Jeremy King's talk was such a treat!
- Urszula
- Oct 20, 2016
- 3 min read
On Tuesday, I had the pleasure to attend the Independent Hotel Show in London.
I initially thought to myself, it will be like any other "trade show", busy with exhibitors, visitors, averagely interesting seminars and talks... To paraphrase, Bill Watterson, I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep my expectations anyway so... But in fact I left Olympia very happy: fully satisfied with the people I met there and seminars I attended, the highlight of my day being Jeremy King's discussion with Adam Raphael of Good Hotel Guide.
"Sorry, Jeremy who?" an interior designer friend of mine asked at the show... "Seriously, you don't know who Mr King is and you work in hospitality?" I replied... I saw on her face I was a bit OTT... I was not talking about a rock star, only a "business owner"...
"Think The Wolseley, The Beaumont, Bellanger, Le Colbert on Sloane Square, the Zedel..." I saw her face brightening up: ouf, she knew what I was talking about! Now she can find out more about Mr King too! ... Jeremy King.. With Chris Corbin, he is the owner of Corbin & King Limited, of which he is also CEO. Jeremy was born in Somerset in 1954 and educated at Christ's Hospital. He initially pursued a career in merchant banking but gave that up to go into catering, becoming Searcy's youngest ever manager at the age of 21. Although headhunted to run a restaurant, wine bar and wine importing business, he soon returned to his passion for restaurants with the arrival of American restaurant Joe Allen in London, where he was Maitre d'hotel. Whilst there, he met Chris Corbin and they launched their business partnership in 1981, which has now lasted over 30 years.
I don't know if Jeremy realises (or cares, ah!?) what Corbin & King means to me. And what the duo represents for UK hospitality... how they 'changed' the face of hospitality in London, the way we have breakfast or brunch in town, go out for drinks or dinner... I first fell in love with Corbin & King via the Wolseley and things didn't change ever since. A long love story.
During that seminar, Jeremy King discussed with Adam Raphael the pros, cons and boundaries of proprietorship, and the enormous advantages independent operators have at their disposal. A real delight to listen to.
Here are the most striking 'pieces of advice' from Mr King, I took away with me on that day:
( I invite him to correct my notes if I am misquoting him :-)
1- Treat the others the way you like to be treated: within the industry, I hear he is a real "people" man.
2- You learn more from people that have very little than people with money.
3- You have to look at people walking through the door as an opportunity to give somebody a good time. If you give them a good time, then you make money.
4- Have an excellent story in order to sell: the Beaumont used to be an old garage, I love the story Mr King came up with to lift up the spirit of the place.
5- Do what you do with passion. Mr King even mentioned the Jerry Maguire mission statement: seriously, how cool is he to do that!?
6- Don't think you can fight technology, but instead embrace it and integrate it reasonably within your business plans: internet, phones, electronic keys for hotels etc.
To find out more about Corbin & King, visit www.corbinandking.com
Photo Credit: Urszula Juziuczuk