Espresso: Why POPHAM's Founder Allows the Vision to Evolve

0:06What are the principles or skills from that time as a kitchen porter that now we fast forward to 2023 that you kind of use as a leader? something that stuck with me at a time that I like to think a lot of what Popham's is based on or certainly a part of is I saw from quite early on in that role I saw amazing chefs not just chefs front of house but amazing people let's say and sometimes found it frustrating how they weren't let loose in terms of like they were so creative they were brilliant chefs but they were always um you know it's important to have parameters in a business and set you know set those lines but it was so systematic it was so you do this down this line my way that i just i used to remember for like just let them let them do them let them create like you've got these amazing brains you've got these people who are just you know there's so many amazing people in this world who are creative innovative and just have so much up there but a lot of times they're suppressed in what they can do and what they can give so I think that's certainly one of the memorable parts of my time and when you when you ask about leadership is you know that's very much how Poppins is built and someone actually in F1 of boss I used to work under I think when I was talking about my dream of one day opening a place he said only ever hire people that are better than you and that has stuck with me so strong and that is what poppers is about and we have so many brilliant people and i just try and be the link with those brilliant people and never get to yeah let people be their best self and let people create what they can create and and just have amazing people around you in a business there's two bits on that the first is in principle lots of founders and people listen to this like let's hire people better than us i completely get that the hard bit is to be the link that pulls it all together because ultimately i believe a brand is pours out the founder's soul in many respects where there's like pop-ups there'll be parts of your soul that have gone into that brand but then as you say you need to get people who are way better at you and all the different things but it's like how do you link that together how do you thread the needle between those various moving parts to make sure the problems is still magical and that is hard so how how do you try to thread the needle if that makes sense uh sharing a vision i think interesting um having people follow the vision and create create a place where those people that you want on the journey are all on that page and is uh is the link is you know if if you have certain people and maybe talking about management and senior management more in terms of what your what your question is is it's and i'm definitely not saying we're perfect to that and i'm not perfect at that because it's a constant learning curve but what we're trying to do you can't have so you can't have a disjointed part of it you can't have someone who doesn't back it doesn't follow it whether it's you know it's it's finding people who share what you want to do and 100 there's been people on the way that haven't um and not out of them or out of us it's just you know it's a it's a different type of business let's say that they want to work for and um that's you've got to be understanding about that at times but in terms of that link it's just um yeah i think it's really an awareness that people are following what you're trying to create and people are all on board with it on the same page and you're making decisions that empowering as many people to make those decisions it's not all yourself yeah of course you've got to sign off on the big ones but it's so important to let people make their own decisions empower them make them feel like they are changing the scape of poppums and they are changing what they can do um rather than just constantly biting into you have to do this you have to do that you have to do that have a trust is a massive thing um and once you get that and once you incorporate that into a team and a group of people, I think then you can lead in the right way.

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5:08He's a wonderful sales team at Unleashed. They're amazing. Even nothing comes of it. And even better news, you'll get your first month free if you reference Hungry. Thank you. I love teasing out these ideas because I think ultimately the vision is the needle that threads the whole thing together so no vision no trust no vision no empowerment no vision you can't really get those people even though they're better than you to allow them to be their best creative self what is the Popham's vision I suppose what is say we were to sit sat here in I don't know 50 years time what's the big Popham's playing I suppose 50 years time yeah that would tough um you'll be on a boat by then mate no I don't know about that um what's the vision uh the vision has evolved through the years and I think that is that's something that you just take grasp of and there are certain points that change in that and and I'll start as in you know our vision from day one yeah that'd be really interesting yeah That day one vision was a really simple, basic concept around, can we be the most innovative and creative with one pastry croissant dough?

6:26Just use that, have eight, 10, 12 different varieties using just the same dough and create with that. Do things that, you know, London at the time, 2017, it was Panachoklas, Plains and Almonds. you couldn't really get anything else and for for something that you know is part of a lot of people's daily rituals is that pastry is that plain crust and that pan de chocla you know we were living in London still is the most like fast forward innovative food scene in the world and I just wanted to play on that and I wanted to see if we could create we could be the most innovative we could be the most creative so that was in terms of product and then and a huge part of us is is can we create a place um that people are the number one and that when you walk in as a customer atmosphere warmth you feel at home anyone can walk into popham's whoever you are however you look however you feel and our goal is to and our vision is to make everyone's day better whether that's through product or service um and as i said that has that that's day one that's what's shared now but it has slightly changed as we've opened more things over the years what's how's it changed slightly because i think it's something i haven't talked about on this podcast i've done 100 of these episodes is is how your vision can change i think people think right you've got to sit down one day airy fairy write it write out some fucking like get your post-it notes out and write your vision and that's you've done for 50 years and it's like and then that's the vision but actually the vision can evolve and should evolve the yeah the business you evolve as a founder the brand evolves the business evolves so the vision should evolve whereas i think people get and i probably thought the same thing is you think all right i just need to sit down and get this vision sorted out and stick it on the wall and then bish bash bosh we're away yeah but actually it's like no that can evolve and the business is is is kind of can be fluid and can move into different things yeah so you start with this just relentless focus on croissant or croissant croissant yeah there's no cross there there's no other trademark names that we've used it thank you so so much for listening it honestly means the world to me i hope you enjoyed your morning coffee and go and have an amazing day let's be having ya if you want the fun episode it will be in the show notes a link will be in the show notes the full episode thank you so much please leave friends as well means the world to me

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