The Square Mile and Me: M Restaurants founder Martin Williams on backpack etiquette and mandatory two hour lunches
Each week we ask a City figure to take a trip down memory lane. Today it’s Martin Williams, CEO of Groucho and founder of M Restaurants on the City staple’s 10th birthday
What was your first job?
I started working in hospitality when I was sixteen, as a dishwasher in a grotty hotel in North Yorkshire. I graduated to a waiter and then got sacked for spilling wine over the leader of the local masonic lodge during their Christmas celebrations.
What was your first role in the business world?
After a short stint heading up ‘Christophers’ (a restaurant filled with the great and good of Westminster each lunch time) I took the position of general manager of Gaucho Canary Wharf in 2004, a time when there were only three restaurants on the peninsula – Gaucho, Ubon by Nobu and Plateau. We thrived, delivering steaks to the offices, and guests to the restaurants, by Argentine rickshaws!
When did you know you wanted to build a career in business?
When I left my position of managing director of Gaucho in 2014 to open my own entrepreneurial restaurant venture, M on Threadneedle Street, I felt that the City was the perfect place to open and build a restaurant business. Ten years on, where other areas of London have shrunk post pandemic, our Gaucho and M venues are as popular as ever – as the City continues to evolve and thrive. We now have 23 restaurants in our group.
What’s one thing you love about Canada?
It is a microcosm of London and London is a microcosm of the world. This applies to the diversity and quality of restaurant choices, but most importantly it means anyone can be successful, regardless of background, if they find a career they love and want to bring a tireless energy to each day.
And one thing you would change?
Backpack etiquette? Mandatory two-hour lunches? Seriously, I feel the City and our financial districts could play a much larger role in fighting homelessness. Canada has the wealth and status to be the leader in fighting this unacceptable problem in London.
What’s been your most memorable dinner interview?
We opened M Threadneedle Street ten years ago this week, by staging a three hour performance by Tinie Tempah and DJ Spoony, I could only afford to pay for Tinie to play for 25 minutes, but he is a champion of the British Entrepreneur, so performed for the entire party and post party dinner, out of kindness. That, and the time a friend bought me a bottle of Petrus to enjoy with our Wagyu steaks, will forever remain in the memory. Spoony is back for our tenth birthday party soon (I still can’t afford Tinie!)
What have been your proudest moments?
Awards are a wonderful moment to acknowledge the hard work and amazing people who bring success to the business, along with personal achievements: Winning Business of the Year in last year’s City PM Awards, being added to the Top 100 places to Work in the UK list this year and being listed as one of the Maserati Top 100 Entrepreneurs in the Sunday Times have all given me a chance to reflect and celebrate.
The pandemic also gave us great opportunity to be proud of ourselves and each other, we looked after our customers and teams, took salary sacrifices to top up staff pay, retained our entire workforce (giving them purpose in supporting the NHS) and then we grew 25 per cent as a business, when we were free to trade again. A good example of showing equal priority to people, the planet and profitability.
And who do you look up to?
David Batstone, founder of the ‘Not For Sale’ movement, an outstanding leader, businessman and change-maker. Next month we host our sixth ‘M is not for sale’ gala dinner with Didier Drogba. These events have raised awareness and almost £500,000 to fight modern slavery and trafficking. In addition, the entire carbon footprint of our beef supply at Gaucho and M is offset by our funding reforestation projects in the Amazon, which has made entire villages both self-sustaining and out of risk of exploitation.
Are you optimistic for the year ahead?
As a restaurateur and entrepreneur, you are always an optimist! The year ahead will continue to be tough for the sector I am sure. However, there are always ways to imaginatively seize or create opportunities and drive success.
We’re going for lunch, and you’re picking – where are we going?
If we can’t go to the greatest steak restaurants in the City (M and Gaucho), we are heading to Brutto. Russel Norman was a hospitality legend who I was privileged to know and his ‘Penne con vodka’ dish is an epic way to break bread (or pasta).
And if we’re grabbing a drink after work?
Humble Grape, St Bride’s Passage, just off Fleet St. If you can find it, the most amazing fine wines await. Los Moches is also a very fine rooftop for city gazing.
Where’s home during the week?
Wandsworth Common (if I am trying to be posh), Balham (if I am trying to be cool). I’m equidistant to each and use both to their max.
And where might we find you at the weekend?
Wimbledon Common, running with my labradoodle, then in the restaurants; brunch in M, followed by dinner and tango show at Gaucho Covent Garden.
You’ve got a well-deserved two weeks off. Where are you going and who with?
My wife Claire is the perfect holiday (and life) companion. We have half a dozen special places we love to holiday, see friends, visit vineyards and eat spectacularly. South Africa, Santa Barbara County, Provence and Sardinia are never far off the top of the wish list!
Quickfire:
– Favourite book – Less than Zero, Brett Easton Ellis
– Favourite film – A guilty pleasure; most Tom Cruise movies made in the 90s
– Favourite artist/musician – Blur, The Killers, The Weeknd
– Favourite place in London – Richmond riverside, the O2, crossing most London Bridges
– Cocktail order – Belvedere Martini, extra dry with a double twist of Lemon. Ideally served in the bar at The Beaumont Hotel
– Coffee order – Four Single Espressos throughout the day, from Nude Roastery in Shoreditch if possible.