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Jesus, that Soho stag doo ruined me
Dan Pope
November 28, 2025
It was 12.38pm when the monster screamed. It wore a beret. We all turned in flashing gorgeous terror.
I was on a stag doo in Soho last weekend. My friend, Xavier, is French. We call him Baguette. Aptly, he wore a beret.
At 12.38pm he arrived at the battle cruiser.
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas Hung In The Air.
Soho was throbbing convivial hubbub of cheer and merriment and happiness. The arresting air bites you cold, while pubs hug and snog you warm.
Fizzing and beaming pink and flashing orange and turquoise rickshaws, little sleighs of happiness, taxi drunkards around whilst “Step Into Christmas” and “All I Want For Christmas” melts into the ferociously cold air.
Along Oxford Street, Christmas Angels floated through the air, sparkling and glittering behemoths, below debauchery drenched Devils indulge, like hurricanes, in bewildering mischief.
Our squad were hibernating in a Warm Tiny Pub on our Wet Little Island in our Cold Big City. The rifling tickle of mulled wine mooching into your synapses. Creamy Dreamy Guinness on el regular. Stories and joy and terrorising piss taking volleyed and sailed around.
I love Christmas. Slaying Silly Season in Landan Town really is the best.
My December is the Champions League of Crimbo Long Lunches. Yes, I am excited for the grub and booze, and, yes, at Christmas the magic of restaurants flowers and blooms into all it’s yummy wonderfulness.
But, the real reason I’m excited for to explore restaurants…
Restaurants and hospitality is less about the food and booze, it’s more a way of THINKING and ACTING and VIEWING THE WORLD.
Below is a cornucopia of my fave business lessons, these are applicable to myriad of different categories: building brands, leading teams, organising movements, creating cultures.
Jeremy King, The Ivy: The Power of Change
London’s most famous restaurateur, Jeremy King, of The Ivy, Le Caprice, The Wolsey, Arlington, Simpsons, and many more.
Jeremy’s book “Without Reservation” is the James Bond-ification of Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality.
A scintillatingly delicious book, a raucous casserole of wisdom, stuffed with yummy aphorisms, peppered with pithy profound advice.
One piece of wisdom thunder bolted off the pages, like a sparkling spear in the burning sunset and stabbed my curiosity.
On Jeremy’s Office Door at The Ivy, he famously put up a quote for all his team to see. “Change is NORMAL”.
As Jeremy says later in the book “Maintaining Your Standards Is The Path To Bankruptcy” and “if things are to remain the same then everything has to change”.
So many businesses and brands (including me) are petrified-to-the-bone of change.
King also cites James Clear from Atomic Habits (bet he’s a barrel of laughs on a Crimbo Doo) (…sorry I can’t open a Christmas Cracker as haven’t had enough REM sleep)
Clear is very Clear in what his opinion on change below.
“the strategies that made you successful in the past, will at some point, reach their limit. Don’t let previous choices set your future ceiling. The willingness to try new ideas keeps you advancing”
the lesson:
constantly reinvent yourself, constantly change or tweak what your offer, constantly reinvent.
the subtle nuance:
don’t change YOU or your VALUES or your VISION.
the questions:
what are past successful strategies you’re relying too heavily on today? How can you rip them up?
if you were to start your business again tomorrow, what would you do differently?
Wanna save huge amounts of dough at THE most BANGING restaurants in London this Silly Season?
I took my team for a well-earned Crimbo very-very-long lunch…
And no, we didn’t go for our usual standard pizza spot.
We LEVELLED UP and booked the outrageous Michelin-starred St. Barts.
Like… proper “treat yourself, mate” vibes.
AND THEN - the cherry on top?
I saved a WHOPPING 35% off the bill. £260 quid off!!
Absolutely MENTAL bro!!
Chill… you can too… here’s how 👇
Download the EatClub from the Apple Store pronto.
Add the EatClub Card to your Apple Wallet
Save serious Winter-Wonga at London’s best restaurants
Taking your team for Crimbo lunch?
Download EatClub
Christmas catch-up dinner with a mate you haven’t seen in yonks?
Download EatClub
Looking for a banging solo dining spot on a cold, wet Tuesday?
Download EatClub
C’mon mate.
Be savvy whilst you absolutely SLAY Silly Season.
xx
Oisin Rogers, The Devonshire: Silent Pleasantries vs. Silent Irritants
Oisin Rogers, London’s most famous landlord and co-founder of The Devonshire. Osh is the Master of Hospitality.
Osh’s overarching principle is “Silent Irritants”
Osh says “your job as an operator is to ANNIHILATE silent irritants”
Prey tell, Senior Pope… what are silent irritants?
Silent Irritants in Restaurants
dodgy fork
wobbly table
waiter not recognising you when you walk through the door
deafeningly loud acoustics in the room
baby screaming next to you
luke warm food
slow service
Osh removed every. single. little. tiny. silent iritant in pulling pints of Guinness. The Devonshire is essentially the Amazon Primeification of Pulling Pints.
Silent Irritants in Business, Marketing and Life
waiting on hold on the phone to the bank
delivery not arriving the day it’s supposed to
waiting in the queue at a post office
your Coke Zero not scanning at the Saino’s self-check out
the lesson:
“…marketing spends too much time amplifying positives vs. reducing negatives” - Rory Sutherland
the subtle nuance:
Charlie Munger was Warren Buffet’s business partner. A very clever G. Let’s apply Charlie’s Rule of Inversion.
Charlie Munger's inversion rule is a mental model that suggests flipping a problem around to focus on what leads to failure instead of what leads to success. By asking, "What would cause failure?" you can identify and avoid pitfalls, leading to better outcomes. For example, instead of asking, "How can I get rich?", Munger's approach would be to ask, "What would guarantee I never make money?" and then avoid those behaviors.
It’s much much easier to make your business better by simply reducing the negatives vs. amplifying the positives.
the question:
what are the silent irritants in your business right now?
what are the things that silently piss of your customers?
What are 1 - 3 ways you can remove them?
Please check the podcast with Rory Sutherland and Oisin Rogers here:
Jeremy King: Cost Saving vs. Ostensible Value Generation
Jeremy King realised all his branded Le Caprice ashtrays were being nicked every evening by customers looking for a splendid little souvenir.
Jeremy’s manager worked out 6 ashtrays were stolen per night, roughly £6000 per year. Immediately, the manager demanded they source a new ashtray that was so heavy it couldn’t be stolen.
Makes sense, right?
However, Jeremy, dug a little deeper.
Jeremy inverted the problem.
Instead seeing stolen ashtrays as £4000 cost, Jeremy saw it as a £4000 marketing investment.
A stolen Le Caprice ashtray is a story telling vehicle placed in plush Chelsea or Home county kitchens. These stolen smokers-lung-in-a-pot’s weaponises word of mouth marketing.
Brands like Beavertown, DIRTEA, Bold Bean Co, understand that the greatest brand real estate is someone’s home. On Kitchen Counter, you’re Top of Mind & Tip of Tongue.
I remember watching a talk from the Beavertown Marketing Team, how they actively encourage customers to nick glasses.
the lesson:
Cost saving is great in business, but never forget cutting costs can ostensibly also slaughter magic.
the subtle nuance:
whenever you cut a cost, remember you’re likely to cut a piece of intangible magic that you can’t
the question:
what costs could you cut that would accidentally kill brand magic?
what is an area of your business that’s not
Jeremy King Leadership Rule: Questions > Statements
The raging restaurant world is often a ramen of rambunctious characters and creatures. Jeremy is a genius dealing with people. Angry customers. Sad Staff. Happy Staff.
Jeremy has a great rule for managing people and difficult situations.
Simply replace Statements with Questions.
Why?
Statements = Combative, Closed, Argumentative, Arming
Questions = Exploratory, Open, Empathetic, Disarming
the lesson: so often in difficult situations (managing people, investor meetings, dealing with tricky customers) we get on the defensive and start statements.
Like trying to pick a lock with dildo, fun but utterly pointless.
the subtle nuance:
Obvs, don’t go on a question asking spree if it doesn’t mould into the conversation. That’s the business equivalent of kids in a play ground saying “I know you are, but what am I?”
questions:
think about the last tricky meeting you were in, ask yourself, honestly, were you using questions or statements to navigate the situation
do you have a set of questions you could use to unlock the potential in a difficult employee?
Thanks so much for reading chiefs,
Have a wonderful weekend,
Popey xxx
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