Celebrity cares

Few people have heard of London restaurateur Peter Gladwin, despite the fact that he has been active in the industry for the past 25 years. But that's about to change. The opening this month of his £4.5m Just St James restaurant in London's Piccadilly area is forcing him into the media spotlight.

While Just St James is not Gladwin's first restaurant, it is a significantly larger and higher-profile eaterie than his previous two restaurant ventures. Until now, Gladwin's main focus has been on running his special events catering company, Party Ingredients, which has kept him behind the closed doors of society parties and weddings, as well as numerous state banquets and occasions. As a result, his talents as a chef, designer and host have previously been experienced only by a small section of the public.

Of his two existing restaurants, Gladwins, the five-year-old, 140-seat restaurant in the City of London, is largely confined to the business trade, being open at lunchtimes only; while the 90-seat Bridge Bar and Brasserie, which opened in May this year, has not taken off as expected, due to the disastrous temporary closure of the adjacent Millennium Footbridge. "The footbridge is important to the success of the restaurant - the four days it was open, the brasserie was full all the time, but without it the area is a backwater, with no passing trade," says Gladwin. "But its position - on the north bank of the river, opposite the Tate Modern - is beautiful. We're now marketing the restaurant for special parties and events, as the footbridge is not going to reopen until sometime during 2001, or even 2002."

In contrast, Just St James is in a prime location in the hub of London's West End. Located on busy St James Street, just off Piccadilly, the 230-seat restaurant is in the grand former banking hall of a branch of Lloyds Bank. Dating back to 1902, the building retains many original features, including ceiling-high marble columns and ornate plaster ceilings, while at the same time offering the comforts and warmth of a modern restaurant. A fourth, 150-seat, restaurant, Just Oriental, is due to open in the basement of the building, with a separate entrance on to King Street, in February 2000.

The entire project - financed by a mix of loans from banks and investment funds - is expected to achieve a turnover of £5.5m in the first year of operation.

Since launching Party Ingredients in 1975 with partner Susie Robinson, it has been Gladwin's ambition to open a restaurant. "I wanted to increase the profile of the food I was doing," he explains, "and I thought I could do that better through a restaurant."

Gladwin began cooking at the age of 17 when he went to live in Switzerland after dropping out of art school. While skiing was his initial motivation - working as a commis in the kitchens of a Swiss hotel was merely the means to this end - his interest in cooking rapidly grew. After four seasons in which he received a solid and formal culinary training, Gladwin returned to London to work as a party organiser for Juliana's Discotheques.

Party Ingredients was born soon afterwards, supplying catering for private parties from a flat in Battersea. Today the company is based in industrial premises in Vauxhall, employs 60 full-time and 240 part-time staff and caters for up to 40 parties each week. Most are one-off, prestigious events, which have included the Queen Mother's 100th birthday banquet at the Guildhall during the summer.

As managing director and executive chef of the parent company, Peter Gladwin Restaurants, Gladwin's role is in setting up each new restaurant, being involved in all aspects of its look and design, and then in writing menus and recipes. Along with development manager Vicky Gibbard he has selected all the essential elements of Just St James, including the chinaware (a new design called Millenia from Villeroy & Boch), glassware (Stendhal Glass) and cutlery (Tao from Villeroy & Boch). There has been no interior designer working on the project - the look of the restaurant is down to Gladwin himself along with architects Prime Meridian.

To combat the imposing Edwardian shell of the original interior, the space has been divided into three: a long bar with an extensive area of comfy chairs, for drinking; the 120-seat main restaurant area; and a mezzanine level called Just Upstairs - linked to the ground floor by a sweeping wooden staircase and a glass lift - where private dining for up to 110 covers can be catered for. "I like the idea of offering a private dining facility where you are separated from the other diners, but can still enjoy the buzz of the restaurant," says Gladwin.

Huge windows along two of the walls provide an abundance of natural daylight, while a glass screen dividing the kitchen from the restaurant helps create an air of informality.

Until the opening of Just St James, Gladwin was in the kitchen of his City restaurant for every lunch service, now he is cooking daily at the new restaurant alongside head chef Chai Thittichai.

Gladwin describes his food as "inspiring and innovative, but not so extreme as to be disgusting". In his first two restaurants he offered an eclectic selection of dishes from Europe and the Far East, but never mixing the flavours from the two regions in one dish. As Just Oriental will be opening early next year, there are fewer Oriental flavours on the Just St James menu.

"It is important that we pitch the restaurants at the right level in order to bring in people," he says. "We are not at the level of Pétrus and L'Orangerie, which are both just along the road. Instead, we serve uncomplicated food that is not overpriced, in a wonderful room."

Large, shared dishes offering a taste of China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Japan will all be available at Just Oriental, where average spend will be £16, while average spend in Just St James is £42 per head.

Gladwin believes his biggest challenge in achieving success at Just St James is in creating a warm, welcoming environment to offset the grandeur of the interior. "My major criticism of the big restaurants operating in London is that few of them are very good at dealing with their customers," he says. "The food may be good, but so often the service is arrogant. For me, the welcome is as important as the food on the plate."

Gladwin has addressed the issue by ensuring his senior team have recruited well and are working hard at keeping their staff motivated. "We have a great record of keeping staff for long periods," he says. "Chai, for instance, has been with me for 17 years. We regard everyone as a member of a team by involving them and giving them influence where possible."

Encouraging employees to eat at Gladwin's restaurants at a discount rate of 50% has the dual benefit of giving the staff a treat as well as the opportunity of experiencing the operation from the customers' point of view.

By the time Just Oriental opens, there will be some 90 staff employed between the two restaurants, including 24 chefs divided between two separate kitchens.

Gladwin is now spending most of his time in the kitchen, and his new venture is sure to lead to increased media interest, but he doesn't expect - or want - it to focus on him. However, with two books already published, The Entertaining Cook and Party Ingredients, and a six-part TV series on the opening of Just St James, The Restaurant Biz, scheduled for screening on Carlton Food Network early in the New Year, it is hard to see how he can avoid the limelight.

FACTS:

Just St James

16 St James Street, London SW1

Tel: 020 7976 2222

Web site: www.juststjames.com

Owner: Peter Gladwin Restaurants

Managing director and executive chef: Peter Gladwin

Head chef: Chai Thittichai

Restaurant managers: Denzil Iles and Sabrina Bournazel

Seats: 230

Average spend: £42 per head

Opening costs: £4.5m

Projected annual turnover: £5.5m

Sample dishes: starter - woodland mushrooms filled with wood pigeon, red onion and blackberries on a bed of leaf salad; main course - roasted sea bass on a bed of Oriental noodles with fresh plum, ginger and star anise; dessert - steamed treacle pudding with orange zest ice-cream

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 23-29 November 2000