What's Cooking?

Raising Cane's builds UK leadership team as it delays first restaurant opening

Raising Cane's has delayed the opening of its first UK restaurant in London's Coventry Street until early 2027, while continuing to line up additional London sites in Kingston, Tottenham Court Road and The Strand. As part of building out its UK operation, the US chicken chain has appointed former Azzurri executive Louise Donohue as finance director.

A finance director joining a fast-growing US restaurant brand at the exact moment it is scaling into a new market, managing site delays and multi-site expansion, is a direct match for What's Cooking?'s themes of scaling and systems.

• What changes when you build the finance function for a US brand's first international market from scratch?
• How do you plan capital and site economics when opening timelines slip, as happened with the flagship London site?
• What lessons from Azzurri are you applying to a completely different, single-brand fast-growing concept?

Raising Cane's builds UK leadership team as it delays first restaurant opening

Alongside its finance director appointment, Raising Cane's UK has also appointed former Chicken Shop supply chain director Anome Oyetey to oversee UK supply chain operations as the brand prepares its London launch and wider expansion.

Building a supply chain function ahead of a multi-site UK launch is exactly the kind of operational, systems-first challenge the show explores with founders and operators scaling into new markets.

• How do you build a UK supply chain for a single-protein, high-volume concept before the first restaurant even opens?
• What did you carry over from Chicken Shop's supply chain playbook, and what had to be rebuilt for Raising Cane's model?
• How do you plan supplier and logistics capacity against an expansion pipeline that includes delayed openings?

Butcombe chief executive says trading has improved since the World Cup

Butcombe chief executive Jonathan Lawson has told Propel that rather than experiencing a downturn, trading has improved in its managed pubs since the end of the FIFA World Cup last month. Lawson also said the Caledonia Private Capital-backed operator and brewer has been encouraged by trading on accommodation and seen strong momentum in breakfast and brunch.

A live, on-record trading update from the chief executive of a private-equity-backed multi-site operator, covering shifting demand patterns across food dayparts, is squarely in the show's territory of margins and operational resilience.

• What operational levers did you pull to capture the breakfast and brunch momentum you're now seeing?
• How do you read short-term demand swings like a major sporting event without over-reacting on staffing and stock?
• What has Caledonia's backing changed about how you run the estate operationally, versus how you ran it before?

Bill's Restaurants managing director on culture change and doubling Ebitda

Tom James, managing director of the Richard Caring-backed Bill's Restaurants, discusses the cultural change he has led at the business, which has resulted in a doubling of Ebitda and a return to the expansion trail.

A documented operational and cultural turnaround that doubled Ebitda and restarted expansion is precisely the kind of scaling and margin story What's Cooking? is built around.

• What specifically did you change operationally to double Ebitda, beyond just cost-cutting?
• How did you sequence culture change against the commercial turnaround, and which came first?
• Now that you're back on the expansion trail, what's different about how you pick and open new sites this time?

RedCat Hospitality chief executive on building on a transitional year

Richard Lewis, group chief executive of RedCat Hospitality, operator of Coaching Inn Group and RedCat Independent Pubs, talks about building on a transitional year for the business, growing a company-wide culture, and how its investment programme is gaining momentum as it returns to the expansion trail.

A group chief executive candidly discussing a turnaround year, investment pacing and renewed expansion across a multi-site estate gives Conor a real, hands-on operator story rather than a marketing pitch.

• What made last year 'transitional', and what specific operational metrics told you it had turned a corner?
• How do you sequence an investment programme across a multi-site estate without disrupting day-to-day trading?
• What does building a 'company-wide culture' actually look like operationally across dispersed sites?

Wahaca chief executive on returning to the expansion trail

Gemma Glasson, chief executive of Wahaca, the Mexican restaurant business founded in 2007, talks about returning to the expansion trail, reimagining the brand in its 18th year, and having to reconsider its guest proposition.

A chief executive relaunching expansion and repositioning an established multi-site restaurant brand offers a direct, operator-level growth and repositioning story for the show's audience.

• What told you it was the right time to restart expansion after a pause, and how did you de-risk the first new openings?
• What did 'reimagining the brand' mean operationally, from menu and format through to site selection?
• How do you rebuild a growth pipeline and team capability after a period of consolidation?