Michael Hilton Email and Phone Number

Created the concept from the ground up. Put together a menu and curated the selection, including a small but eclectic rum collection. Negotiated favourable contracts with distributors by leveraging industry connections. Interviewed, hired, and trained a new staff. Built new systems from scratch to track stock, maintenance, orders, and P&L. Used personal brand and spearheaded marketing intiatives in partner ship with brands to drive growth.

The infamous top 50 bar, fun fast paced bar well known in the industry for its creativity and high standards of service. Worked as part of a small but very skilled team to ensure smooth service in an unpredictable venue with many unique challenges. Worked to maintain good relationships with brands, and raise the profile of the bar through competitions, guest shifts and arranging takeovers.

A casual fine dining restaurant with dedicated events space under Jackson Boxer. Elevated the level of the bar, training up an almost entirely new staff, while overhauling the cocktail offering to be more in line with the core values of the venue. Negotiated entirely new pouring contracts across all key lines, while not compromising on quality or losing the individuality of the bar. Co-ordinated with other HoD’s and often several key stakeholders to plan and implement large scale events such as product launches. Reviewed pricing and brought in line with similar businesses in the area. Savvy social media marketing was essential not only to maintain the brand identity that was a key focus of the owners, but to also to drive sales both in the restaurant and the events side of the business.

Modern British fine dining restaurant under Ian Smith catering to the fashionable Chelsea set. Required meticulous attention to detail for guests used to the highest level of quality in all things. Was brought in along with a consultant GM to smooth the transition out of lockdown. Hired and trained an entirely new team. Coordinated with the head chef and marketing director to launch a high impact spring menu themed around spring blooming flowers; This was designed to drive social media engagement and ultimately bookings. Worked closely with HoD’s put together events for wedding receptions to fashion shows, often dealing with multiple stakeholders with definitive visions of the events. Reviewed drinks offering streamlined items with low turnover and brought in new clientele targeted lines that were an immediate success

Customer focused casual dining steak restaurant with high end wine, whiskey, and classic cocktails. Was responsible for a team of 5. Ensured high standards with speedy service. Overhauled cleandown and stocktake procedures resulting in a cleaner bar and drastically reduced wastage. Dealt with stocktake and ordering, ensuring we were able to operate despite serious supply chain issues. Revitalised whiskey selection and brought in several high GP additions to the back bar that became best sellers. Updated classic cocktail specs. Instituted short refresher trainings on products for the floor team. Build strong relationships with suppliers. Lead the team through staff shortages. Interviewed and trained new staff.

Taphouse showcasing the brewery's cask ales and boasting a huge back bar. Day to day was catering to locals as well as giving tours of the brewery, however the majority of revenue was from events such as weddings, parties, or beer festivals. Had to be comfortable managing a team of 1 to 15 people. Created a simple cocktail menu for events to cater to non beer drinks. Duties included cellar management, stocktake, ordering, banking, open/closing giving tours, preparing and serving food and drink. Had to pivot to a table service model during covid and ensure smooth service to a beer garden able to seat 200, where numbers of customers could surge unpredictably.

Small boutique cocktail bar. Table service only. Balancing act between floor and bar. Had to maintain a high standard of service, often single handed. Created many cocktails for a constantly changing menu. Responsible for stocktake, opening/closing, and cashing up.

Diverse clientele and complex cocktails. Had to manage a team of colourful personalities.

High end restaurant/bar/hotel in soho. Emphasis on impeccable customer service and making consistent top quality cocktails with fresh ingredients for a very cocktail savvy clientele. Extremely busy dispense station for the restaurant.

Restaurant/High volume cocktail bar in the city. I was taking orders, running food, cleaning and resetting the tables or on the bar serving customers, doing dispense, restocking fridges and doing prep for the evening. Evening’s were nonstop service, the bar had six stations and up to twelve bartenders on any one night. Lots of cocktails, focus on speed of service. Duties included: operating the till, handling cash/credit card payments, upselling, keeping the bar/station clean, recording waste and covering other positions.