Alan Bacon
I'm a very early riser and am rarely asleep beyond 6.30am. I'm also a light sleeper, and if anyone drops a pin in the bedroom, I wake up. When I get up, the first thing I do is either go to the gym for an hour or, if I don't go out, I do a little exercise regime at home. I think with age you need to get the oxygen pumping.
I then come home, have breakfast, and read The Times. I'm a news glutton and I have the television on at the same time in case I miss anything.
After breakfast, at about 8.45am, I leave my house in Pimlico and go to my office in Fulham. I either drive to work or, if it's nice, I cycle. Either way, it takes about 15 minutes.
My job is to make sure my three restaurants are running smoothly. They turn over more than £3m a year and employ more than 50 staff.
When I get to work the first thing I do is look at the post to see if any new disasters have befallen me. Most of the post is financial stuff. If anything needs answering, either in terms of the post or e-mails, I do it straight away.
At about 10am the staff arrive at the restaurants, so I then phone each to check that everything is running smoothly and run through what happened on the previous evening.
About 11.30 or 11.45am I go to one of the restaurants and just have a coffee and watch. I learn a lot just by watching. I then go to another restaurant and have lunch. For lunch I might have a Caesar salad or a hamburger, which it usually is because I'm a carnivore. I probably stay for no more than an hour and then I leave to run my own errands.
Between 3pm and 4pm, I go back to my office for a couple of hours and, at about 5.30pm to 6pm, I go home and relax for a few hours.
When it gets to a point when I think the restaurants should start to get busy, usually about 8pm, I call them to see how they're doing. A pleasing moment is when I phone and whoever answers says they can't talk to me because they're too busy.
I then get changed and usually four nights of the week go to one of the restaurants for dinner, either by myself, with my wife Cliona, or with friends. Invariably I'll have a steak because it's our signature dish.
When getting ready for the evening, a favourite hobby of mine is to phone one of the restaurants, say I'll be there in half-an-hour and then go to one of the others. I like to be unpredictable and go unannounced.
After dinner I go to another restaurant for a drink or a coffee and usually get home by about 10.30pm. At 11pm, just as the restaurants are closing, I phone each of them just to see how the evening has been. After I've called them I can flick my lights off and get my seven hours' sleep.
Interview by Louise Bozec
Factfile
Black & Blue
205-207 Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, London NW3
Tel: 020 7443 7744
Opened: April 2003
Seats: Each restaurant seats 80-90 diners
Price: About £25 for a starter, a steak and wine
Also sites in Gloucester Road and Kensington Church Street, London
Just a minute…
What's your favourite restaurant? Le Caprice in London. I think it's consistently well done. The only snag is you need to book well before you want to go.
What's the best meal you've ever eaten?
For our anniversary a few years back, my wife and I cruised to New York on the QE2. On the first night we had caviar, lobster and the wine to match. When you're in a great setting with a beautiful woman you think: "Life doesn't get much better than this."
What would you most like to happen in your life?
To read in the newspapers one day that the average life expectancy has gone up from 80 to 150. I think life is so great that I just want to prolong it for as long as possible.
