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Julian Metcalfe is particularly influential on the number seven. As the head of an Asian fast food company, Itsu, a 61-year-old explicit speaker is on a mission to fight fast food giants and provide “nutritious food, plenty of fiber, delicious food” to the public. mass, he says. This means that the price of hot food in Itsu should not exceed £ 7.
Metcalfe has been holding on to this price for a number of years but the target seems unlikely.
Food and basic prices are rising rapidly and a lack of staff as hospitality businesses reopened after the closure led to a pay war, while high-paying restaurants kill employees from fast-food chains.
UKHospitality, a commercial organization, estimates that among businesses reopened in May and January next year, operating costs will rise by 13 percent, while aid costs will rise by about 50 to 80 percent at times. Itsu has increased pay for store employees three times this year, while the cost of shipping a container of Korean goods has dropped between $ 2,000 and $ 16,000 in recent weeks, Metcalfe says.
Managers in pubs and other restaurants have warned that prices will be unavoidable, but Metcalfe insists its prices are not going up.
It has become a deadly food chain epidemic that, pre-Covid, relies heavily on office workers and travelers. The move to remotely work on consecutive closures left Itsu and competitors as Ready to eat, which Metcalfe started with a college colleague in 1986, is trying to reduce costs, diversification and increase donor services.
Itsu sales rose to 18 percent of total revenue on Covid and have stabilized by about 14 percent since bans were reduced, says Metcalfe.
Food businesses are booming as office workers return to city squares but progress has slowed. When we met for lunch, it was at a restaurant in the City, not at Itsu on the street, one of the 10 closed shops (Cannon Street was reopened). Metcalfe says the foot is still half of what it should be in central London and is not rushing to open a place that will not benefit. They also apply the same idea to one US company store, near Times Square in New York.
Plans to open 25 pages each year are working well, but new stores will be located outside of London. Prior to the epidemic, almost 68 of Itsu restaurants were in the capital. The company is looking at the first public offerings in five years, while the private owners, Bridgepoint, maybe he wants to leave.
Sticking to the £ 7 price seems strange to a Harrow-trained businessman who counts an Indian viceroy among his parents, but it is “completely emotional”, says Metcalfe, and the work has been invaluable. In a world where prices are rising, people can afford to buy cheap, often unhealthy, fast food: “I want our food to be eaten every week”.
All of this means that Itsu’s boss has been, in his words, “ruthless” when it comes to making the business a success. Itsu, which Metcalfe launched in 1997 after his trip to Japan, reduced its cuisine from 75 cold dishes to 18 very hot, reducing the choice of cheap but inexpensive sushi.
Soon only 20 percent of what we sell will be sushi. Only a madman would think that you can oppose the fast food business with sushi. It’s a stupid idea. All you have to do is oppose the fast food business with red rice and vegetables and dumplings and bao, ”Metcalfe says.
Itsu has a fire-free law, so food is heated instead of fried to save £ 150,000 to £ 200,000 at the cost of air conditioning. Three robots In each of Itsu kitchens, at a cost of £ 20,000 each, prepare the company’s reduced sushi rice – a save for labor costs.
Metcalfe has also had a very good market share in Japan and Korea for a decade that offers ingredients such as seaweed, rice cakes and noodles served with chains at a low price in the UK. He looks forward to the Japanese factory where Itsu eye soup is made. “[It’s] emotional blowing. All with robots. “
If Itsu bought its Food from the UK it could cost the business £ 1.50 per unit. Instead it costs the company 30p, Metcalfe says.
The most recent innovation is launching kiosks with visuals that customers can order directly, similar to those released at McDonald’s and KFC. The next step is to lower the menu to lower prices in the evening and allow customers to add extras such as a mixed egg or meatless meat, which Itsu’s development team – led by Metcalfe’s continuous price and quality control – has taken a year. that perfect.
I wonder how he became a mentor to the staff when he was on a third trip to the meat market or when the prawn gyoza, which has been growing for two years, is still “inadequate”?
Three questions by Julian Metcalfe
Who is your leadership hero?
The truth is that my heroes and young people who wake up in our place show amazing, compassionate, confident and self-controlled attitude. They are my heroes. They built Itsu and built Pret.
What is the first leadership lesson you learned?
In my experience, I can say that the more expectation, desire and desire for leadership, the more likely they are to become good leaders. Our grocery business is run by a former 32-year-old employee who in a few years has removed us from two people until recently 60 and has encouraged many on the journey. At a pay conference two years ago he refused to accept his bonus, preferring to give more to the team he had already won. That was a leadership lesson.
What would you do if you did not work for fast food?
We will never know. Doesn’t it take 10,000 hours to get the job done? I’ve done a lot of those hours and I’m still learning a lot every day like I did on the first day of Pret A Manger.
Metcalfe says it is driven by the goal of selling cheaper, healthier foods, adding: “You do this because you see it working.” You make employees feel comfortable with policies or products and “then speed up”. Thoughts also come from the ground up. He said: “If you do not listen to your coworkers, you are stupid.
The day before we met, Itsu’s boss was in a new Bicester shop working with staff as they set up a display, while last Friday he visited “three or four” sites “just to talk to colleagues about what we do.” they can do well, which does not work ”.
While there is an economic crisis due to closures, closures, in a roundabout way, have been good for price problems.
Itsu pushed the company to a plan – a form of debt restructuring used to reduce rent – in August last year, allowing it to reduce its rental price from 26 percent of sales to 10 percent.
Lockdowns also gave the business time to streamline its operations, and the proliferation of face masks means Metcalfe can go into anonymous shops and test what a customer sees.
Here Christou, head of the Pret A Manger, says that Metcalfe has “an unwavering commitment and detail, which has greatly contributed to its development”.
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Metcalfe agrees that pushing the business to operate so that it can sell food for £ 7 – the most expensive dish is £ 8.29 – has been in operation for almost 20 years and the money means that Itsu has not changed its tax revenue. But, he says, with the opening of the Guildford chain page, the eighth will feature robots and screens, “if I was hit by a car, my job would be possible”. The beach is now “fun” but the money is coming back to expand the chain, he adds. “In order not to make a tax profit before you come and give a share, I don’t care at all.”
One thing Metcalfe will not cut is the new flowers that adorn every Itsu store. If you have a boring wall, then you do not have to renovate every five years with new photos, new boards, new parties. . . all the money goes to the new flowers, which are so popular. ”
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