Jobes & Co. Insights

I ask European brands the same question before they expand internationally: who is sitting at your tables right now?

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Set aside the age brackets and the spend data. What is the occasion they’re actually coming to you for? Are they celebrating, closing deals, or...

If your franchise underperforms in a new market, you’ll face a question you can’t answer

Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Was it the market, our brand, or them? You can’t get clean data through someone else’s execution. If a franchisee cuts corners, substitutes products,...

Once the location is in your head, it’s hard to let it go

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been working with a client recently who kept coming back to New York. I get it. It’s exciting and on paper it makes sense for the brand. But if...

What turns your best operators into your worst managers?

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Someone is great on the pass and respected by the team. The conversation turns to what’s next, and they assume management is the only way up. Doing...

Before you sign a management agreement, have you stress-tested it?

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Having been on the negotiating side of these deals, I know where the pressure points sit. The offer often sounds straightforward and the headline...

We missed the most obvious hook

Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

At Tao Group, we originally designed One More Cocktail to drive average spend across our UK venues. Training, incentives, gamification, the lot. Then...

Direct ownership is often dismissed too quickly

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Last week, I broke down the five models and where direct ownership sits on the scale. It’s usually the first model ruled out, but I often advise...

The wrong growth model can make a good restaurant expansion plan unworkable before the first site is signed

Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Franchise, licence, management agreement, joint venture or own it directly. Which model do you go for? Too often, that question gets answered too...

You've got proof of concept in London... So where next?

Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been working with a client whose London site is thriving and is now looking at where to open next. The first conversation is always broader than...

A simple branding test for every new venue. Could you put any name on that door?

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

If the answer is yes, the design has failed. A strong hospitality brand is held together by details you cannot casually swap...

Ted Schama wrote something recently that stuck with me

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

He made a great point about brand polarisation from an investor’s perspective. There’s scale and value at one end, ultra-luxury and experiential at...

Your best people might leave. Train them anyway.

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

One of the harder parts of leadership is accepting that development does not guarantee retention. When a business is growing, career paths are easier...

Stop leaving your marketing team out of revenue conversations

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I was in a conversation recently about a revenue problem. When I asked what the marketing plan looked like, the answer came back as content...

Good footballers do not always make good football managers

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It is a cliché because it keeps proving true, and hospitality makes the same mistake all the time. The promotion errors I see most often are not...

Before you ask, “Where do we cut costs?” ask if cutting costs is even the answer

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been working with a restaurant group recently. The starting assumption was straightforward: revenue is down, so we need to reduce the cost...

British operators expanding into the US are sitting on an advantage they rarely use 💂

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Major American cities, particularly those with a strong affinity for London, love British brands. American tourism to London continues to grow each...

The hardest promotion conversation isn't with the person who's ready.

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The hardest promotion conversation isn't with the person who's ready. It's with the person who thinks they are. When that gap exists, the manager has...

Working with businesses on US expansion, Las Vegas almost never gets raised

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

And it risks missing one of the most incredible opportunities on earth. What people don't see is how Vegas really runs - The number of people moving...

If competitors are launching things you should have thought of first, that's usually a signal everyone at your table thinks the same way.

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I've talked before about relying too heavily on internal promotion - long-standing teams tend to follow similar thinking patterns. It's not a people...

The most successful people I've worked with had one thing in common

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

They knew exactly where they wanted to get to. Whether they said it out loud or not, they had a plan. When someone tells you directly what they're...