Villa Mamas London was Roaya's Saleh's first restaurant outside her home country of Bahrain. Situated in Elystan Street, Chelsea, the neighbourhood canteen/ restaurant is a warm and convivial space where local and international guests share food, drink and conversation. It has an informal aesthetic with wooden floors, reclaimed furniture and brass finishes, with touches of Bahraini tradition.
Marie Jackson Associates worked on the project from conception to completion. This included finding a suitable site and managing the fourteen week fit-out, interior design, building the team of staff and selecting the best suppliers, as well as working with PR to open the doors of the restaurant in September 2017.
Copyright Carol Sachs
Copyright Carol Sachs
Copyright Carol Sachs
Copyright Carol Sachs
Copyright Carol Sachs
St Ebbe's Kitchen is housed inside Modern Art Oxford. The light and airy cafe seats 60 with a yard offering an additional 40 covers.
Marie Jackson Associates was retained by Modern Art Oxford to find a concessionary tenant for their cafe and private event business. The brief was to find an independent operator who could cater for the gallery's 120,000 annual visitors in an approachable, all-day cafe and a range of options for private and corporate events held in one of the four available spaces.
St Ebbe's is run by Fiona Cullinane and Lorraine Wood, who both trained with Alistair Little. The pair went on to consult on various projects in London and Oxfordshire before taking over The Potting Shed at Asthall Manor serving their generous, rustic salads, frittata and bruschetta from their wood-burning oven alongside a small wine list and a choice of their renowned cakes, tarts and scones.
After refurbishment of the cafe and kitchen, Fiona and Lorraine opened St Ebbe's Kitchen in October 2016.
Marie Jackson Associates wrote the tender prospectus and wrote the tenant profile, researched prospective operators and interviewed and shortlisted those selected with the gallery. Once the successful operator was chosen, the heads of terms were reviewed, finance sourced for the refurbishment of the space and successfully negotiated a five year lease for St Ebbe's Kitchen.
Spring Restaurant is situated in the New Wing of Somerset House. Designed by Stuart Forbes Associates, Spring is a reflection of both my and Skye Gyngell’s aspirations to develop a considered and beautiful restaurant space for guests. Totalling 10,000 square feet, Spring is situated over three floors : ground, mid basement and basement.
On the ground floor is a 110 cover restaurant, reception bar, covered garden for private dining and service kitchen. On mid-basement is the development/preparation kitchen, administration/operations office, staff lockers, showers and changing rooms. On basement there is further preparation space, walk-in refrigeration and a plant and communications room.
The project was managed by Marie Jackson Associates, working with Somerset Houses’ Directors/Trustees, Westminster Council and English Heritage. The project presented challenges in the integration of modern and efficient services within the protected fabric of a Grade 1 listed building, all of which we overcame. Formerly HMRC offices it was necessary to apply for a change of use for the space and also the appropriate licencing. The distinctive subtle design relied on outstanding quality finishes which was achieved throughout both in the customer facing areas and in the back of house. It was important to design a space that was functional and comfortable for the staff as well as for the customers and consideration was given to the expansion of the business over time hence the necessary infrastructure was created to allow the business to grow.
Marie Jackson Associates prepared and presented the investors proposal/feasibility study and later prepared and presented the landlords proposal to the Board of Trustees of Somerset House. We project managed the build and also the operational set up of the business staying on for an agreed six month period post opening to ensure that projections were met and that the initial opening and post opening stage ran smoothly and appropriate changes made where necessary.
Petersham Nurseries is uniquely located adjacent to Richard Park & Petersham Meadows within the historic Thames arcadia. Petersham is a multi-faceted business comprising of a 100 cover cafe/ restaurant, Italian inspired teahouse serving up to 500 customers each day, interiors shop and plant nursery. Petersham Playhouse is an arm of the business which blends theatre, dance and music hosting events on a monthly basis. Petersham is internationally renowned and has a strong ongoing prominence in national press with a growing, thriving brand.
The brief at Petersham was to break down each part of the business ascertaining its profitability and to re structure where necessary. Petersham’s aim for 2011/12 was to expand and continue to improve performance but first it was necessary to re structure. We achieved this by working with the staff, listening to customers, improving service, menus and profit margins and putting in the necessary in fracture to allow the company to grow further. In the year I was here, the company’s food and beverage turnover increased by 59% and shop/nursery sales by 25%. It was intrinsic to the re structure to understand the brand and the unparalleled standards and ethos on which it had been built.
Heckfield Place is a new luxury country house hotel due to open in early 2018 that sits in 400 acres of rolling Hampshire countryside. Its aim is to have the feel of a private country home, its style is eclectic and very English, its contents lovingly collected over the past five years by the owner. There are 40 individually designed bedrooms, a cinema, spa, walled garden and farm all beautifully and carefully considered. The estates working farm grows heritage vegetables which will be used in the hotels three restaurants and bars.
I worked on Heckfield Place with Skye Gyngell, our brief was to bring Skye’s distinct food philosophy to Heckfield and inform every aspect of the dining experience from the sourcing of ingredients, writing of all the hotel menus through to plating and presentation. We assumed full responsibility for developing and project managing the food concept and the operations for the three restaurants, bars, private events and room service pre-opening.
The Old Parsonage Hotel, Oxford is situated at the end of St Giles between the Woodstock & Banbury Roads, approximately five minutes from the city centre. The very special atmosphere of the Old Parsonage restaurant and lobby is enhanced by an interesting collection of portraits in oil and unique Oxford cartoons. Every square inch of its walls are covered in paintings reminiscent of the Bloomsbury period by Duncan Grant, John Milton, Bernard Meninsky, William Roberts, David Bomberg and may more. Dating back to 1660 the hotel comprises 38 bedrooms surrounding three outdoor, heated terraces, a first floor library, lobby, private room & restaurant & bar, all with the same distinguished club atmosphere.
The brief at the Old Parsonage was to improve the service and the food offering and also to oversee the refurbishment of the rooms while the hotel remained open. We achieved this by re furbishing 6-8 rooms at a time. It was also an opportunity to look at the branding, menus, service and operations in general so that the Old Parsonage’s character remained and also to ensure its image sat comfortably with the rest of the group. While refurbishing the rooms, we looked at the menus and all the food offerings from breakfast to room service, through lunch , afternoon tea and dinner. We simplified the menus, making then smaller and more reflective of the seasons and what was good to eat ‘now’. We improved the afternoon tea offering, something of a tradition in Oxford and created a small but interesting wine and cocktail list all with a nod to simplicity and the atmosphere of the Parsonage. The Old Parsonage remains Oxford’s small luxury hotel and its continued success is due to its solid identity.
Gee’s Restaurant is an Oxford landmark where locals and visitors meet for lunch, dinner or drinks. Seating 85 in the restaurant and 56 on the outside covered, heated terrace, Gee’s offers food that is simple in its conception relying on the highest quality fresh, local ingredients. Formerly a florist and a greengrocer, Gee’s was sympathetically restored twenty five years ago by owner Jeremy Mogford inspired by its natural light and Victorian features.
The brief at Gees’ was to completely re assess its position in the market and ensure its identity was clear and its position within the group. I increased profitability and ensured all targets were achieved and exceeded, remodelled the brand and introduced a new effective website and monthly newsletter. We looked at menu’s, price point, the offering in general and created a food and drink concept appropriate to the business and its customers and community.
Quod Restaurant and Bar is situated on the ground floor of Oxford’s award winning boutique Old Bank Hotel. Its vibrant, stimulating atmosphere is enhanced by paintings by young, up and coming artists from leading British schools and more renowned artists such as Stanley Spencer, Wyndham Lewis, Barbara Phillips, Damien Hirst, Vusi Khumalo, Henrietta Dubray and Kris Hssieh. Accessed from the High Street through a large glass lobby and from the rear of the hotel, Quod is open from 7am until 12.00pm, seating 200, menus include breakfast, bar snacks, a la carte, set lunch and dinner. The bar accommodates 16 and surrounding bar tables a further 20. The heated outdoor terrace seats 100 and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday.
My brief was to improve the service and the food and beverage offering as well as staff training and development. We completely remodelled Quod, from the menu, brand guidelines, uniforms, order of service, staff training, development and retention.
Quod is the restaurant that services the hotel so we lifted service levels in line with the hotel, ensuring guest recognition at every opportunity. We redesigned all menus and food offerings and re wrote all the training manuals and introduced a completely new staff training programme restructuring shift patterns and duties. We worked with Agnes B to develop a staff uniform that the staff were proud to wear and developed a fresh, improved identity for Oxfords most popular and successful Brasserie and ensured that it delivered in terms of food and service every time.
The Old Bank Hotel is Oxford’s award winning boutique hotel and is centrally located in the city on Oxfords High Street between famous collages, Merton, All Souls, University and Oriel. It is a breath taking statement of design and arguably one of the best locations in Oxford. The hotel comprises 42 contemporary guest rooms , Library Bar, 3 function rooms, 2 meeting rooms, 200 cover Quod Restaurant and Bar, 100 cover heated outside terrace and private car park for up to 40 cars. It is famed for its unique and stimulating twentieth century art collection carefully assembled over the last twenty five years mostly acquired from artists, auctions and art college degree shows by owner Jeremy Mogford.
My brief at the Old Bank Hotel was to lift the quality of the service, to encourage the staff to communicate more effectively and to interpret guests needs intuitively. We looked at and remodelled shift patterns and enabled the staff to do this by giving them the time to consider the guests every need. We improved room service and the breakfast offering, the interior design of the rooms and room consumables, created a catalogue of art for hotel guests, introduced a complimentary walking tour and improved the guest experience enabling the hotel room rate to increase and hotel occupancy to reach a yearly average of 93%. During my time at the Old Bank Hotel is was awarded the following accolades : Cesar Award for ‘City Hotel of the Year’, Good Hotel Guide 2011- ‘Most Excellent City Hotel 2010’ by Conde Nast and recognised in the same year by Expedia as the ninth best hotel in the UK.
Marie Jackson Associates play a big part in the curation of menus in all the restaurants we work with. I work in a collaborative, mentoring way with senior chefs.
Our services include:
Menu planning and development and compilation of a Food Bible
Sourcing of suppliers
Training kitchen staff in menu structure/adjustments/ ordering and responding to produce seasonality
Development of food costing system
Development of food management system
Development of Health and Safety manual
Wine list compilation, wine training and buying strategy
My career has been based on successful business models of which I have been a significant influence.
Service is the easy part of what we do, but hospitality is the crucial part and is what sets a good restaurant apart from the rest.
We aim to achieve this by choosing the 'right' people, not necessarily the most experienced or qualified, but people who have a genuine love for looking after others. By knowing what they do and why, staff will be confident, friendly and well informed, delivering warm service.
Services include:
recruitment strategy and advice
writing all in-house manuals and staff handbooks
training kitchen and front of house staff pre & post opening
developing training programs which enthuse staff to develop exceptional relationships with customers
training in unique customer recognition know-how with techniques to maximise opportunities for repeat business
From the initial concept we will design the space with the chosen architect, making sure that maximum covers are achieved within an aesthetically beautiful space.
Along with designing the functionality of the space, consideration is also given to finishes, furniture, FF&E and OS&E. Fit-out will then be managed from start to finish. Passionate about design and creativity to achieve visionary results, we listen to each clients’ requirements whilst always considering quality and cost.