I’m Donna, a hospitality consultant with over 20 years in the industry, based in West Lothian, near Edinburgh. I’ve worked pretty much every side of it: on the floor, in management, opening new venues, and eventually running my own.
My love for hospitality started young, on a visit to The Moat House in Glasgow. Watching the buzz of the staff and the atmosphere of the place, I remember thinking, this is it, this is what I want to do. It’s been more than a job to me ever since.
Since then I’ve been Deputy General Manager at a busy Edinburgh bar group, opened a brand new Italian restaurant from scratch, grown a gastropub’s weekly revenue by more than £10,000, and led training across a group of eight pubs. I’ve seen what good operations, service and training look like from pretty much every angle.
Then redundancy gave me the push to open my own place. My husband and I ran Brunch Box, a sandwich bar and café, for six years. I remember how nerve wracking it was before we opened, being the manager and the owner, fully responsible for everything. That nervous energy turned to pure joy the moment we served our first customers, and we went on to run a properly organised, well loved little business.
That experience is exactly why I do this work now. Through HCM, I help hospitality businesses, new and already open, get their operations, service and training right, so things run the way they should and owners feel properly supported rather than figuring it all out alone.
Starting or running a café, restaurant or bar isn’t rocket science, but it does need the right know how around you. I love talking all things hospitality, and I’d love to help you build something that genuinely thrives.
