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Extraordinary Life Stories Podcast - Episode Summary
Episode Title
Robin Hutson OBE | From Two O-Levels to Boutique Hotel Pioneer
Podcast Overview
- Host: John Reynolds
- Guest: Robin Hutson OBE
- Focus: Discussing the journey of Robin Hutson, a prominent figure in the UK hotel industry, sharing insights into his life, career, and the lessons learned throughout his journey.
Key Themes and Discussions
Robin Hutson's Early Life and Education
- Left school with only two O-levels, which led him into the hospitality industry.
- Transitioned from a troubled school experience to discovering a passion for cooking and hospitality.
- Attended Brooklands Technical College for hotel and catering operations.
Career Beginnings
- Started as a management trainee at the Savoy Company, experiencing various roles including waiter and general manager.
- Gained extensive industry knowledge by working in prestigious establishments like Claridge's and the Tooting Glen Hotel.
The Entrepreneurial Leap
- At 35, after eight years as a general manager, Hutson contemplated starting his own venture.
- Launched Hotel du Vin in 1994, leveraging a gap in the market for relaxed, quality dining experiences in boutique-style hotels.
- Risked personal assets, including putting his house up as collateral, to fund the hotel.
Key Moments and Milestones
- The influence of food critic Jonathan Meads, who wrote a favorable article that significantly boosted Hotel du Vin's reputation.
- Early days of the hotel involved working long hours, with Hutson and his partner often doubling as night porters.
Vision and Philosophy
- Emphasizes the importance of understanding the craft of hospitality rather than merely adopting the title of "entrepreneur."
- Believes in the power of craftsmanship and the ability to see potential in derelict buildings for transformation.
- Discusses the importance of steady growth rather than rapid expansion, reflecting on his philosophy of "bedding in" new hotels before starting another.
Insights on Success and Well-being
- Definition of Success: For Hutson, success is a natural evolution of passion and hard work, emphasizing enjoyment in work rather than merely financial gain.
- Talks about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle amidst the pressures of the hospitality industry, including being conscious of diet and exercise.
- Highlights his current role as a chairman and consultant, involving himself in various projects while enjoying personal interests like fly fishing.
Closing Reflections
- Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Emphasizes the need to deeply understand the hospitality sector and to continuously educate oneself about trends and market needs.
- The discussion concludes with a reflection on how personal passion can drive professional success, and the significance of risk-taking in entrepreneurial ventures.
Key Takeaways
- Craftsmanship Matters: Understanding the intricacies of the hospitality industry is crucial for success.
- Risk and Reward: Taking calculated risks, such as leveraging personal assets, can lead to significant opportunities.
- Sustainable Growth: Focusing on steady, manageable growth is preferable to rapid expansion without proper foundation.
- Enjoy the Journey: Finding joy in work and maintaining a balance between personal and professional life is essential for long-term success.
Conclusion This episode of "Extraordinary Life Stories" with Robin Hutson showcases an inspiring narrative of resilience, risk-taking, and the pursuit of passion in the hospitality industry, providing valuable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs and established business leaders alike.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOIntroduction to Robin Hutson
1:00 to 2:29
Meet Robin Hutson, a pioneer in boutique hotels with a unique journey.
“We'd overspent, you know, the credit cards were maxed out and the whole...”
Robin's Early Career and Education
2:30 to 4:56
Explore how Robin transitioned from school to a career in hospitality.
“Well, that makes me sound like I've been skiing down to the Black Runs or something, but no, not at all.”
Transitioning from Employee to Entrepreneur
4:57 to 6:53
Learn about Robin's journey from hotel management to entrepreneurship.
“you ultimately got to probably spotted what you saw as a gap in the market.”
The Birth of Hotel Devan
6:54 to 7:59
Discover how Robin identified a market gap and started Hotel Devan.
“Quite a lot of ugly at the time, but anyway.”
Challenges and Successes of Hotel Devan
8:00 to 14:00
Hear about the risks and rewards of starting and running Hotel Devan.
“I want to know what then led to Hotel Devan, which was not something that had been done before.”
The Journey of Hotel Duvan
14:00 to 17:55
Learn about the challenges and successes faced by Robin Hutson when opening Hotel Duvan.
“It was a 13-bedroom, when we first started, it was a 13-bedroom hotel.”
Robin's Vision and Future Projects
18:47 to 27:49
Explore Robin Hutson's unique vision for hotel design and his current endeavors.
“He did call in advance and say he was going to pop in, but we didn't know him that well at that time.”
Reflections on Hospitality
27:49 to 29:40
Hear Robin's insights on maintaining a quality experience in hospitality.
“Because you're going to notice everything, aren't you?”
Personal Passions and Family Life
30:16 to 36:25
Discover Robin Hutson's family life and his passion for fly fishing.
“Well, first and foremost, we're grandparents to two fantastic kids and we're all boys in my family.”
Defining Success in Hospitality
36:25 to 42:01
Insights into Robin's perspective on success and his hospitality journey.
“I hate sitting in an office and, you know, sending out emails all day long.”
Show all 13 chapters
The Importance of Sector Knowledge in Hospitality
42:01 to 43:56
Learn why deep sector knowledge is crucial for success in hospitality.
“And that's beyond probably just working in it.”
The Reality of Running a Pub
43:56 to 44:41
Discover the challenges faced by aspiring pub owners in the hospitality industry.
Reflections on the Conversation
44:41 to 45:05
Hear Robin's thoughts on the importance of experience in entrepreneurship.
“all the previous knowledge to then put into the kind of vision that you made happen.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:01Robin Hutson OBE:Tax Act is here anytime you want to easily file your taxes. Tax Act is here for the early birds who like to knock them out as soon as the season opens. And for the procrastinators who like to wait until the very last minute. Tax Act is also here for the middlers who file right in the middle of tax season. No one ever talks about the middlers, but Tax Act sees you and Tax Act respects you. Tax Act. Let's get them over with. An all-new season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. Mom talk has just been blowing up. Whitney and Jen are on Dancing with the Stars.
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1:00John Reynolds:We did open day one. We had nothing left in reserve. We'd overspent, you know, the credit cards were maxed out and the whole... All in. All in, all in. We couldn't afford a night porter, so Gerard and I would work all day, then one of us would sleep on the sofa all night.
1:15Robin Hutson OBE:Tell me, who is Robin Hudson?
1:17John Reynolds:69-year-old lad from South East London who stumbled into hospitality and have enjoyed every minute since, really.
1:25Robin Hutson OBE:You pioneered and innovated global brands and names that we've all heard of now.
1:30John Reynolds:I've only recently kind of got my head around this slightly, that if I have any skill at all, it's walking into a building and understanding what it will end up like. I know instantly whether a building is right or not. There was a very influential food journalist called Jonathan Meads. I mean, it's always a really hairy moment, you know, when you've got a journalist in the room and he had the absolute ability to make or break restaurants.
1:58Robin Hutson OBE:In that environment, are you able to relax or are you looking and thinking, the lights are a bit too bright, the music's too loud?
2:05John Reynolds:If I tell you that my wife for many years has refused to have dinner with me in any of our restaurants unless I'm facing the corner.
2:27Robin Hutson OBE:Robin Hudson, welcome. Hi, how are you? Very well. You're fresh back from the slopes.
2:32John Reynolds:Well, that makes me sound like I've been skiing down to the Black Runs or something, but no, not at all. I was in Courchevel for a couple of days working.
2:42Robin Hutson OBE:Yeah, well, let's open that up. Tell me, who is Robin Hudson?
2:47John Reynolds:Who am I? Wow. Well, I'm a 69-year-old lad from South East London who stumbled into hospitality and I've enjoyed every minute since, really.
3:04Robin Hutson OBE:Tell me how you stumbled into it because I see hospitality as a people-led business and I wonder how that translates to your journey into it.
3:13John Reynolds:Yeah, I mean, it's been pretty well recorded, actually, that I moved from South East London to Godalming in Surrey when I was 14 years old. And I went from an all boys school to a mixed school. At 14 years old, this all looked pretty exciting to me, the fact that there were a lot of young ladies running around. and so instead of doing any work I just concentrated on partying and thinking about what album I was going to buy next and going to concerts and yeah basically not doing any work so having a good time yeah instead of instead of I don't I think I was supposed to get 10 I got two English and art that was it that was the that was the clutch so I wasn't invited to attend the sixth one and so my mother was a was a really good home cook and I used to like messing around in the kitchen a bit with her and she she came up with a brilliant suggestion actually in retrospect it was because chefs weren't the rock stars then that you know they are now and anyway I looked at the courses for chefs and so on and a little bit further up the page there was hotel and catering operations so that's what i did instead of going to the sixth form i did hotel and catering operations for two years at brooklyn's technical college in weybridge and that was and that kind of i got on pretty well with that and i joined the savoy company after that as a management training management trainee and um yeah didn't really look back so these are
4:56Robin Hutson OBE:jobs whereas i know you as an entrepreneur i know somebody that is a visionary an innovator you know you ultimately got to probably spotted what you saw as a gap in the market. And I want to know the transition from the roles that you had to then actually looking in to be able to start what became your own business.
5:15John Reynolds:Sure. Well, strangely enough, the fact that I did leave school early and got going quite early played into my hands, really, because, you know, by the time I was, the management training scheme with the Savoy meant you spent time in various departments, various hotels. My first job, I was a waiter at Claridge's. I say waiter, I ran around with big trays and cleared tables and things at Claridge's. And then, you know, you move on, you're a barman and you're this and that. So you move through the various hotels doing different jobs. um and after all that they sent you to paris for a year so i worked at the crayon in paris for a year and and so on and and they're all relatively junior jobs all of these but eventually you sort of gather sufficient knowledge of of the industry really and um and i was getting on pretty well and i and i got promoted quite quickly so at the age of 22 i was front office manager at the barclay in in London.
6:22John Reynolds:At the age of 28, I was general manager of the Tootin Glen Hotel in the New Forest, which was at the time, you know, really considered, you know, pretty much top of the tree in the UK in terms of country house hotels. So I started early. And by the time I was 35, I'd been a GM for eight years at one of the best hotels in the country. And I sort of sat back and thought, am I going to do this for the rest of my life or should I do something else you know and so that that was really the kind of fault line I guess between being an employee and and trying
7:01Robin Hutson OBE:to do something entrepreneurial by myself I love that so what you're saying is at 35 years old you've gathered a huge amount of experience you've done everything you've done the pot washing right the way through so you've seen I guess good bad and ugly of the hospitality and the The Tootin Glen, which I love. Quite a lot of ugly at the time, but anyway. Sure. And I, the Tootin Glen, it's probably a mile and a half, two miles from where I live. Oh, yeah, yeah. And the reputation, as you say, of what that place has got is immense. But going back to, so how old, so you're 35, so what year are we at this point?
7:45Robin Hutson OBE:Espera, Clave TV Flownace, a una las 24 horas. Párate, adelante.
7:50John Reynolds:Roughly. I was at Chut and Glem from 86 to 94.
7:55Robin Hutson OBE:Right, okay. So going to 94, where you're having this transition period of like, am I going to do this the rest of my life? I want to know what then led to Hotel Devan, which was not something that had been done before. And I want to crystallize that because there's a huge amount of respect that I've got for the vision that you had to do something that hadn't been done for that pioneering element.
8:15John Reynolds:Yeah, it was kind of interesting. I've always been interested in food and wine and like going, you know, even during periods when, you know, I had no money as a youngster, I enjoyed going out to restaurants and seeing what was going on. And at that time in the 90s, you're too young to remember this, but the food scene, there was no such thing as modern British food prior to the sort of early 90s that we now know and understand and everyone kind of gets on board with. Or that sort of international cuisine that we all know and expect. There was nothing like that. It was a kind of hotels peddled sort of traditional food that came from classic recipes.
9:10John Reynolds:It wasn't very well executed. It was all a bit formal. Very safe? Yeah, pretty safe. And certainly in hotels, it was a very formal and stiff experience. so at Tutanklen for instance we insisted on jackets and ties in the restaurant at that time no kids uh you know if you're a vegetarian you're probably sent down the road you know I mean it was kind of um it was a very very different environment but because I was eating out and I was watching what was going on in London Conran had just opened his first restaurant so Quaglino's Mezzo Anthony Oral Thompson had just opened 190 Queensgate, Alastair Little had just opened in Frist Street and so on and these all represented a shift in the pattern of how people were eating and together with that food style which was a more relaxed food style the ambience of the restaurants were changing as well.
10:14John Reynolds:So prior to that, you wouldn't get someone dressed as you are now with essentially a T-shirt under a jacket. You would be expected to wear a colour and tie. But I was really appreciating the fact that you could have someone in a Savile Row suit sitting next to somebody in T-shirt and jeans and I really liked that egalitarian sort of thing going on, which you saw much more on the continent, actually, than you ever did in the UK. So this shift, I could feel this shift and I was upholding rules at Tutanklen that I didn't really believe in. And so that was very much in my mind. As I say, I'd done eight years as GM and I thought, well, maybe I should try and do something myself.
11:12John Reynolds:In London, apart from this new wave of restaurants that was happening, there were some townhouse hotels popping up. So the Franklin, the Edgerton, those are the places in Knightsbridge and Kensington. Blake's Hotel had just opened which I credit as really being the first boutique design-led boutique hotel in London so I was watching this but in the countryside or in the provincial towns at least there was very tired it was a very tired stock of kind of old coaching inns if you like in middle of you know every high street's got one they're all now something something bistro or whatever um but uh but in the day they were they were just very tired looking old hotels a lot of them had come out of the sort of broken up trust house 40 stable um and but had no investment you know and so on so i kind of figured that in these provincial towns and a lot of them quite well-heeled environments or populations, that if people were paying for something that was pretty dreadful, you know, for a hundred quid for a room for the night, then maybe if you make it slightly better for a hundred quid for a night, they might kind of change tack and come to us.
12:44John Reynolds:And then to marry that with the simple food, the kind of relaxed style of food. so the the naming of hotel de van which we launched in 94 um uh was uh deliberately we had bistro in the title and i know everyone does it now everything's kitchen and bar and whatever isn't it but um but at the time no it was you know ye olde coaching in in in the high street and and so this was quite a new departure in the way yeah a great entrepreneur yeah and that's the ship right
13:18Robin Hutson OBE:you backed yourself you you yeah you felt that you'd identified um something that could work and then you were prepared to to take that risk if you like naivety probably about what could go wrong
13:31John Reynolds:um uh you know i had i probably had the belief that if i worked hard enough at it it would probably be all right um my wife god bless her she allowed me to put the home up as a guarantee for the business we bought the freehold of the first hotel of am you know we bought the freehold it wasn't a just a lease deal um at the time in 94 interest rates i remember our first loan three quarters of a million pounds was uh with an interest rate of 12 and a half percent people bitch about uh interest rates these days they don't they they don't understand what it was like and the cost of property back there so that was a lot of money yeah yeah no i mean we that That first project was one and a quarter million to buy and do up.
14:19John Reynolds:It was a 13-bedroom, when we first started, it was a 13-bedroom hotel. I put together a raft of shareholders, of contacts, friends, family, you know, people that were putting in 10 grand, and I had a couple that put in 100, and then the rest was RBS loan, yeah.
14:43Robin Hutson OBE:So you take the risk, you open the doors to the first Hotel Duvan. How did it work out? Was it an instant success?
14:54John Reynolds:My partner in the business was Gerard Basset. He was sadly no longer with us, but he was the world champion sommelier, so hence the Duvan, the wine side of the offering.
15:17John Reynolds:anyway we knew quite a decent crowd I suppose of people in Hampshire from our time he was at Tewton Glen as well with me so there was a certain expectation and anticipation of us opening and of course we you know did our best at trying to let everyone know that we were opening and and so on we had a few you know we we knew quite a few journalists at the time from from our days at Tewton Glen so we were sort of inviting them down and so on anyway we did open day one we had nothing left in reserve we'd overspent you know the credit cards were maxed out and the whole all in all in all in we couldn't afford a night porter so Gerard and I would work all day then one of us would sleep on the sofa all night and then we'd start again the next day you know just because we couldn't we couldn't afford the the full team as it were.
16:18John Reynolds:But anyway we opened the doors unfortunately a few people came came through a lot of people that we we knew and it was fresh and it was new and it was it was it was kind of exciting and and very very quickly actually there was a there was a a real moment there was a very influential food um journalist called jonathan meads he he wrote for the the sunday times magazine um and so this you know he was a sort of pre-runner to you know a gill and and and um jas corin and the like uh but he was super powerful He was a really brilliant writer and he had the absolute ability to make or break restaurants and he broke a few as well.
17:10John Reynolds:Anyway, he came and he wrote the most brilliant article. It didn't say that we were the best restaurant ever, but it really, really got the concept. And, you know, he said something to the effect of, you know, this is the future of hospitality. These boys have done something different here and so on. And because he was so well-respected, many of the other journalists in the space, travel, food, features, got on the back of it. They'd never crossed Jonathan Mead's because he was so well-respected. So if he said it was great, they were saying it was great as well. He was the oracle.
17:55Robin Hutson OBE:My day kicks off with a refreshing Celsius energy drink, then straight to the gym. Pre-K pickup, back home to meal prep. Time for my fire station shift.
18:03John Reynolds:One more Celsius, gotta keep the lights on. When the three alarm hits, I'm ready. Celsius. Live. Fit. Go. Grab a cold, refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com.
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18:50John Reynolds:I guess he, does he announce himself? Does he come in and... He did call in advance and say he was going to pop in, but we didn't know him that well at that time. And you never know with these, you know, I mean, it's always a really hairy moment, you know, when you've got a journalist in the room, a food critic, a particular in the room, and our strategy always was ignore the food critic, look after everyone around them. you know so that's what you really you know which in turn looks after that he should have a good time because he's looking out isn't he's looking he's he's he's seeing what's going on on that table so if you screw up that one and that one and ignore this one you know it's not it's not great is it so anyway we got through that he wrote a great article and from that day really after that that week that that was published um there was never an empty empty table um we had one other little bit of kind of dark luck, shall I say, was that we're right next to the law courts in Winchester and the trial of one Rosemary West took place in the law courts about a month after we opened.
20:09John Reynolds:So we were full up with journalists, hacks, you know, kind of following the trial. and not only were we full up with them they wanted our car park for their outside broadcast units so i was making more money out of the car park by letting car park spaces for their you know kind of the you know kit sure um than i was out of the hotel actually so yeah that was pretty pretty good so that was yeah um uh you know i hate the idea that we made money out of that situation but
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20:42Robin Hutson OBE:we did no i appreciate you sharing i mean i imagine you're absolutely full of uh stories but i think the piece i like to just understand is that there's you know you were the night porter you put you you put your house up as collateral yeah so any any success to use that word that you've had since because anyone watching listening that knows the story of hotel divan um the the pig hotels in limewood that you went on to do you know that that pioneered the way for to have more backing yourself with further vision and creating other amazing places and i'll thank you massively from my heart for linewood because with all my busy times and my business interests that's where i go to use the spa and go with my wife to just decompress yeah and you i want to ask you that actually you've created a space that is without me ever having had the vision for it and knowing what to do that is like i go there now and i'm not just talking about the spa i'm talking about the layout the way that there's hidden um kind of cabins as well as the main kind of hotel and all that it's it just works and everyone that goes there enjoys it i want to know where that vision came from because all that experience you had working in places like in
21:50John Reynolds:london and so on that's very that's very different yeah it is very different i mean i think first of all the having the confidence of of knowing your craft reasonably well is is is probably uh important not only was i working in in in hospitality but i was fascinated by the aspects of hospitality so like i mentioned the food the wine the travel you know i was i was always fascinated by that but there's one i've i've only recently kind of got my head around this slightly that if I have any skill at all, it's walking into a building and understanding what it will end up like. I know instantly whether a building is right or not.
22:38John Reynolds:So we've converted derelict buildings and old hotels and hospitals and you name it, we've done a few. But I go in there and I can see it. And I know that, I don't mean to sound arrogant in any way about that, but it's a it's a skill that i've only recently realized that other people don't actually have and so i've been blessed lucky whatever to end up with that strange little skill
23:09Robin Hutson OBE:well from someone who got uh to english in an art there's a creative element just as you're leaning into that there's a there's a visionary yeah you you clearly manifest um not just uh the actual kind of outcomes if you like but to look at something and very quickly
23:24John Reynolds:process and what's kind of strange is that um our youngest son will is is a tattoo artist um of some repute and uh he's been doing it for he's he's mid-30s now so he's been doing it for nearly 20 years uh work with some of the best people in the game and and so on but when he was a a kid he had a completely photographic memory for logos or you know a specific car or something like he could from his head you know if you said we used to play a game you'd say okay coca-cola logo we all think we know what a coca-cola logo is try and draw one you know it's not easy and And he could just produce these things out of his head.
24:14John Reynolds:And so is there some sort of genetic connection? Quite possibly. Through that. Yeah. So, yeah, it's sort of, it's an odd one.
24:24Robin Hutson OBE:So actually, that's interesting. So do you think about the experience you had up to 35 of going around so many different establishments and hotels that there is probably an element of piecing together of architecture, literally. Yeah, no, I'm a frustrated architect. Feeding your own algorithm. Yeah, yes. I am I am a frustrated architect I'm jumping to to right now because I know so I've been to a number of the places that you've obviously crafted into beautiful places are you done are you now are you now sitting on top of what you've done and managing or are you still there's still a part of you that's thinking we could do this we do that is anything new you're working on um we uh as you
25:03John Reynolds:know we we sold the majority stake of the pig a couple of years ago and I'm no longer involved in in in the operation there i chose to step out of it completely rather than be half in and half half out um we're still shareholders we've got a small again that was our choice um both judy and i did all the sort of design and development and everything together judy my wife um and so it was you know i was 50 years in hospitality up until the point of of selling and it was night and day because we were both completely involved and you know we didn't have a big team we you know we literally did it all ourselves we chose every picture we hung every picture we you know every little detail within any of the pigs you know was was our decision and that sort of you know that that can take a toll you know we're not kids and and uh so when it's so full on through and we you know we opened hotels pretty much at one a year through that through that period so which translates as you can imagine you're sitting in bed on a sunday morning having a cup of tea and and you're talking about the blooming curtains for room 31 you know and it's kind of living and breathing it yeah it when it takes that amount of your life we made the very conscious decision that actually you know we're not getting any younger we need to make sure that we we we enjoy some other bits of of our life as well apart from working so so judy has completely retired from from activity um i'm still chairman of um uh limewood and the ski hotel portetta uh i have no ownership in that i as you probably know that's owned by jim rackliffe um of inios and manu fame now um uh grenadiers and grandmothers and everything parked up outside um and then uh i'm also chairman of an english sparkling wine business i'm uh very happy with um the suguru south downs which is probably uh as good a glass of sparkling wine as you're you'll find in the uk yeah um and i'm consulting on a hotel in in uh in australia as well but but i but my kind of full tilt entrepreneurial bit is probably behind me um uh i think uh but we're we're still developing things at limewood and and you know always innovating well yeah always trying to come up with new stuff and and keep it fresh really got
27:54Robin Hutson OBE:a lovely relaxed demeanor about you i complimented you on that when you came in and this conversation you have that vibration just just just on that where you can now be relaxed probably the first time in your life were you the guy in linewood when you were perhaps for example going back a few weeks when we were with hue and jim yeah fly fishing conversation there and you were effectively be hosting but uh you know in that environment are you able to relax or are you looking and thinking the lights are a bit too bright the music's too loud because i've got friends that are in their own personal hospitality and you i'm there having a great time but are you able to not allow that to show through but the same you're like turn that down well if i'm he hasn't got a drink if i tell
28:37John Reynolds:you that my wife for many years has refused to have dinner with me in in any of our restaurants unless I'm facing the corner because then I can't see anything. So you are that guy.
28:49Robin Hutson OBE:Because you're going to notice everything, aren't you? If we were sat in one of your places now, there'd be things that you just couldn't help but notice.
28:56John Reynolds:I mean, I just left Port Atta and had a really, really good stay, but I left a note like that of, I don't know, 20 points, most of which would go over a lot of people's heads.
29:08Robin Hutson OBE:That's your experience. So what have you done and what are you enjoying doing now to get the enjoyment out of life where you're not working so hard.
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30:16John Reynolds:Well, first and foremost, we're grandparents to two fantastic kids and we're all boys in my family. And for the first time in a few generations, I've now got a granddaughter. So Stephanie, she's the princess of the family, as you can imagine. And her brother Dougie, so they're good fun. They live very near us and so we see a lot of them. My kind of personal, selfish passion is fly fishing, as you mentioned. In fact, next week I'm off to the Seychelles. I particularly like saltwater fly fishing. And so I am, yeah, I'm...
31:10Robin Hutson OBE:So is that bone fishing, tarpon?
31:12John Reynolds:No tarpon out there in the Indian Ocean. So it's a giant trevally, GTs. And I'm actually going to Cosmoledo, the island of Cosmoledo, which is the furthest of the outer islands. And they call it the GT capital of the world.
31:30Robin Hutson OBE:They quite like hell, don't they?
31:32John Reynolds:Yeah, they do. and then my the fish i love to catch more than anything else is called a permit uh and um they're particularly difficult and uh they're in the flats aren't they they're on the flats yeah yeah yeah you're waiting for them and yeah but you're in it's not like waiting in scotland it's you know you're in in shorts and and yeah i've never done it but i know many people that do and it looks
31:58Robin Hutson OBE:incredible they often have full cover-up because they glare yeah no no you're um you look like some
32:03John Reynolds:sort of ninja um you know wandering around the flats trying to uh trying to uh keep the sun off you know eight hours in that sort of beating yes can can get you and then it byproduct of the the
32:17Robin Hutson OBE:fact that what led you into wanting to go into the career you did is enjoying food and drink you look remarkably well for someone that at any one time has had to taste lots of food and and lots of drink and start the other sparkling wine business how have you managed that i'm serious because you know there are people that are in hospitality that it's almost a given that
32:36John Reynolds:they've got to drink but you look very healthy um thank you um uh you know i think you just have to be very conscious of it i've never been the guy that stands around at the end of a working day at the bar waiting for a guest to talk to um you know I will of course uh take on that role but I'm not looking for it every day um I love a glass of wine I collect a bit of wine and so on and um I will probably have a glass of wine most most days of the week um but I am super conscious of not overdoing it. And actually, I think I have an inbuilt mechanism that if I've had two or three days of a lot of eating and drinking, I just want to, you know, I want to eat lettuce leaves and drink fizzy water.
33:29John Reynolds:Yes.
33:30Robin Hutson OBE:And for someone that's more than likely tried most food, what's your favourite meal?
33:35John Reynolds:Yeah. At Limewood, as you know, we work with Angela Hartnett, who is as good an Italian cook in this country as anyone. And you have eaten her pasta. And the risotto regularly. There you go. And the risotto. And so my deathbed meals, I tell Angela very frequently, is her white truffle risotto. She's made it for me on numerous occasions, including for 150 at my 60th birthday. Brilliant. that's my wife's default yeah so and i figure you know when you get really old and you can't chew your food properly you can probably get a risotto down you know totally that's brilliant
34:22Robin Hutson OBE:although on the same page of that one yeah yeah and keeping yourself uh fit so alongside the diet complimenting about looking well it feels clearly you keep active even your even your activities outside of being busy with if you like work going hunting the fish and so on walking up and down the river going into the flats but have you kind of prioritized keeping fit as well uh because a lot of people swear by it for particularly if you're going to be successful in business yeah
34:48John Reynolds:i wish i was better at keeping fit i wish you know i wish i was a natural runner i mean i you know yeah i can i can you know jog around slowly for for 45 minutes if i need to but i I do use the gym and I've had a personal trainer for many years and that discipline I think is quite a good one. But, yeah, I think, again, it's just trying to do something, trying to keep active, trying to – little things like trying to use the stairs rather than the lift and all of that jazz I think is really, really important. It's a constant decision to do it, isn't it? Yeah, and I think all through your day, there are decisions to make.
35:35John Reynolds:And it's, do I have the fizzy drink or do I have the glass of water? Do I have the croissant or do I have the apple? I mean, it's just, and particularly when you're surrounded by food and wine all the time. And if left to my own devices, I could eat and drink for England, but I'm careful. The other thing we do, we're sort of spa junkies as well. And so we like to go to, there's a wellness hotel in Thailand that we go to quite a lot called Kamalaya. And so we try and do a trip there maybe once a year. And yeah, Thai food is particularly brilliant at lending itself to being really healthy. and so it's a very healthy small portion food but tasty and yeah then i can then i can handle it
36:34Robin Hutson OBE:yeah so that's cool there's a lot of people that uh could look into the to your world and the things you've done things you've achieved um and call you successful i feel like that would be met with a certain amount of humility and um resistance but the reality is the success you've had um crystallizes that i want to know what your definition of success is yeah i mean look you
37:00John Reynolds:know as i said i i fell into hospitality i was lucky uh you know to fall into uh to something that that intrigued me and um and kept me kept me interested uh and it's a very uh at least the way I do it is a very practical, hands-on, I'm an in-the-trenches sort of manager. I hate sitting in an office and, you know, sending out emails all day long. You know, I want to be there and talking to people. So it suited, it completely suited my personality. So the success, I suppose, felt like just a natural evolution of what I was doing. You know, I was, you know, when they, whatever the adage is about, you know, enjoy what you work at and then you never work a day in your life or something, whatever that was.
38:01John Reynolds:You know, I kind of believe in that, that, you know, I've worked ridiculous number of hours, ridiculous number of days in my career but you know the absolute vast majority of them you know I've really loved and enjoyed and I've never ever woken up in the morning thinking I don't want to go to work you know so yeah and then you know as they say again if we're if we're bringing out a few sayings that you know the harder you work the luckier you get you know and kind of believe in that slightly as well so um yeah and and you know things did fall into place um uh but you put the graft in to make sure yeah that's what that's what's evident and we never we never let it run away with us you know we both of the hotel groups that we um we built up you know we did them steadily it was kind of one at a time you you'd get one hotel more or less right bedded in and so on before you started the next one you know i didn't ever try to do six together because it would have been a car crash you know so uh so yeah it was it was steady growth both hotel divan and and the pig and you know i think i think i've opened 20 odd hotels probably I created 20-odd hotels in my career, something like that, from scratch.
39:33John Reynolds:But there's a creative buzz about that that is probably quite addictive as well.
39:40Robin Hutson OBE:Yes, yes. I think just listening to you then saying how, you know, if you're enjoying what you're doing, it doesn't feel like work. This has become a big part of my work. Yeah, yeah. And it's a pleasure. You look pretty happy doing it. Super happy. and you know learning real time from from you uh and being able to of course share you know your experience your knowledge and and i'm conscious of time as we're coming close to the end but just just opening that sort of last part of what you were saying if anyone's watching and listening to you and sees you as a an inspiration sees you as someone that has i used the word earlier pioneering and they're an aspirational um uh entrepreneur if you like and wants to to do something and break through, do something that may not have been done before in hospitality, what advice would you give them?
40:51Robin Hutson OBE:Taste recognizes taste. Payment processing fees and boosting fees still apply. See website for details. With picky eaters, every meal feels like a negotiation. Smarty Pants fills common gaps with 16 nutrients, even when veggies are a no-go. With 33 % more nutrients than the second leading product and brain health support,
41:12John Reynolds:it's the number one kid's gummy multi. Grab Smarty Pants on Amazon or at Target or Walmart today. Brain health support from Key Nutrients. This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Well, I do think sort of learning your craft is important. Understanding the sector, having a deep understanding of the channels that lie within different areas of the business. And then you can perhaps find and exploit some gaps within them. But that's not a quick, easy thing to do. You can't parachute yourself into the hospitality sector and find those niches.
41:59John Reynolds:You have to know the sector. And that's beyond probably just working in it. I used to say to all of our trainees, learn about things. Pick up the weekend newspapers, read about hotels, read about the latest food trends or the restaurants that are catching people's eyes. It doesn't cost you anything. There's newspapers lying around the hotel. Just pick one up and just read it and be interested because that will actually be part of your education. and so I think having that sort of deep sector knowledge for me is important and sometimes you know I do sometimes worry about the the term of just being referred to as a as an entrepreneur because sometimes that implies you just come up with some great idea about a new nut and bolt or something you know and then you know you replicate that a million times and all of a sudden you've made a shed load of money you know that um there are people that can do that clearly and and do it very effectively but but i think i think that's pretty hard to do in hospitality because you need to you need to know what's out there and you need to try to feel the zeitgeist of the moment and you know understand the you know the touch points and and and the elements that are really starting to spark people you know so i think yeah it comes down to uh knowing knowing the scene knowing knowing uh uh the arena you're playing in i guess yeah you articulate that beautifully i think
43:40Robin Hutson OBE:i've been around a few people that have fancied the idea yeah of owning a hotel yeah um and then uh and they've made some money from something else and it hasn't necessarily played out so i
43:50John Reynolds:think that's invaluable advice well i think you know if you do happen to make your money from making nuts and bolts uh which some might consider is you know not particularly glamorous or exciting place to be often those people then decide they'd like something with a little more glamour to it or a little more front to it and so yeah the you know guys wanting to own their own pub because they think it's all about standing there with their mates and them slapping them on the back saying what a great place you know it's that's uh uh well as as has recently been very much in the in in the news that's not the reality of running a pub these days no it goes back to all those
44:36Robin Hutson OBE:years of grafting in all those different positions to then back yourself which i think that's the key part of entrepreneurship for me is that you you put your house on the line um and you had all the previous knowledge to then put into the kind of vision that you made happen. It's been a pleasure talking to you, Robin. I hope you've enjoyed it.
44:56John Reynolds:No, I have. Great fun and very easy. And yeah, thank you for having me on here.
45:01Robin Hutson OBE:No, it's been a pleasure. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll see you at line with some points. Yeah, definitely. Tight lines next week. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
45:12Robin Hutson OBE:Akamai Cloud. GPUs for agentic AI. Bring AI inferencing closer to users everywhere. Get started at akamai.com slash GPU.
From the publisher
In this episode of Extraordinary Life Stories, John Reynolds sits down with Robin Hutson OBE, the visionary behind Hotel du Vin and The Pig
Robin didn’t set out to become one of Britain’s most influential hotel entrepreneurs. In fact, he left school with just two O-levels.
In this episode, Robin shares the remarkable journey that took him from running trays as a waiter at Claridge’s to building some of the UK’s most beloved hospitality brands, including Hotel du Vin and The Pig Hotels.
They discuss:
How failing at school pushed him into hospitality
Learning the industry from the ground up
The moment at 35 he decided to risk everything and start his own hotel
Putting his house up as collateral to launch Hotel du Vin
The restaurant critic who changed everything overnight
The creative skill that helped him transform derelict buildings into extraordinary spaces
Why understanding your craft matters more than calling yourself an entrepreneur
Robin also reflects on success, stepping away after 50 years in hospitality, and the mindset needed to build something truly original.
This is a conversation about vision, risk, craftsmanship, and building a life doing what you love.
