Alex Grimley: Turning plates into power

Grimley speaks candidly about the realities of building four hospitality businesses from the ground up, with ZERO SAVINGS OR INVESTMENT. He didn’t start in a boardroom. He started in the heat of the kitchen.Grimley entered professional kitchens at just 17, training in the UK under celebrated chefs including Jean-Christophe Novelli, Marco Pierre White, and Tony Fleming. Those formative years in London’s demanding culinary environment laid the foundations for a career defined by discipline, precision and ambition. His career later took him across the globe, with roles at renowned destinations including Jumeirah Burj Al Arab in Dubai, a private island position at One&Only Reethi Rah in the Maldives, and ultimately to the Caribbean as Executive Chef at Carlisle Bay in Antigua.In 2010, Grimley made the pivotal leap from chef to entrepreneur, founding Rocks Group and opening its flagship restaurant, Sheer Rocks, at Cocobay Resort. Perched dramatically on Antigua’s west coast cliffs, Sheer Rocks quickly gained international recognition for its Mediterranean-inspired tapas, tasting menus, craft cocktails and iconic plunge pools. Over the following decade, Rocks Group launched Catherine’s Café, a revitalised French-inspired beachfront restaurant at Pigeon Point, English Harbour, Rokuni, with Asian-inspired cuisine and stunning design at Sugar Ridge, and most recently Fat Urchin, a marina-side pub and coastal kitchen in Jolly Harbour, pints and beer battered grouper fish.“Generating revenue in hospitality is one thing,” Grimley explains in the episode. “Extracting profit is another entirely. He also discusses revitalising Catherine’s Café while preserving its legacy, relocating Rokuni to allow the concept to grow, and expanding the Rocks Group portfolio with new projects such as Fat Urchin.The episode explores themes of leadership, reinvention, calculated risk and the transition from chef to CEO.“This isn’t just a story about food,” says host Phoebe Averdieck. “It’s about how Grimley turned discipline into desire, service into strategy and plates into power". Episode 06 of Phoebe Asks featuring Alex Grimley is available now on all major podcast platforms. For media inquiries or interviews, contact: Rachel Smyth at ⁠[email protected]⁠. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.