly.
Phil [:Right. I mean, that's a great board, which.
Bharti [:Actually, I really like because it's, you know, that's part of why I. Why I went this way. I think in terms of me becoming the founder of Bloomshard and growing this business, because actually, now I can just do what I want to do.
Phil [:Right.
Bharti [:Yeah. And if the, if, you know, if I make mistakes along the way, it's on me.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:Yeah. I think I've been through such a journey with, you know, working in growing businesses and making mistakes and, you know, just having to answer to people and those feelings of anxiety and all of that. Now I just do it for myself.
Phil [:Yeah. Well, I would imagine that there's still some anxiety, but in a very different way. And as you said, you're master of your own destiny in that respect. You choose whether you bring your own anxiety, I suppose, or somebody else is bringing it to you.
Bharti [:Yeah. And, I mean, I. But this, the whole story of blooms yard, though, like, you'd think when I, like, tell my story, you'd think that I was. I should have been more worried about it than I, than I was.
Phil [:Right.
Bharti [:Because if you think back to, you know, lockdown one, all right, at the beginning, everyone was like, oh, yeah, this will be over in, like, two weeks, and we'll just get on with, like, normal life and we'll just get over it. Well, actually, there I was. Found myself going into lockdown, unemployed, not meaning to go into lockdown, thinking I was going to start a business or anything, but, you know, I'd had a couple of job interviews, and then they were just put on hold for this kind of two week, and then we'll get back to it. And there we were, quietly sitting at home and nothing to think about. Didn't have a job to worry about, you know, and then in those days, decided that actually, did I want to go into another job where I might, you know, experience any of these things again? And, you know, like, because the last job that I'd had just before lockdown was really stressful and I'd only been in it for, like, eleven months, and I was, like, totally burnt out, and it was just a horrible eleven months.
Phil [:Right.
Bharti [:So, you know, I'd kind of quit and then gone into lockdown unemployed. So. And then. Yeah. So sitting at home thinking, I don't want to do that again. I don't want to do that anymore, ever. So I spoke to my husband and he was like, oh, just what do you want to do? Just do what you want to do. It doesn't really matter, you know, because I'd actually, you know, progressed my career quite quickly in, in a fairly short space of time.
Bharti [:So, you know, what was I going to do next? And actually, all that was shouting out at me. And, you know, over the years, I've been like, oh, imagine if I had my own something and it'd be something hospitality, so it could be like pub or restaurant or bar or cafe or something, but I never really thought that I'd actually be able to do it. And there I was writing in this big red notebook all my ideas of, like, names and what the menu would be like and what it would look like and how it would feel and. And then. And then it basically just came from my notes in that book. Right, yeah. And then I just did it. So really, you know, and that was the time when hospitality was on its absolute knees, you know, closing sites and people being made redundant and all of that.
Bharti [:And there I was saying, I'm going to open my own hospitality business.
Phil [:So where did this confidence come from that actually, this is the time for me to do this?
Bharti [:I don't know. And that's the worrying bit, isn't it? Because I'm kind of like I should have been. You know, I was actually. I was such a risk taker and I was so brave with it and I can't believe it sometimes that I just went ahead and did it, but I just. It's all I wanted to do, so I just went for it. And it didn't start off as a site or anything because, you know, everyone was in lockdown. So it started off as a website selling tea, coffee and wine online. And actually in lockdown, people were just ordering stuff to be delivered to enjoy at home anyway, yeah, so that worked.
Bharti [:And it wasn't that I started that thinking, oh, yeah, I'm going to have this site and that site. I just started with that and it just started me going. And then a site came up and I was like, you know, that was close to my home in Watford, so it was in the shopping centre, so I was like, actually, it's close by. I can take a small site, I can just test it. Let's just test it. And there were deals to be done then, you know, landlords had, like, so many empty spaces and stuff. Yeah, there were really good deals to be done.
Phil [:Right.
Bharti [:So I took it and then. And then, you know, all of a sudden, I had a real sight. So if Bloomshird was born, let's say, in April 20, my first site opened in September 20.
Phil [:Okay, well, I mean, that's still not a huge amount of time difference, especially in the time that we were in, which it was so fluctuating everywhere.
Bharti [:Yeah. You couldn't go anywhere or do anything. And actually, so I'm saying the idea was born in April. By the time I had that website up and running, it was, like, end of May or something.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:And then actually, this site, Liverpool Street, I actually came to see it in June 20 as a building site.
Phil [:Really?
Bharti [:I know, it's so random.
Phil [:Frankie, did you have a vision at that point or something that said, I'm going to be in here. This is the one for me.
Bharti [:So this is the great thing about my experience to date, because as finance director, I was used to putting together a landlord pack.
Phil [:Yeah, of course.
Bharti [:And so when I was building this website, I was, like, taking pictures. So I had nothing to take pictures of. So taking pictures from Pinterest and Google of what I thought blooms yard would look like. So I had all of this ready. So as I built this website, at the same time I built this landlord pack. And having worked, you know, been paying rent to landlords for all these various different companies I'd worked for, I had lots of contacts around London, so all the big London landlords. So I sent out this landlord pack to everybody I could think of, all of the big ones, and just one came back to me, which was british land.
Phil [:I mean, it's not a bad one to come back.
Bharti [:And it was Alice. And I didn't know Alice. I hadn't worked with Alice, but, you know, we'd worked. Our teams probably had worked together at some point, whether, you know, I'd been at Jamie's or draft house or wherever, so. And she was like, okay, let's get on a zoom call. So she'd seen my pack and she. And we got this. We had this zoom call, and she's like, you know, what are you looking for? And I, you know, she was talking about three different options at that point.
Bharti [:Well, we've got this. We've got this. Would you be interested in looking at this? And I thought, oh, Liverpool street, that sounds good. So she's like, well, yeah, we could do. We could do a viewing if you want. It's still a bit of a building site, but I can show you around. So it was still social distancing and all of that. So we viewed this site in June 20 when I had, like, nothing it's.
Bharti [:It's kind of unheard of because I had no trading history and I had, like. I had nothing.
Phil [:That's remarkable. But actually, I find stuff like this kind of really uplifting because really, what you're talking about here as to your major wins, okay. Yes. You've got experience within boardrooms of high level finance and you know how these people speak in the language that they talk so that you can speak to that, but at the same time, you kind of just have had the courage of your conviction and just gone, well, there's nothing that replaces action, right? So you just do it and then see where it takes us.
Bharti [:So there I was in June doing this, like, social distance ppE'd up on this building site and I was like, yeah, I really love it. Let's do it. So I was starting to do that deal before I even had my first site. And then at the same time, I was getting this Watford one going. So then Watford opened in September 20, and then this one opened the May after, once all the building work was done and everything. And when we did open this one in May 21, it was still takeaway only. So, I mean, that was super tough because. And, you know, we're inside, as you've now seen, we don't have a front door and we're an unknown brand.
Phil [:You walk past and go, oh, that.
Bharti [:Looks cool, or grab a coffee or something. Yeah. So it definitely. It took quite a while to build up because also, brand new building as well. So it wasn't even fully let, but that was part of the deal. Right. So we would be there for prospective tenants to see, you know, that we were there and operating and give it a bit of life. Yeah.
Bharti [:So again, I got a good deal because of all of these factors and then. Yeah. And then, kind of strangely, in three years, I opened six sites.
Phil [:Right? Yep.
Bharti [:For six now. Well, I just. I closed the one at Watford, the first one right, at the shopping centre. So I've got a. I've got five now, but, yeah, in three years I opened six.
Phil [:My word. See, this is. We've actually missed out a chunk of your story as well, haven't we?
Bharti [:I just jumped from there.
Phil [:No, that's fine. That doesn't matter. We'll come back and cover that quickly. But, yeah, flummox is the word, in fact, in a really, really positive way, because this, to me, kind of highlights that there is really no right or wrong way to do it. There is only the way that you know how. And you've just gone kind of all in. It feels like, is there any part of you, or was there any part of you that was, what am I doing? Like, would you ever feel like I've taken on too much too quickly? This is ridiculous. I need to peg it back.
Bharti [:Yeah. Yeah. Last year was a pretty tough year, right? So I opened sites five and six, which was marble Arch and Finsbury Avenue, just around the corner from here. And, yeah, last year was super tough, and that was the year where I was just like, was this, right? You know, I let go my secure, permanent job of a salary coming in and all of that. And it gets scary when you're wondering if you can pay payroll and stuff. We're all right now. But there was a time where last year where I was just like, oh, my God. And also just.
Bharti [:The recruitment has been so tough. It's like one of the worst things that I have to deal. Me and my team have to deal with all the time, just people coming and going, and you just can't get a steady team. And it's just, it's, it. Last year was really tough, but I started this year, so I started January. Just saying this year is the one where I just need to be calm and sustain and grow.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:From what I've got, rather than going crazy because I could open another site, you know, like, at any one time, I've got, like 20 new sites in my inbox.
Phil [:Really?
Bharti [:Yeah. Like, honestly, it's crazy. Like, whether it's agents that will do that anyway or landlords saying, oh, do you want this? Do you want this? What do you think about this? And, you know, there's this temptation of like, oh, yeah, well, I could do that one. And actually, I have to hold myself back and try to be calm and just say, actually, I don't want another year like last year. And I just need to make sure that the five current sites that I have right now, they're just all making money and growing. And then I think about further growth.
Phil [:Right? Yeah. Maybe that's part of the natural cycle of being an entrepreneur, is that when you come into it, you're all action, everything, right? Go, go, go. Yeah, that sounds great. Let's do that. Yeah. Bang. And then there's also other factors in play, right? I mean, last year, nobody really could have probably foreseen all of the different challenges that businesses faced, all coming to a head in one hit. So, you know, that that's not on you at all.
Phil [:That's. That's, you know, that's just a general world thing and a general world thing. It's not even just a UK thing.
Bharti [:Yeah.
Phil [:So that maybe that then teaches you the lesson. Right. It's like, okay, let's just consolidate what we have and make sure that that is firing as well as it can fire, and then you're going to be in a much better position down the line to bring on that new site or sites.
Bharti [:Yeah.
Phil [:Because you've got that, that lovely, stable foundation.
Bharti [:But the other thing as well, about last year is that I tried to grow my head office team for the first time.
Phil [:Right.
Bharti [:So, you know, I kind of got, you know, probably at the beginning of last year, I'd probably at foresight. So then I opened these other two, and then all this time it's only been me at head office. So, you know, I'm not going to get anyone else in to do finance. I could do that standing on my head, you know, at this stage.
Phil [:Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Bharti [:And I don't have any investors, so, you know, I haven't just got money to spend on salaries.
Phil [:Really? Really? Yes. This is the time to do this particular.
Bharti [:If I can do it, you know, because also because I've got that understanding of. So finance and systems and all of that reporting and everything together. I feel like the way that I've set everything up is quite streamlined in that way. So, you know, all the tools are the same, all of the reporting works the same. Or, you know, like, there's. There's no cash in the business. We're cardless everywhere. So that makes quite a difference in terms of, you know, there's not all the reconciliations to do for that.
Bharti [:There's, you know, it takes me as long as I've kept on top of, like, posting invoices and stuff during the week, it takes me one day to do my management accounts right. You know, it's not like, it's not complicated. So I just do that and I do everything else, actually, you know, from HR to payroll to marketing. Yeah. So that's like the worst bit ever.
Phil [:I was gonna say that the finance people in marketing are not normally hand in hand.
Bharti [:No. But as an entrepreneur, like, with not infinite amounts of cash to spend, I had to have a dabble at that. But I can't do it. It's not me. I can do lots of other things, but. So my first ever other recruit in head office was kind of sales events marketing in one. So I hired somebody. And so knowing that that's not my bag, I went to an agency and hired with them so that they could guide me in who I needed and what I needed because, you know, I just didn't really know.
Bharti [:So I hired somebody and I tried and I tried and it just didn't work out, really. Yeah. So five months later, there I was, the only person in head office again. And then, and then, and then I've recruited again and we're doing all right now. But, yeah, so I do have somebody else in my head office team now who is quick on dealing with all of those inquiries that are coming in, which is great, and bringing new inquiries in and doing show rounds of the venues for events and stuff. So that kind of helps now to push, to boost those sales in those current sites.
Phil [:Yeah, well, and that allows you, I suppose, to go into your wheelhouse of, well, I suppose, either business consolidation or where are we going? What are we doing next?
Bharti [:And also in that time, since he's joined my team as well, we've launched our online ordering for catering and stuff. So up until then, where businesses wanted platters or sandwiches or breakfast or whatever for their meetings, it would be send them a PDF menu and then they come back and there's probably another 20 emails until we've decided. And then I'd have to raise an invoice, you know. So actually streamlining that has been massive. So now people can just go onto the website, order online, they can choose whether it's delivered to them or they come and pick it up from any of our sites, payments taken online and it's just like that. So, you know, like little things like that have really helped to pull it all together. Really?
Phil [:Yeah. Was that armor of the business something that you always had in your head? Was that in your red book of the catering? Yeah. No, right. That came. It was concept first and then I suppose being cold about it from a transactional business perspective, it was then. Revenue streams.
Bharti [:Well, yeah, and actually it's this site that brought that about because we're inside this office building, this office development, and there's meeting rooms and stuff. So I was working with the team here to put a catering menu together for those meeting rooms and then it was working really well and it actually was just building and building. And I was like, we can do this from other sites. And. And so we did, right, yeah, yeah. So it came from that. And, yeah, I didn't, when I, when I first drew up all of my ideas, I didn't think about catering and I didn't think about events either. Maybe like evening wine drinkers and all that, but not like really like exclusive hi for events or networking events.
Bharti [:And things like that. And actually, they are the things that make this business work, because on its own, we wouldn't make enough money, really.
Phil [:Right.
Bharti [:Yeah. So I need those other revenue streams to make the model work.
Phil [:Right. That's interesting, actually, to hear that, and I suppose is a good lesson in itself, that being very simple about it is concept development. You've taken the initial idea and you've evolved it into what it needs to become in order for it to be successful.
Bharti [:Yeah. So the everyday counter sales, they're not enough. And it's also because, again, we're an unknown brand and, you know, like, we get lost behind the preps and the Starbucks and, you know, all of those.
Phil [:Competitive spaces in that market.
Bharti [:It is, it is. And, you know, like, they're so big and in your face and so well known that we get overlooked.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:So until we get much bigger and much more in everybody's face, I need those other revenue streams to make it work.
Phil [:Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic journey so far, but let's go back and just fill in the little bit. So, Luke Johnson, boardrooms through to now. What else did you get up to in that time?
Bharti [:Yeah, so after we sold to Brewdog, I stayed around and helped the Brewdog team integrate the two businesses for a little while, a couple of months, and then I took a summer off, which was great. That was 2018, and we had a lovely summer. I spent time with my daughters, two girls, and then I. Oh, yeah, then I went back to. So I had the summer off, and then I was, like, looking for my next permanent role. But in between, the team back at Jamie's needed someone to come and fill an interim three month gap because they'd hired their new CFO, but she wasn't available until three months because she's working out her notice or whatever. So I was like, yeah, I'll come and help you. I'd love to come back.
Bharti [:You know, a special place in my heart was Jamie's. And then. So I went back for that three months and I built them a cash flow model, and, you know, could see that the business was struggling at that time, which is. Which felt very sad. And then kind of. So I did that for three months, handed over to the new CFO, and then I went and worked for coffeesmiths collective. So if you. If you don't, if you haven't heard of them, they basically had lots of different independent brands, and there were buying up the place, basically, at the time when I joined.
Bharti [:But what was happening there is that they were buying lots of distressed businesses.
Phil [:Right. And that distressed me.
Bharti [:So, you know, there was, there's so much, there's so much to tidy up. And buying one distressed business, you know, after another, it just took its toll. I mean, you know, tidying up balance sheets and, you know, there's a reason that they, they were going into administration or whatever, those businesses that were buying up. And yeah, I just really, I thought I would just keep trying to fix it and fix it, but I couldn't do that on my own. And yeah, I was like literally working every second that I was awake, evenings and weekends and everything. Like never seen my children.
Phil [:That's not sustainable, is it?
Bharti [:Yeah. So eleven months later that was that and we were trying to raise money at the same time and like, it was absolutely mental. So we were working on like, we were doing these pitch decks and these management presentations and it was just absolutely crazy. And almost got this investment that was like 65 million which, which then something went wrong right at the end between the investors and then that fell away and it was just like, oh my God, I just can't do this again.
Phil [:But I suppose looking at the positives, I guess, I suppose it's one thing to be at the helm from a financial perspective of a business that's doing well, another to be in a position that's, you know, on its knees or whatever teaches you a different skill set completely again prepares you for if that ever happens again in the future, perhaps in that regard and actually use a kind of very, very crass sporting illusion here. But im a massive football fan, massive Liverpool fan. Ive said that on this podcast before, thats not news. And Liverpool are about to change managers. Jurgen Klopp, whos very famous, were all still heartbroken about the fact that hes going. But the part of the process in that change is that actually sometimes when youre looking for somebody to take the helm of a new or an ongoing business, is that actually you need somebody whos got multitude of skills, not just being at the helm when things are rosy, you know, how do you react when to use the sporting term, you're in a relegation fight. How do you react in a business term when you're in distress? So to gain that experience is hopefully you never have to experience it too often, but at least you kind of now know that you've got exposure to it and you know what you're capable of in that time.
Bharti [:Yes. And that I know that I never want to be there again.
Phil [:Very good. That's good in itself, isn't it? Because it then teaches you that let's do everything that we can to make sure that we're never in that position.
Bharti [:Yeah. And actually, that's probably what drives me now for the beginning of this year to say, okay, let's not get crazy. Let's just. Let's work with what we've got and make this work rather than going out and opening another two or three sites or something this year, because I think we would then be distressed.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:So, yeah.
Phil [:Without Covid, do you think you'd be here?
Bharti [:No.
Phil [:Really? That simple?
Bharti [:Yeah, because I think if Covid hadn't come along, I wouldn't have, number one, had the quiet time to think about what did I really want from. From the bottom of my heart, you know, like, what did I really want to do? Number two, I wouldn't have been given the opportunities in terms of sites and stuff. You know, like a space like this at Liverpool street in normal circumstances would have gone out to tender to, like, I don't know, like ten or twelve, I don't know, companies probably. I didn't have to do any of that. I just kind of, like, came along. But, you know, I just kind of came along and had the conversations and that was that. And I think I wouldn't have got it. You know, it is unheard of, isn't it, that somebody with no trading history, like, it's not even a business yet, gets sites like this, for sure.
Phil [:And it's a really high profile site. Right. I mean, about as prime as it gets for Liverpool street in terms of real estate. But do you think that comes down to ultimately, then, in the end, it's about people and the fact that the british land and the people that you deal with there saw and met, you saw your energy and vigor for what you're trying to achieve. And it's almost a case of, well, we like this person and we like what they're trying to achieve, so let's give them the platform to help them do it.
Bharti [:There's definitely that element to it. So, yes, I was in a unique situation where I was willing to take a risk probably when no one else wasn't ready to do that. But also, I do say to people all the time, like, your network is so important. So, you know, when I was having that Zoom call with british land, we talked a lot about where I had worked, who I'd worked with, who they knew what I'd done, and they could see that, you know, there's, like, real evidence of the work that I'd done and what I could achieve. And that also, I think that got me to the viewing in the first place.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:Because had we have not had all of that, why would they?
Phil [:I think that was your trading history, basically.
Bharti [:Yeah.
Phil [:You and where you've worked and the things that you've done and exposure to.
Bharti [:Yeah. So all of my career so far was, like, my work experience and my, you know, my proof that I could do it. Yeah.
Phil [:Yeah. No regrets.
Bharti [:No. I mean, look, everyone that everyone's always like, oh, do you regret, like, leaving that kind of, you know, CFO role? The only bit is missing the money.
Phil [:But I still believe to this day, and maybe I'm stupidly naive for thinking this, but I think if you're pursuing something with passion and vigor that you love to do.
Bharti [:Yeah.
Phil [:Then the money will take care of itself at some point down the line.
Bharti [:Yes. At some point it will, yeah. And actually, only a couple. Couple of days ago, I was at home speaking to my husband and I was like, I don't think I could go back to an office job sitting in front of a computer all day. You know, like, what I do right now, I spend time in all of my sites day to day and chatting to the team and coming up with new, like, maybe products or something. And it's so exciting.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:And I love it.
Phil [:Well, that's your boardroom, right? Yeah. But what about a way, right? I mean, this is the wonders of modern business as well. With the tech that we have at our disposal to do business day to day, what better place to be than sit in the sites that you are looking after and get a sense of what's flowing and what's working and what's not, and you just get to see it day to day.
Bharti [:Yeah. And also, you know, without that, I don't know, like, maybe if I was in an office role and then going into sites and stuff, like working for somebody else, I don't think I'd pick up on half the stuff that's going on because I wouldn't be so involved in it. Whereas here, like, I can walk in and I'm not saying, oh, this is wrong, this is wrong, whatever, but I know how I want it to be because it's my vision.
Phil [:Your p and l could tell you something, but actually by being there, you just get better.
Bharti [:Well, my p and l does tell me everything in those ways. And because of my finance background, I'm on the numbers all the time, constantly monitoring what. What's selling, what's not selling, how much, you know, how have we done versus the same day last week, last year, what? You know, like all of that's just ready for me and I, and I'm looking at that all the time and I go through with, with the managers, all those little bits. And in that way, I hope I'm kind of teaching them that number side that they may not get elsewhere. I don't know.
Phil [:Yeah, yeah. Do you think you were, I mean, I'm just coming back to your points earlier on through your journey where you were always talking around, what would I do if it was mine or maybe one day when I've got my own. Do you think, therefore, that you were always destined to become an entrepreneur? Did you have this fire within you that thought, I think I need to kind of do this, or do you think you needed that circuit breaker in your life that was Covid to help you get there?
Bharti [:I mean, I've always thought about, like, owning my own business, so I do think that was that little fire in me for as long as I can remember. But I don't think that I ever really thought it would happen, that I'd actually ever do it. So, you know, on this career path of going into like, accountancy and doing my accountancy qualification and, you know, just kind of running up that ladder and, you know, earning good money and stuff and why would I, I think at some points in my career I was like, why would I stop doing this now to go and start my own business that everyone says is like, it's so hard and it takes up all of your time and it's going to be much worse than what you're doing currently. Why would I?
Phil [:Yeah, why would you?
Bharti [:But I think, you know, I'd got to that stage in my kind of finance career where I was just like, I think I'm done with this. I mean, I'm using it all the time still.
Phil [:Of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And actually, in actual fact, I mean, I made the comment at the beginning of our chat around how it's not necessarily a normal, it uses inverted commas for that trajectory for a finance person to go into the entrepreneurial space. But in actual fact, you've probably got the tool that you need the most as an entrepreneurial, especially in a founder led business. It's finance first. I mean, obviously you need to be creating a culture for people who want to come and work and all of that sort of thing, but without having the know how around how your business functions financially, you know, it's tough from there on in, isn't it, really? If you've not got a handle on.
Bharti [:That, because I know. I know what the model is. You know, I know what all the margins need to be. I know what I need to tweak if the margins aren't coming out. Right.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:And you know how to make that work and how to guide the team to make that work? I know how to cut costs if I need to. So, yeah, it's quite helpful.
Phil [:Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. New section of the show now. Kind of the guinea pig, really, for this.
Bharti [:Oh, nice.
Phil [:So I asked you a question on the forum around the best interview question that you've ever been asked. Oh, yeah, I've written it down, so don't worry, you don't have to recall it. But I want to ask you that question to see what your answer to that is.
Bharti [:Okay.
Phil [:Can you remember what it is?
Bharti [:Something about doing something every day.
Phil [:Yeah. What is something you would be happy doing every single day for the rest of your career?
Bharti [:Oh, just making people happy. I like that, honestly, because do you know how excited and happy I feel when we get, like, when someone will come and say, oh, my God, that's amazing coffee. Thank you so much, and then they come back.
Phil [:That is amazing coffee, by the way.
Bharti [:Thank you. But you know what? That makes everything all right. It makes everything fantastic, actually. Like, so you know when somebody's had a delicious coffee or, you know, I remember because obviously, when I opened the first site in the shopping center, I was working all the time then. And then I built up a team and stuff. So, actually, at that point, I had to be trained as a barista, so I learned. So I knew every single job in the whole business so that I could then teach it out. And so there I was, making coffee, trying to perfect my milk, steaming and all of that.
Bharti [:And I remember exactly. It means so much. And then I remember this one lady, and she got a takeaway, flat white, and she walked off with it, and then she came back, she popped her head, and she goes, oh, my God, this was amazing. I was like, thank you. And I just felt so. I just was like, that is why I'm doing this.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:Yeah.
Phil [:I mean, that's hospitality right there, though, isn't it? And I don't think we talk about the. What a wonderful thing it can be for yourself to make other people feel great.
Bharti [:Yeah.
Phil [:You know, I think there's actually science in this that when you're kind to somebody and they're kind back, there's this whole physiological thing that happens within you, and it releases oxytocin, and you feel good. Yeah. I mean, there's a lesson for the world. Why don't we just be kinder to everyone? I know there'd be none of this, but anyway, let's podcast chat for a different story. I did ask you on the sheet. I don't know if you've had a chance to think, but do you have any funny stories from your career so far that you can.
Bharti [:Oh, my God. I thought about this really for a really long time. I don't. I'm not saying that nothing funny's ever happened.
Phil [:The story of sitting in a boardroom with Luke Johnson is good. Not many people get to do that, I suppose, in the end.
Bharti [:But that's not funny, though.
Phil [:No, but it's certainly anecdotal from what it brought to you and the like.
Bharti [:I mean, that boardroom. So I didn't say before, but, you know, there I was, the only female. So probably eight of us around the table. The only female, the only person of color, by far the youngest around the table.
Phil [:Right. Right.
Bharti [:Now you see why it's going as well as just the intensity of, you know, the questions that would be asked, the interrogation of the numbers and me having to be able to perform and, you know, all of that, like, yeah.
Phil [:It was, yeah, interesting times. But actually, as well, now I think about it, I'm just coming back to your profile. In my head, you do actually get involved in some extracurricular work as well, don't you, for the industry, in terms of your involved, would be inclusive. There was another one that I forget the name of off the top of my head.
Bharti [:Balance the board, it's called now.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:So, yeah, I just think, like, I've got so much to give. So I try to do that with the mentoring, with balance the board. So that's specifically for females in hospitality and then be inclusive. I'm on the advisory board and work closely with Lorraine, who's the founder. And we met in. In lockdown over Zoom calls as well. So we first met when blooms yard was just beginning as well. And for her, when be inclusive was just beginning.
Bharti [:And so we've probably been on quite a journey together as well. But, yeah, always trying to kind of, you know, like, I'll say this and everybody knows it, but maybe we don't talk about it enough that, you know, like, we go to all these industry events and there's lots of them, but it's often that there's. There's not enough people of color in those audiences or in those groups, and it's, how do we you know, show that and bring them in.
Phil [:Yeah.
Bharti [:You know, there is that network of people that have been in the industry for a long time that might not include too many people of color, and I want to help to bring those in. Yeah, I think a lot of what happens with probably in the asian culture. So from my background, hospitality is not seen as a career. You know, it's not that profession. So, you know, like, certainly my parents would have been like, oh, I want you to be like doctor or maybe an accountant or, you know, something, something along those lines. But had I have said I want to start my own cafe, wine bar, I don't think they'd have been too happy or understood what, what that could actually be. And I think, you know, a lot of the problems that we have with recruitment and staff turnover is because people just see being a kind of team member or barista or something starting off in this industry as a, as an in between job. Well, I'll just do this until I get my real job.
Bharti [:Well, actually, I want to show people, and I try to tell all my team all the time that there is a career development path in this. And, you know, you can start here, then you can be team leader, and then you can be general manager and actually do that with us because we are a small business that's growing. And as I open new sites, there's going to be more and more opportunity for those kind of roles. I would rather do the succession planning and take people from within the business and develop them into those roles if they're ready to do the time with me, you know, and I just think. I think that's a difficulty in hospitality, that people don't see it as a kind of long term career.
Phil [:Yeah, I mean, that's the whole reason why this podcast exists, is to shine a light on exactly what you've just said. Is that what you might have heard out there as to what it can be to forge a career in this industry might be very different from the word that gets down from your career's advisor at school or your mum and dad or whatever. And I think it's massively important that people realize that. I mean, literally, we've used this phrase so often on this podcast, but the world is your oyster, right? I mean, not just from a travel perspective, but. But the career trajectory it can send you on. So, yeah, I take on board everything you just said there, and that probably is a lovely way to wrap it up, to be honest. Unless there's anything else? Are we missing anything? Is there anything else you want to?
Bharti [:I don't know. I could talk. I could talk about the business for a long time, but it's probably a good place to start.
Phil [:Well, I mean, I wish you all the very, very best with everything that's coming your way. I mean, this is the joy for me running this show, but also just the joy of the industry is that, you know, three years ago, you didn't really exist as a business. And look at you now. And, you know, I have to say to anybody who's listening to this, if you're ever in and around Liverpool street, just come in and have a look and have a coffee. The coffee is excellent. The setting is just delightful.
Bharti [:Yeah. So lucky.
Phil [:Yeah, absolutely. And so I wish you all the success with your consolidation and growth.
Bharti [:Thank you so much.
Phil [:No worries as well. Take care.
