Rebecca Mascarenhas launched her career as an independent restaurateur 39 years ago with the opening of Sonny’s in Barnes (now in its third incarnation at Home SW13). She also owns Home SW15 in Putney, co-owns Elystan Street in Chelsea and Kitchen W8 in Kensington with the distinguished chef Phil Howard, and is a consultant and investor in other restaurant start-ups.
Rebecca, first of all congratulations on such a long and successful career in what is a tough, high-turnover industry. There can’t be many others who have been active for as long as you – how do you keep going, and do you have plans to ease up now?
Yes, there are Jeremy King and Sally Clarke who started out around the same time as me, but there aren’t too many of us. And these days I am always looking to do less – in fact we have just hired the manager who opened Elystan Street with us as a new operations director, which should take some of the load off.
But either I’m a control freak or it is the nature of the job, so it is very difficult to cut down.
If you pay attention to the detail – which I do – then you are all in.
And this is an endlessly fascinating business. I’m endlessly inspired by all aspects of it, and I still never get bored.
You went to drama school, but then found yourself with a career in restaurants. How did that come about?
Well, I had to earn a living, so got a job as a waitress in Bob Payton’s Chicago Pizza Pie Factory. Back then everybody regarded working in hospitality as only for people who were absolutely rubbish at everything else. I am super academic, and looked at publishing for a career. So I didn’t think waitressing was a proper job – I was just waiting for my life to begin.
But then I discovered that it was my life! Bob Payton, initially, and then Victor Lownes were my champions, and I progressed very quickly to become a manager (for Bob) and then general manager (for Victor) in my 20s. I got the role by default: there was only me there at the time, but I grasped the nettle.
Things have changed now, and people realise it is a proper career with enormous scope. So I
am now mentoring youngsters whose parents send them to me. They might be at university but want new direction – I helped one who had started a law conversion course and decided it wasn’t for him.
This is a business where talent will shine. If you show willing and are enthusiastic and passionate, you’ll rise very quickly, your career will rocket.
We have an 18-year-old girl working for us who is going to be a star front of house. She knew nothing about the industry, but she just loves it. You have to want to learn everything, and never to be afraid to ask questions if you don’t know why things are as they are. Be enthusiastic – and don’t be cynical.
You obviously love food and I can see you have a wonderful collection of cookbooks. Did you ever consider becoming a chef?
I always loved to cook, and started from Elizabeth David books. I am a really good cook – but I don’t class myself as a chef. My technique is poor, but my taste isn’t! Actually, I’ve met chefs with great technique but no taste. On the other hand, Phil [Howard] and Mark Kempson [the chef at Kitchen W8] both have perfect taste – which is a rare thing, like perfect pitch in a singer. I am in awe of chefs: aren’t we lucky that these people are obsessed, spending time, energy, enthusiasm to develop their talents?
But I realised early on that I am very good at finance, which is my key to having a long-term successful business. You have to watch the numbers – and make sure you understand what the numbers mean. If you don’t know the numbers every day, you soon get into trouble. Margins are so tight now that we have to know exactly what we are doing – and the data we collect means we’re not operating on a wing and a prayer. It’s amazing to think that when we first opened we didn’t even have a till – we just threw the money into a cash box!
That’s why my business partnership works with Phil – I provide him with a rock-solid platform where he can do what he does so brilliantly in the kitchen (and I have to say that there are very many talented chefs who won’t listen, but Phil is not one of them!)
So what made you set up your own account, by opening Sonny’s in Barnes?
Having my own business allowed me to have children as well as a career. It is very hard for women in this industry – I worked twice as hard because the hours were mine, and for years I got up at 5 in the morning to do my business admin before the kids woke up. There was no commute – we lived in the flat upstairs from the restaurant!
When we launched Sonny’s in 1986, I was pretty well – along with Sally Clarke – the first woman to open a restaurant on her own, without the benefit of other people’s money: no financial backers, or being a chef’s wife. My mum remortgaged the house to lend me the money for the restaurant, which I named after my dad, and we’ve financed all our expansion ourselves.
You have kept the group relatively small: a handful of restaurants all close by to you in southwest London. Was this to ensure hands-on control?
I always wanted to have a business that was great, but to scale up dramatically you need to finance it in a different way, and I have never wanted backers. I don’t want to be driven by somebody else. I have a duty to my staff; I don’t want to have a duty to shareholders.
I have said no to opening a restaurant in Dubai so often – it’s just not for us!
What are the developments in the industry now that worry you?
Costs are a huge problem. Climate change is having a profound impact on raw ingredients. The price of olive oil rocketed last year, and because it was so wet in Britain we imported more produce. We try very hard to buy English meat, well husbanded on farms that care about welfare, plus line-caught fish – but’s all very expensive.
On top of that there’s the rise in the minimum wage and employers’ NI, the rise in utility bills, the reduction in business rates support. It is going to be a huge shock, with massively more restaurant closures – not just a few, massively more.
HR now is just a living nightmare, and it’s getting worse. It’s always assumed that all employers are exploitative, like Animal Farm. But I’m a great believer in company culture:
if you treat people working for you well, they generally provide a very happy experience for the customer.
The high cost of eating out is a real problem, too. There are plenty of restaurants charging £60 for a main course, and even crap places charging £25.
As a customer, it drives me insane when we’re addressed as “ladies”. And I hate it when the food is described as each dish is put down in front of me.
I would like to see the end of small plates – my absolute bugbear, especially when they’re crammed on a small table in any old order. The idea that ‘it comes when it comes’ is the antithesis of hospitality, it’s insane. At a restaurant in Copenhagen, we followed the sommelier’s recommendation of a natural wine that was barnyard vile – and when we asked politely for an alternative wine, he more or less threw the wine list on the table! That sort of arrogance is the death of a restaurant.
Let’s finish on the bright side: what excites you about today’s London restaurant scene?
There are so many fantastic people coming through. To name just a few: Martin Kuczmarski at The Dover, Dan Willis of Luca, Ben Chapman of Kiln, Tomos Parry of Brat and Mountain, Max Coen at Dorian. I could go on….
And I am really enjoying the revival of classical French cuisine. To me, the pinnacle of dining in London is The Ritz: it’s super-expensive but absolutely lovely.
