#043 - Hospitality Meets Simon Esner - The Hospitality Legend & Mentor

43 episodes in and we finally chat to someone from contract catering, although today's guest has done far more than that. We speak to hospitality legend Simon Esner, Founder at Executive business mentoring Uncommon Sense (www.finduncommonsense.com). Simon is also still involved with Baxter Storey (https://baxterstorey.com) and WSH Ltd (https://www.wshlimited.com) working with some world leading chefs and concepts.Simon has had an Epic career and life so far and has achieved so much, with much still to do. We only just scratch the surface of his story bank but nevertheless we chat about maintaining positivity, keeping the glass half full, family, mentors, electrics, food scene development, getting your break, pay rises, skiing, paper job adverts, Ford Cortina’s and of course his epic journey so far.Simon carries so much positivity and humour, it's infectious.Thanks so much Simon.EnjoyShow TranscriptionSPEAKERSPhil Street, Simon EsnerPhil Street 00:01Welcome to hospitality meets with me Phil street where we take a light hearted look into the stories and individuals that make up the wonderful world of hospitality. Today's guest is Simon Esner Founder at uncommon sense, and all round hospitality legend. Coming up on today's show... Simon talks about the first time that he met Phil...Simon Esner 00:22But when I got home, I said to my wife, I said this guy's a nutter Phil shows a unique command of the English language....Phil Street 00:29Yeah, you keep upgrading your life, it seems from a position of upgrade. And Simon gives us an exclusive on a new food and drink concept. He's been working on...Simon Esner 00:38The dish of the day was a cup of tea, and a special was toast.Phil Street 00:42All that and so much more as Simon talks us through his epic career journey to date. Simon really has built a life and career around having a positive mental attitude. And is proof as to what you can achieve when you keep believing, and when you surround yourself with extraordinary people. Nice work, Simon. Don't forget, we launch a brand new episode each week telling the amazing and always amusing stories from hospitality. So make sure you hit that subscribe button and give us a like and share across your networks. Let's share these stories as far as we can. Enjoy. Hello, and welcome to another edition of hospitality meets with me Your host Phil Street. It's not everyday you get to chat to someone who on the face of it seems to have touched the lives of quite a number of people in this industry. But today, we get to do just that, with some marquee brands and his background, including Baxter Storey, WSH limited, which is the parent company for many a familiar brand, but now also the founder of Uncommon Sense, which I'm sure we'll talk about in a lot more detail later on. I'm also delighted to have been on the receiving end of some mentoring from this chap. So I'm absolutely thrilled to welcome to the show, Simon Esner.Simon Esner 01:50Well, good afternoon to you. And obviously, Phil, you've arranged the great weather, which is fantastic, because here we are in the middle of September the 14th, glorious, beautiful sunshine. And I get to sit and chat with you. And just reminisce about some good times, but also talk about the opportunities. So thank you for inviting me.Phil Street 02:12Oh, my pleasure. And I think actually we've had a couple of chats over the last few months through this wonderful situation that we find ourselves and we probably would have had chats anyway. But on a couple of occasions, we've had the chat you've you've been sat in the sun, but but in Portugal, so I am glad we've got we've brought the sun to you in this country now as well.Simon Esner  02:34Thank you very much. Yeah. So I've been on a few podcasts and zooms over this COVID period. And you're quite right. In fact, I think you asked me when we were chatting, is that one of those fake backgrounds? I said no, actually, that's real blue sky that exists. So yeah, very, very fortunate. But another one that wasn't quite as amusing. When it was quite warm weather over here. I'd forgotten that I was having a zoom kind of podcasting webinar. And I was enjoying the delights of Estrella lager copiouslyPhil Street 03:09FabulousSimon Esner 03:09and was only when I realised I was on camera. That's the embarrassment ensued, but we've got none of that today. Sure. Vodka only no alcohol.Phil Street 03:20To be honest, it's audio only. So you can be drinking whatever the hell you wish.Simon Esner 03:25Very good. So how do you want to kick this off, though, coz you're good at this. And I'm new.Phil Street 03:31Well, that's that's a rumour I've heard but I'm not. I'm not. I'm gonna err on the side of caution. But to be honest, I'm, I'm very excited about this for lots of reasons. I think one. Every time I've had a conversation with you, you're what I would definitely classify as a glass half full kind of guy. Do you think that's fair? You seem to see the positive and quite a lot of things.Simon Esner 03:53Absolutely. I'd think generally in life, I was watching something just the other day, and actually was this morning, sorry. And it was a snippet from something that was on television a few days ago or whatever. An interview with sir Captain Tom law, as wonderful 100 year old gentleman who's raised so much money for the National Health Service. And a comment he made really did resonate with me because I'm sure I've said this to my own family and friends and acquaintances is that tomorrow will be a better day. And I kind of agree with the captain Tom more and actually, even if it's all going completely pear shaped at this moment in time. Tomorrow will be a better day. It's another opportunity to get it right it's another opportunity to learn and so I guess the I am I'm pretty much a glass half full. And as you know, Phil and anybody else that's met with me or see me on various zooms that glass really gets to the halfway point. I try to keep it as topped up as I can. But I'm very, very fortunate, I guess I'm really, I was. So like, I had two great parents, sadly, no longer with us two amazing parents and architect. And my mother was not only a theatrical agent for singers and dance acts, etc. But she was also a psychologist. So they're really sort of dynamic, forward thinking individual can imagine an architect, my father was always looking for the creative element in everything, and my mother, too, in her spare. Yeah, my brother and I were both super lucky that we grew up in a really open minded dynamic household, which I'm forever grateful for. And I genuinely mean, not as easy, but it's the site, but I am grateful for it. We did not have I can't do the whole hard luck story. It was a tough life, we had an average suburban middle class life. It was in a South Gate in North London, a great part of the world for a youngster to grow up in masses of local friends, lots of open space to run around and burn off energy. And actually, it's just a great time, good youth clubs, all the things that, you know, sadly, are missing a lot of communities today, we were so so blessed and joyful to have those. And I think having that early start with that. Those surroundings really did create for me that opportunity of positivity. My father, as a very young man, he developed polio and diphtheria and was in something called an iron lung, which obviously does not exist today. But back when he was a young lad, it was that what they thought the way of dealing with polio and diphtheria. And he, he was disabled. So my brother and I grew up in a house with a less than able bodied person. Therefore, to us, of course, he was dead. The fact that his legs didn't work very well, but the rest of his body did. And certainly his mind was my Goodness me. So active them. Very, very intelligent guy, which I'm afraid didn't come off on me, but did on my brother.Phil Street 07:14(Laughs)Simon Esner 07:15But he, he, I guess, taught us without even saying he just taught us that. You can actually if you think about it, if there's a hurdle, there's a way of getting through it or over it. And I remember watching my dad on we were in Bognor Regis, this is my own, who's still with us today at 97. miles had a little café café down on the seafront in Bogota. And we were down there and we drove down there. And in my dad's car, which is an old green, Ford Poplar, lovely old motor, didn't think it at the time, but look back fondly now. And I just remember he, he sort of parked in a particular position where duty is his physical challenges, he was unable to get out of the car easily. So my mom sort of said to him, Well, why don't you sort of scoot into the backseat? And I'll try and drive? He says, You're not driving this car? Have you seen what you've done to your Ford call Tina. So literally, what you have is a guy manoeuvring himself out of a window of a car, so that he could get out of the car and not have to clamber over anybody. And it was...