Banking on harvey nicks
I WAKE up at 6.30am to the sound of Radio 4, and I usually go for a jog around nearby Battersea Park. Then it's time either to recover, or to entertain or feed Charlie, my baby daughter, while my wife Nathalie gets ready for work. At 7.30am I shower and dress. I don't eat breakfast.
By 8am we have all left home. Charlie goes to a nursery while Nathalie goes to the Harbour Club, where she is general manager.
No two days are the same, but I might get to the Oxo Tower by 8.30am for a review meeting with its general manager, Rupert. He briefs me on what happened that week and then we cover issues ranging from finance to maintenance. I look at which VIPs are due in and what sort of functions are booked. We host a lot of corporate events.
It costs a minimum of £35,000 to hire the Oxo restaurant for one evening, so the companies involved are big ones such as Nokia. It was also used for the original Spice Girls launch. With business of that size, we can't afford to get anything wrong. When Oxo first opened in September 1996, our eight telephonists took 11,000 calls a day for just 300 seats in the restaurant and brasserie. It was crazy. Now, calls average 3,000 a day so it's more manageable, but there's still a four- to six-week waiting list.
Around midday I have lunch. Recently I met with architects and our professional team to discuss design issues for our forthcoming restaurant at 147 Leadenhall Street. That meeting ran on through lunch, which we had at the new City restaurant, 1 Lombard Street.
Leadenhall Street is an exciting project and will offer 140 covers in the main restaurant as well as a bar and orangerie. There's a 30ft-high ceiling, skylights and 8,000sq ft of space on three levels. It was originally the Bank of New York and was built between the two world wars. Customers will be City folk but we hope to give the design a cool, calm, feminine feel rather than a hard, masculine one. It will close at weekends.
Later that day I went back to Knightsbridge for a 3pm Harvey Nichols board meeting, before returning to my office at 5.30pm to deal with piles of paper and messages on my desk.
Most evenings I visit the Fifth Floor food market at 7.30pm to buy supper. All staff enjoy a 30% discount, but the real trick is knowing which day specific products are delivered fresh. For instance, I always buy my mozzarella on Tuesdays and Fridays. I'll always try to visit all the departments and chat with staff.
Once every two or three weeks I take a day to visit our Fourth Floor operation at Harvey Nichols, Leeds - reviewing sales, costs and new ideas. I like my managers to be autonomous and to bounce ideas off me.
I find the line staff in Leeds are friendly and enthusiastic, and the public up there is much more supportive of our promotional events than it is in London. The Leeds Fourth Floor Club has more than 1,000 members, while the Fifth Floor Club in London has just 200. I suppose it's because there's always so much else going on in London.
Normally, I get home about 8pm and, in the summer months, I'll go for a walk with Nathalie and Charlie in the park. We take it in turns to either cook or bathe and feed Charlie.
By 9pm we'll have our supper and then I'll deal with my personal e-mails. I often fall asleep on the sofa by 11.30pm. n one-third
