#238 - Hospitality Meets Matt McCabe - The Mayonnaise Principle

This week on Hospitality Meets, Phil sits down with Matt McCabe, Founder of Subu Connect - a platform created to bridge the gap between food and beverage suppliers and global buyers across airlines, foodservice and hospitality.Matt’s story is one of curiosity, courage, accidental brilliance, and a lot of beautifully human learning along the way. From a 19-year-old Irish hotel management student taking a leap into a German kitchen… to buying food for prisons, parliaments and planes… to building his own tech platform from scratch - this is a masterclass in connection, leadership, humility and trust.It also includes one of the greatest stories ever told on the podcast involving… mayonnaise.In This EpisodeHow a leap of faith took Matt from hotel school in Ireland to cooking in Germany, Switzerland and London — including a stint at The Dorchester with 120 chefs in the kitchenThe moment Matt realised chefs don’t buy food and how that insight led him into procurement and supply chain leadershipWhy asking for help (and admitting you don’t know something) is one of the most powerful leadership skills you can developWhat running food supply for UK prisons, the House of Lords, and then Emirates Airline Catering taught him about scale, systems and humanityThe emotional and cultural challenge of moving his family to Dubai - and what that transition really felt likeHow a chance LinkedIn event invitation on holiday led to the creation of Subu Connect almost overnightThe reality of becoming a founder: self-belief, risk, financial uncertainty, and emotional investmentWhy Matt believes “Every Connection Matters” - and how relationships compound over timeStand-Out Quotes“I never really believed in myself. I was waiting for the lightbulb moment — and I used that as an excuse not to start”“Every connection matters. No conversation is ever wasted”“I physically feel it when the company struggles — like you would with a child or a loved one”“We’re not the stars — the suppliers are. We’re just the stage”“People didn’t invest in the platform. They invested in me and what I stand for”Why ListenThis episode is a beautiful exploration of:Career reinvention and courageThe hidden emotional side of entrepreneurshipLeadership through vulnerability and trustThe power of curiosity and asking better questionsWhy hospitality skills translate into almost every other industryHow values shape sustainable businessesIt’s a reminder that success is rarely linear, confidence often arrives late, and the most meaningful careers are built through people, not plans.A joyful, human, wise and quietly powerful conversation.Show PartnersA big shout out to the first of today’s show partner, RotaCloud, the people management platform for shift-based teams.RotaCloud lets managers create and share rotas, record attendance, and manage annual leave in minutes — all from a single, web-based app.It makes work simple for your team, too, allowing them to check their rotas, request holiday, and even pick up extra shifts straight from their phones.Try RotaCloud’s time-saving tools today by heading to https://rotacloud.com/philThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy