The LanburyHundred Approach

LanburyHundred is a specialist hospitality consultancy and leisure advisory service focusing specifically on the restaurant, pub, bar and hotel sectors of the hospitality industry. Established by independent restaurateurs and food and drink experts it assists both new start-ups and existing businesses with a wide range of issues from set-up to operation to trouble-shooting to expansion. Its team is comprised of hands-on operators who have worked for the largest, most high profile and most successful companies and brands in the business. They have also set-up and run their own enterprises enabling them to offer genuinely practical, front-line help. Over the last two decades they have worked on a great number and variety of projects covering every aspect of the hospitality industry. This allows them to deal with any issues you and your business might have, whether small or large.

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Our People

NICOLAS GROSS - Founder and Principal Consultant

Nick comes from a long line of successful restaurateurs and chefs and entered the restaurant industry straight out of university when he joined the Marco Pierre White Restaurant Group in London in 1995. After six years working in operations for the group where he was involved in the opening and running of some of London’s top restaurants, including; L’Escargot, The Criterion, Quo Vadis, The Mirabelle, The Oak Room, The Grill Room at the Cafe Royal, Big Chef, The Belvedere, Titanic, Drones, Sugar Reef and Red Cube Nick left to open his own restaurant; The Clerkenwell Dining Room and Bar in London, EC1. In 2002, he set up and ran The Restaurant on the Square near Winchester, winning 'Newcomer of the Year' in The Good Food Guide. In 2003, he opened his second venture; The Devonshire House gastro-pub in London, W4, eventually selling this on to Gordon Ramsay. Since 2001, he has consulted on a wide range of projects ranging from casual fast food to Michelin-style fine dining to pubs to hotels, in the capital, nationwide and overseas.

Since 2010 he has worked as Restaurant and Food Consultant for The Gorgeous Group on food and beverage projects including the Waldorf Astoria Hotel - Syon Park, the Hilton Hotel - Liverpool, Dishoom - London and The Balcon at the Sofitel Hotel St James - London.
Between December 2010 and July 2012, he was Pre-opening Project Manager and then Operations Director for ex-Gordon Ramsay Head Chef; Mark Sargeant, opening his two new highly-acclaimed Kent restaurants; Rocksalt and The Smokehouse.
In January 2016 he completed an eighteen month project as Operational Stakeholder Team Leader of a 40,000 sq.ft private client space in Mayfair, London for global auditors and accountants; KPMG.
In 2018 and 2019 Nick worked as Interim Project Manager and F&B Concept Creator for various hotels across West, Central, Southern and Eastern Europe for Marriott Hotels International. During this time he created and managed F&B spaces for Luxury Collection, Ritz-Carlton, St Regis, Le Méridien, Westin, Renaissance, Sheraton and Moxy brands.
Since the end 0f 2019 Nick has been retained as Director of Operations for new start up East Mediterranean restaurant; Ampéli in Central London.

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MAURICE ABBOUDI - Lead Associate

Maurice moved into the hospitality industry after completing his MBA at Manchester Business School. In 1992 he founded Famous Moe’s Pizza which became the UK’s leading independent pizza delivery chain. After selling the group in 2002 he joined Domino’s Pizza as Director of Business Development. Within a year and under his guidance, Domino’s topped the UK Pizza Delivery sector with an annual turnover of £150m.

In 2004, he was approached by ASK Restaurants to advise on a new concept launch. Following this he has taken on numerous contracts with some of UK’s leading Food Service companies, advising specifically on Operations, Marketing and Franchising. These include Wagamama, Chipotle, Tortilla, Ed's Easy Diner, Le Pain Quotidien, Firezza and Masala Zone. Maurice is the lead leisure advisor to Chrysalis Venture Capital Trust, a partner in Red Hot Restaurants and co-owner and board director of London-based sushi chain; K10.

In January 2019, Maurice was invited to join as a serial investor on the second series of BBC2’s popular ‘My Million Pound Menu’. Click here to see more details.

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DAVID SWANN - Chef Consultant

Our Chef Consultant; David, is a very experienced culinary operator with 25 years experience in the food industry spanning luxury hotels, 3* Michelin restaurants, airports, supermarket innovation and event catering.

In 1997, David started his formal training at a 4 star deluxe hotel in Berkshire before moving on to work with Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck for four years. A stint with Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road followed. After this David moved to Rhubarb Food Design as Retail Head Chef launching their first restaurant at Heathrow’s Terminal 3 followed by food concepts for American Airlines’ First and Business Class lounges. Within a year he had been promoted to Group Retail Head Chef and opened Gallery Mess at the Saatchi Gallery and Bond & Brook at Fenwicks department store, London. In 2010 Rhubarb won a tender for the Royal Albert Hall where David oversaw three restaurants, private box catering and events.

In 2012, David joined Marks & Spencer as Innovation Chef and worked across all categories for this leading UK supermarket and retailer. In 2014, moving into the world of kosher and event catering, David joined Sobell Catering which was re-branded to Food Story. In 2019 they were shortlisted as Caterer of the Year at the prestigious Cateys and also won a contract with Virgin Airlines.

Post Food Story, David was Head of Food for Dubai Expo 2020 with Absolute Taste, conceptualising 32 food and drink offers for the ‘world’s greatest show’, Post Covid, David created StarChefs, a high-end meal box delivery experience, featuring top chefs, delivering nationwide.

David’s recent consultancy projects have included The Gleneagles Hotel, Maggie & Rose Members Clubs, Genting Casinos, Whole Foods, Century Club, Smart Hospitality, Fairoak Foods, Nancy’s Nightclub and Zafferano Restaurant. His key strengths are culinary concept creation, menu inspiration, creation and delivery, associated financials, full SOPs and training.

LISA ROUKIN - Chef Consultant

Our chef consultant; Lisa, is an extremely passionate and energetic chef, teacher and writer, having written her first book; My Relationship with Food, which features 100 delicious, nourishing and seasonal recipes; all gluten-free and with minimal use of dairy and refined sugar.

As well as teaching cookery to a number of private clients in their homes, she regularly visits employees of leading blue-chip companies, including Google and Facebook, running interactive cookery workshops and advising on the benefits of mindful eating whilst at home, travelling and in the workplace.

Over the years she has forged culinary and collaborative partnerships with many established contract caterers and helped them and their in-house chefs offer healthy and wholesome eating options in a number of city banks, encouraging nutritional eating in the workplace. As a consultant chef she has created, shared and served her recipes to the employees in corporate offices such as Nomura, HSBC, CITI, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, AVIVA, KPMG, Clifford Chance and Prudential. She has also created online recipes for Ocado.

Her ambition is to encourage people to make lifestyle choices that support their nutrition and exercise goals in practical and engaging ways. As well as a very broad culinary knowledge, Lisa now specialises in dishes that are gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian.

HARRY GERAKIS - Cocktail & Drinks Consultant

Harry has spent over 20 years in hospitality having learnt his trade and honed his skills in Greece before moving to the UK eight years ago. During this time he has worked and developed drinks for a variety of bars and spirits brands including Loves Company, Be At One and Callooh Calley. His work on drinks menus stretches throughout the UK and across Europe. Currently he is a director of an events and drinks consultancy company called Wet & Dry and a Brand Ambassador for Metaxa as part of Rémy Cointreau.

JAYNE NELSON - Interior Design Consultant

Jayne’s creative journey started with a BA Hons Degree in Textile Design but her passion for inspirational buildings and her love of beautiful quality materials and detail led to a Master’s Degree in Interior Design. She now has 25 years’ experience predominantly in the HORECA Sector. Her portfolio covers an extensive range of restaurants, hotels and high-end residential projects across the UK and Europe.

Jayne has designed for some of the most internationally revered Design Agencies in London with time spent at AvroKO, Red Deer Ltd and Suited ID. Fully conversant in the complete design process from conception to technical detailing, Jayne can manage your FFE specification and co-ordinate on site.

Nominated for a Hotel Spec Europe Award, Jayne has worked on a range of projects for prestigious clients including Williams and McLaren F1 Racing Teams, Marriott International, Grecotel, Hacienda’s Zorita Hotel Group, Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Hallmark Hotels, Surya Hotels, Monteco Holdings, Ormond Group, Global Craftsman Group, IG Group, Purohotels, Ballymore Group and Frieze Publishing Ltd.

Recent highlights include working for Frieze, the international art fair organisation, to create Toklas, a new artist’s canteen with bakery and grocery, in Mark Wadhwa’s Culture Centre at 180 The Strand, London, home to the Soho House team. Jayne supported Stafford School on a two-year project to create a brutalist interior that reflects the austerity of the 1970’s building.

Other clients and projects include :

DANIEL KENNEDY - Brand and Marketing Consultant

Although originally trained as a chef and working both front and back of house, Daniel’s career has been focused within the branding, design and marketing arenas. Having worked for international blue-chip organisations, he has also been a co-founder of a start-up wine business as well as establishing a successful creative agency from scratch that operated for 12 years.

Much of his career has been working with hospitality, travel and leisure brands, from independent start-ups to global hotel chains. He consults directly with both agencies and businesses advising on strategic delivery and development of accounts and processes. Daniel has a strong skill set: comprehensive capability across the marketing mix, defining, designing, and delivering branding, marketing, and cross-media/market campaigns, in addition to commercial, operational, and financial culpability.

Ultimately he has a hands-on approach: focus, management, and attention to detail to ensure what’s promised is delivered for your business. Past and present hospitality clients include Hilton Hotels, Conrad, Waldorf Astoria, Crimson Hotels, Double Tree, Curio Collection, 100 Queen’s Gate, Brakes and Saga.

What We Do

Sectors

Whatever type of restaurant, bar, pub, hotel or catering operation you have, we have the experience and know-how to tackle any issue you need help with :
• Fine Dining • Casual Dining • Quick Service Restaurants • Themed Restaurants and Bars • Gastro Pubs • Wet-led Drinking Pubs • City Bars and Late Night Venues • Hotel Dining and In-room Dining • Meeting & Events, Conference and Banquet Dining • Outside and Private Catering • Festival and Event Catering • Take Away & Home Delivery • Retail and Delicatessens • Street Food and Food Markets • Global and On-Trend Cuisines.

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Early Stage and Start Up

Whether you are already up and running with one or several sites, or just wish to get help from day one, we can assist you every step of the way :
• Feasibility Studies • Business Plans • Site Search & Acquisition • Landlord Packs • Funding & Finance • Design & Build • Project Management • Costing & QS • Branding • Marketing, Websites, Social Media Strategies and Implementation • Launches.

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Operating

All businesses, even well-established ones, need help from time to time, either day-to-day or on a one-off basis. Our consultants' varied experience can help you in all aspects of operating successfully.
• Menu & Wine List Creation, Recipes, Costings, Tastings, Cook Offs and Pricing • Staff Recruitment and Training • Mystery Dining • Product Sourcing and Procurement • Suppliers and Purchasing • Marketing, Websites, Social Media Strategies and Implementation.

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Profitability

Profit is of paramount importance to all businesses. LanburyHundred can help yours minimise loss and hopefully maximise profit.
• Budgeting and Cost Control • Gross Profit Calculation and Realisation • Management Accounting • Profit Maximisation.

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Expansion

For those businesses with growth in mind, we can put you on the right track to further sites, chains and roll outs and if desired, franchise opportunities:
• Multiple Sites • (Branded) Roll-outs • Franchising • Retail • Home Delivery and Collection.

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