Robin Gill is a serial restaurateur who has built multiple, entirely different restaurant concepts — not chains, not repeats. In this episode, Robin breaks down why great hospitality isn’t about big gestures or surface-level creativity — but about systems, discipline, and invisible details that customers feel without ever consciously noticing. Drawing on years of building restaurants from scratch, we explore what actually creates loyalty, repeat business, and long-term success — in hospitality and far beyond. =============== 🍽️ ON THE MENU =============== ⚙️ Why great hospitality is mostly invisible 🧠 Performance vs delight — and why it matters 🚫 Why removing friction beats trying to impress 🔍 The small details customers feel but never articulate 🏗️ Building restaurants as systems, not vibes 🎯 Why doing fewer things perfectly wins 📈 What hospitality teaches any business about human behaviour This isn’t about food trends or hype. It’s about how well-designed systems quietly win. 

 Got empty tables? EatClub connects your restaurant with diners in real time, turning quiet hours into profit.
Contact us: [email protected]

Espresso is proudly powered by our sponsor, Unleashed!

📦 1. Wait…what is Unleashed?
Unleashed is inventory management software – but not the boring kind. It doesn’t just track stock...it connects seamlessly with your finance tools, eCom platforms, and CRM. That means one smooth system from sales to stock to cash. We use it daily at Islands, and honestly? Total game changer.

🍴 2. Why foodie founders love it
Unleashed helps you slash admin time and stay laser-focused on your margins. Know exactly where your costs are, what’s selling, and how your cash flow's looking (because yes, cash is still king).

🚀 3. Trusted by the best in FMCG
From Candy Kittens and Tiny Rebel to TRIP, Tarquin’s Gin, Three Spirit, Minor Figures, The Turmeric Co., and Volcano Coffee - some of your favourite challenger brands are scaling with Unleashed. If they’re using it, you know it’s the real deal.
 

📅 4. Fancy a chat?
Book a quick call with the Unleashed team here 👉 https://calendly.com/unleashed-sales-team/discovery-call-with-unleashed-hungry

🎁 5. Try it for less
Get 50% off your first 3 months if you choose to subscribe. You’ll wonder how you ever managed without it 👉 https://www.unleashedsoftware.com/

 ♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here 🍲 

🤝 Let's Connect!

►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/)

►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/)

When I started the poddy, I scribbled on scruff paper a list dream brands Top of list: Innocent Innocent are THE OG challenger brand. The Innocent Illuminate (or Alumni) all built WHOPPPA brands:

Giles, Barney, Emma, Peter Oden, loads more All extol fruitful learnings from Fruit Towers. Many see Innocent as a Brand & Marketing machine (they are). In this episode Adam Balon revealed something much DEEPER Something surprising. Something you've not thought about.

♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here 🍲  

ON THE MENU:

1. Why There are Multiple Status Games and We Are Never Playing One Status Game
2. Why a Story is a Deal - a UNIQUE deal between your brand and your consumer - so tell the story right
3. The Science of Brand Storytelling Nike and The Rise of Metcons in Cross Fit
4. Why Status is Making Us Live in a Blandemic - Blandemic of Buildings, Restuarants and Brands - how to escape
5. Why Bad Brand Story Telling is vague, “Reflect the story world back at me, so I can find my identity in it”
6. Why Falling in Love is Similar to Brand storytelling: Your Goal is to Reflect back to them what they want to know”
7. The brand is a light figure in storytelling: How does your story make consumers Status + Connection
8. Why Ambition can become corruptive and how to solve it
9. Why the best organisational structures are focused on the “Me” and “We” (this is SO SO SO good)
10. We Earn Status Through Virtue
11. The Status Game and Michelin Star Restuarants: The Downfall of Status

==============================================
🌟 HUNGRY's Absolutely Bloody Marvelous Sponsors🌟
=============================================

 ✨North Star: (www.northstarbc.co.uk) 

---------------------------------

🤝 Let's Connect!
►Let's link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/)
►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/)
 

Espresso is proudly powered by our sponsor, Unleashed!

📦 1. Wait…what is Unleashed?
Unleashed is inventory management software – but not the boring kind. It doesn’t just track stock...it connects seamlessly with your finance tools, eCom platforms, and CRM. That means one smooth system from sales to stock to cash. We use it daily at Islands, and honestly? Total game changer.

🍴 2. Why foodie founders love it
Unleashed helps you slash admin time and stay laser-focused on your margins. Know exactly where your costs are, what’s selling, and how your cash flow's looking (because yes, cash is still king).

🚀 3. Trusted by the best in FMCG
From Candy Kittens and Tiny Rebel to TRIP, Tarquin’s Gin, Three Spirit, Minor Figures, The Turmeric Co., and Volcano Coffee - some of your favourite challenger brands are scaling with Unleashed. If they’re using it, you know it’s the real deal.
 

📅 4. Fancy a chat?
Book a quick call with the Unleashed team here 👉 https://calendly.com/unleashed-sales-team/discovery-call-with-unleashed-hungry

🎁 5. Try it for less
Get 50% off your first 3 months if you choose to subscribe. You’ll wonder how you ever managed without it 👉 https://www.unleashedsoftware.com/

 ♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here 🍲 

🤝 Let's Connect!

►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/)

►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/)

Marketing hasn’t changed.
Human behaviour hasn’t changed.
Most brands still get this wrong.

This episode is a curated montage of insights from three of the most influential thinkers in modern marketing and behavioural science — exploring why people buy, how brands become commodities, and what actually drives growth.

===============
📱 ON THE MENU
===============

Why people don’t buy quality — they buy stories
How brands cross (or fail to cross) the adoption chasm
Why removing friction beats adding features
The real role of status, affiliation, and fear
How “delight” creates disproportionate value
Why most innovation never becomes normal
This isn’t trend-watching.
It’s a breakdown of the timeless mechanics behind decision-making, branding, and scale.

If you’re building a brand, selling an idea, or trying to influence behaviour — this episode will change how you think about marketing.

==============================================

♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here - https://hungryfeast.beehiiv.com/🍲 

==============================================
🌟 HUNGRY's Absolutely Bloody Marvellous Sponsors🌟
==============================================

A massive shoutout to our incredible sponsors who make HUNGRY possible:

►North Star: (www.northstarbc.co.uk)

🤝 Let's Connect!
►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/)
►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/)

This episode was edited by:
G.Thomas Craig (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gthomascraig/)

===============================================

==============================================
🌟 HUNGRY's Absolutely Bloody Marvelous Sponsors🌟
=============================================

 ✨North Star: (www.northstarbc.co.uk) 

---------------------------------

🤝 Let's Connect!
►Let's link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/)
►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/)
 

Espresso is proudly powered by our sponsor, Unleashed!

📦 1. Wait…what is Unleashed?
Unleashed is inventory management software – but not the boring kind. It doesn’t just track stock...it connects seamlessly with your finance tools, eCom platforms, and CRM. That means one smooth system from sales to stock to cash. We use it daily at Islands, and honestly? Total game changer.

🍴 2. Why foodie founders love it
Unleashed helps you slash admin time and stay laser-focused on your margins. Know exactly where your costs are, what’s selling, and how your cash flow's looking (because yes, cash is still king).

🚀 3. Trusted by the best in FMCG
From Candy Kittens and Tiny Rebel to TRIP, Tarquin’s Gin, Three Spirit, Minor Figures, The Turmeric Co., and Volcano Coffee - some of your favourite challenger brands are scaling with Unleashed. If they’re using it, you know it’s the real deal.
 

📅 4. Fancy a chat?
Book a quick call with the Unleashed team here 👉 https://calendly.com/unleashed-sales-team/discovery-call-with-unleashed-hungry

🎁 5. Try it for less
Get 50% off your first 3 months if you choose to subscribe. You’ll wonder how you ever managed without it 👉 https://www.unleashedsoftware.com/

 ♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here 🍲 

🤝 Let's Connect!

►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/)

►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/)

David Cleevely didn’t approach hospitality like a chef — he approached it like a systems engineer. After decades building companies at the heart of British technology and science, Cleevely went on to co-own one of the UK’s most iconic Italian restaurants. In this conversation, he explains why running a restaurant isn’t that different from running a technology business — if you understand systems, incentives, and long-term thinking. This isn’t a story about Silicon Valley hype. It’s about infrastructure, patience, culture, and why the boring bits are what actually make businesses work.

 =============== 📱 ON THE MENU =============== 
🍝 What a tech pioneer learned by running a restaurant 🧠 Why systems thinking matters more than innovation 🏗️ Building businesses that last — in tech and hospitality 📉 Why most companies obsess over the wrong metrics 🇬🇧 How Britain quietly builds world-class businesses ⏳ The long view: patience, compounding, and endurance Whether you’re building a startup, running a restaurant, or managing a growing team, this is a masterclass in how experienced operators really think. ============================================== ♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here - https://hungryfeast.beehiiv.com/🍲

 ============================================== 
🌟 HUNGRY's Absolutely Bloody Marvellous Sponsors🌟 
============================================== 

A massive shoutout to our incredible sponsors who make HUNGRY possible: 
►North Star: (www.northstarbc.co.uk) 🤝 Let's Connect! 

►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/) 

►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/) 

==============================================
🌟 HUNGRY's Absolutely Bloody Marvelous Sponsors🌟
=============================================

 ✨North Star: (www.northstarbc.co.uk) 

---------------------------------

🤝 Let's Connect!
►Let's link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/)
►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/)
 

Espresso is proudly powered by our sponsor, Unleashed!

📦 1. Wait…what is Unleashed?
Unleashed is inventory management software – but not the boring kind. It doesn’t just track stock...it connects seamlessly with your finance tools, eCom platforms, and CRM. That means one smooth system from sales to stock to cash. We use it daily at Islands, and honestly? Total game changer.

🍴 2. Why foodie founders love it
Unleashed helps you slash admin time and stay laser-focused on your margins. Know exactly where your costs are, what’s selling, and how your cash flow's looking (because yes, cash is still king).

🚀 3. Trusted by the best in FMCG
From Candy Kittens and Tiny Rebel to TRIP, Tarquin’s Gin, Three Spirit, Minor Figures, The Turmeric Co., and Volcano Coffee - some of your favourite challenger brands are scaling with Unleashed. If they’re using it, you know it’s the real deal.
 

📅 4. Fancy a chat?
Book a quick call with the Unleashed team here 👉 https://calendly.com/unleashed-sales-team/discovery-call-with-unleashed-hungry

🎁 5. Try it for less
Get 50% off your first 3 months if you choose to subscribe. You’ll wonder how you ever managed without it 👉 https://www.unleashedsoftware.com/

 ♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here 🍲 

🤝 Let's Connect!

►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/)

►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/)

If Oasis did Supper Clubs they wouldn’t come close to HUNGRY Productions Bonfire Banquet.
Okay…okay… I jest... I jest.
But, my wonderful friends, this one was a CERTY BANGER!!!

Absolute Wave Donny speaker line up:

- Imme Ermgassen, Botivo Drinks | B corp
- Andrew Salter, DIRTEA
- Perry Haydn Taylor 💚, big fish®
- Riya Patel, All The Aunties

Hosted at London hottest new gaff, ISLAND Kings Cross at Mare Street Market

Run by two legendary Michelin Star chefs Tom Brown and Brad Carter.

ON THE MENU:

1. Avoiding category pigeonholing
2. Niche focus vs. mass-market expansion
3. Building credibility before awareness
4. Packaging as primary advertising
5. Community-first brand building
6. Identity and lifestyle branding
7. Early adopters vs. mainstream consumers
8. Paid media vs. organic creativity
9. Retail + distribution challenges
10. Agency pitfalls and resource misallocation

==============================================
🌟 HUNGRY's Absolutely Bloody Marvelous Sponsors🌟
=============================================

 ✨North Star: (www.northstarbc.co.uk) 

---------------------------------

🤝 Let's Connect!
►Let's link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/)
►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/)