What's Cooking? | A Podcast from Nory
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Podcast Overview
<p>What's Cooking? is the podcast for hospitality operators scaling smart. Hosted by Conor Sheridan – CEO and co-founder of Nory, and a former operator who built and ran multi-site restaurant brands himself – each episode goes behind the scenes of fast-growing restaurant groups to explore the operational challenges that actually matter - like disconnected systems, staffing chaos, and margin pressure.</p> <p>Through honest conversations with industry leaders you’ll get practical insight into what’s working on the ground right now - from automation and AI to culture, data, and waste reduction. No fluff. No forecasts. Just the blueprint for better hospitality operations at scale.</p> <p>New episodes every two weeks.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
7/7/2025
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Recent Episodes
July 22, 2026
The Harts Group Multi-Brand Playbook: What to Centralise, What to Protect
<p>Harts Group CEO Sam Hart on running eight distinct hospitality brands, centralising the systems that scale, and protecting the individuality that drives the reputation.</p> <p>Most multi-brand hospitality groups end up looking like a head office running several businesses that happen to share a name on a group balance sheet. Harts Group has done the opposite. Since 2003, the family-run business behind Barrafina, El Pastor, Quo Vadis, Parrillan, Bar Daskal, Drops and El Siete has scaled to 16 sites in London plus a first international opening in Dubai, while keeping each brand genuinely distinct in culinary identity, sourcing and guest experience. In this episode, Sam walks Conor through the operational architecture underneath: what gets centralised (finance, comms, HR, estates, one shared tech stack), what stays bespoke (menus, sequence of service, chef and MD leadership per side of the group), and the deliberate cultural decisions that let a group with 470 staff protect quality while absorbing a 38% minimum wage increase since 2022. Plus the two-year tech review Harts just completed, the AI task force building custom tools for restaurant ops (including an internal reservation bot), the Yum Pingo dish-level customer data that drives menu decisions, and the international expansion into Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Bangkok. A rare conversation with an operator who has held the line on individuality while genuinely scaling.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>KEY TAKEAWAYS</b></p> <ul><li>The group owns the systems, the brand owns the identity. Centralise finance, HR, estates, comms and the tech stack; protect menus, sequence of service and culinary leadership per brand</li><li>Lived experience is the guardrail on new brands. Harts opens restaurants where founders or partners have genuinely lived the cuisine. It's the discipline that keeps the portfolio credible</li><li>The tech stack should be best-in-class and open. Standardised across the group, single source of truth, but modular enough to swap components as the market moves</li><li>Data at dish level changes menu decisions. Popularity alone lies. Rating-per-dish across thousands of reviews (Yum Pingo) is how Harts improved customer satisfaction while cutting labour 18%</li><li>Being privately owned is a structural advantage. No forced timelines, board consensus over votes, and the freedom to pause when the world changes. That patience compounds into brand quality</li></ul> <p><br /></p> <p><b>USEFUL LINKS & RESOURCES</b></p> <ul><li>Sam Hart on LinkedIn: <i>https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-hart-23581851/</i></li><li>Harts Group: <i>https://www.hartsgroup.co.uk/</i></li><li>Barrafina: <i>https://www.barrafina.com/</i></li><li>El Pastor: <i>https://www.tacoselpastor.co.uk/</i></li><li>Quo Vadis: <i>https://www.quovadissoho.co.uk/</i></li><li>Parrillan: <i>https://www.parrillan.co.uk/</i></li><li>Bar Daskal: <i>https://www.bardaskal.co.uk/</i></li><li>El Siete: <i>https://www.elsiete.co.uk/</i></li><li>Drops: <i>https://www.thedropbar.co.uk/</i></li></ul> <p><br /></p> <p><b>CONNECT WITH THE SHOW</b></p> <ul><li>All What's Cooking episodes:<a href="https://www.nory.ai/podcasts" target="_blank"> https://www.nory.ai/podcasts</a></li><li>Nory:<a href="https://www.nory.ai/" target="_blank"> https://www.nory.ai/</a></li><li>Nory blog:<a href="https://www.nory.ai/blog" target="_blank"> https://www.nory.ai/blog</a></li><li>Nory on LinkedIn:<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/asknory/" target="_blank"> https://www.linkedin.com/company/asknory/</a></li><li>Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn:<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/" target="_blank"> https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/</a></li></ul>
July 14, 2026
Black Sheep Coffee bite-size: Never fear competition
<p>Missed the full episode with Gabriel Shohet, co-founder and co-CEO of Black Sheep Coffee? Here's the bite-size cut.</p> <p>Keep an eye out for our next episode, featuring Sam Hart, CEO, Harts Group</p> <p>Hosted by Conor Sheridan, CEO of Nory, the AI operating system for hospitality.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE</b></p> <p>Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conviction-over-consensus-with-the-co-ceo-of/id1825066598?i=1000775914193</p> <p>Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Rh8V1D5ehW6adnTPW0Cje?si=V004WR3hRkGBussUbRj7Ng</p> <p>YouTube: https://youtu.be/nIQeeaaa3Kg?si=71RcnyqwP6eqfbVQ</p> <p><b>CONNECT</b></p> <p>Gabriel Shohet on LinkedIn: <i>https://www.linkedin.com/in/gasho/</i></p> <p>Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn:<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/" target="_blank"> https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/</a></p> <p>Nory:<a href="https://www.nory.ai/" target="_blank"> https://www.nory.ai/</a></p> <p>All What's Cooking episodes:<a href="https://www.nory.ai/podcasts" target="_blank"> https://www.nory.ai/podcasts</a></p> <p><br /></p>
July 8, 2026
Conviction Over Consensus with the Co-CEO of Black Sheep Coffee
<p>Black Sheep Coffee co-CEO Gabriel Shohet on building a 135-site brand by betting on the bean the specialty industry rejected.</p> <p>In 2013, two university flatmates from St Andrews quit their corporate jobs the same day, moved to London with around £20k between them, and built a coffee company on the bean the entire specialty industry had written off. 13 years later, Black Sheep Coffee runs 135+ locations across five markets, opens roughly 1.5 shops per week, and remains majority founder-owned. In this episode, Gabriel walks Conor through the conviction behind the Robusta bet, why customer satisfaction is the only growth metric they look at, the decision to operate 50 corporate shops before franchising, how they pick franchise partners (minimum unit thresholds, territory exclusivity, no mom-and-pops), why both founders relocated to Florida to lead the US expansion, the Sun Belt entry strategy, and the company slogan that explains the whole approach: never fear competition, open right next door instead. Plus a frank take on the David and Goliath fallacy, the role of data in a hypergrowth business, and why "great ideas" aren't what builds a brand.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>KEY TAKEAWAYS</b></p> <ul><li>Conviction over consensus. When the industry tells you you're wrong, stress-test the belief harder rather than abandon it faster</li><li>Customer satisfaction is the only growth metric. When it stays high, open more shops. When it drops, stop</li><li>Build the proof before you franchise. 50 corporate shops before the first franchisee landed</li><li>Filter out the mom-and-pops. Territory minimums and development schedules align partners with growth</li><li>Never fear competition. Open right next door instead. If your strategy is to avoid competition, you'll fall on your face eventually</li></ul> <p><br /></p> <p><b>CHAPTERS</b></p> <p>0:00 Intro: building on a conviction the industry thinks is wrong</p> <p>2:50 Welcome, Gabriel</p> <p>3:12 St Andrews flatmates, Sunday Skype calls, quitting jobs the same day</p> <p>5:33 Why coffee: low capex, vertical control, revenue from day one</p> <p>7:36 The Robusta thesis: going against the 100% Arabica industry</p> <p>10:39 The unique insight: how Robusta got its bad reputation, and how to fix it</p> <p>14:11 From street markets to Fitzrovia: the Kickstarter that almost wasn't</p> <p>16:09 Ambition from day one: building to be number one, not number four</p> <p>17:12 Hypergrowth: 1.5 shops per week, customer satisfaction as the only metric</p> <p>21:58 Why data is key: clean, real-time, the 80% of the work</p> <p>23:11 The franchising decision: 50 corporate shops before the first franchisee</p> <p>25:28 Looking franchisees in the eye: the network average and the proven model</p> <p>28:25 Why no mom-and-pops: minimum unit thresholds, territory, exclusivity</p> <p>30:58 Majority ownership: turning down PE, raising from customers and family offices</p> <p>32:57 The US move: why both founders relocated to Florida</p> <p>35:01 The Sun Belt decision: Texas, Florida, broad-market proof</p> <p>37:11 Localisation and competition: thinking ahead, not reacting</p> <p>38:43 The first 36 months in the US: starting from scratch all over again</p> <p>40:11 Building culture in an empty office</p> <p>42:25 Challenger vs incumbent: when does a brand become a chain?</p> <p>45:04 The Quick Turn: rapid-fire questions</p> <p>45:10 What competitors would steal (and why it doesn't matter)</p> <p>48:08 The metric that can't be summarised</p> <p>49:15 "Never fear competition, open right next door"</p> <p>51:03 The slingshot fallacy: hard work beats clever shortcuts</p> <p>56:55 10 years out: no business plan, just stay true to the mission</p> <p>59:00 Shift Notes: Conor's closing reflections</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>USEFUL LINKS & RESOURCES</b></p> <p>Gabriel Shohet on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gasho/</p> <p>Eirik Holth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eholth/</p> <p>Black Sheep Coffee: https://blacksheepcoffee.co.uk/</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>CONNECT WITH THE SHOW</b></p> <p>All What's Cooking episodes: https://www.nory.ai/podcasts</p> <p>Nory: https://www.nory.ai/</p> <p>Nory blog: https://www.nory.ai/blog</p> <p>Nory on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asknory/</p> <p>Conor Sheridan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheridanconor/</p> <p><br /></p>
34 total episodes available
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- What is What's Cooking? | A Podcast from Nory?
<p>What's Cooking? is the podcast for hospitality operators scaling smart. Hosted by Conor Sheridan – CEO and co-founder of Nory, and a former operator who built and ran multi-site restaurant brands himself – each episode goes behind the scenes of fast-growing restaurant groups to explore the operational challenges that actually matter - like disconnected systems, staffing chaos, and margin pressure.</p> <p>Through honest conversations with industry leaders you’ll get practical insight into what’s working on the ground right now - from automation and AI to culture, data, and waste reduction. No fluff. No forecasts. Just the blueprint for better hospitality operations at scale.</p> <p>New episodes every two weeks.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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