#261 - Hospitality Meets Duncan Garrood - Putting Life in Your Years

What do a biochemist, a Chinese mansion house, Heathrow Airport, 250 burger restaurants, a pub turnaround, student accommodation, retirement living, and more than a few bottles of Mao Tai have in common?

This week's guest... Duncan Garrood.

And trust me...

You're going to want to hear this one.

Duncan's career began in a laboratory as a scientist with a PhD in Biochemistry.

It then took him through Unilever, a decade living in China, Heathrow Airport, the Middle East, Punch Taverns, Bill's Restaurants, family entertainment, student accommodation, and now Riverstone Living.

Most people spend a career trying to follow a plan.

Duncan spent his, basically just saying yes.

In this episode we chat about:

• Why a scientist decided business looked more interesting
• Being told on a Wednesday that he was moving to China on Sunday
• Living next door to 13 Chinese families in a former colonial mansion
• Putting Walls ice cream on the Great Wall of China
• The business lessons hidden inside industrial quantities of Mao Tai
• What airports can teach us about hospitality
• Why great service is often revealed when things go wrong
• Growing a business from $150 million to $1 billion
• Running out of cows whilst scaling Shake Shack
• Transforming Punch Taverns during one of the biggest shifts in pub legislation
• Reimagining Bill's Restaurants
• Using people, not capital, to drive growth in leisure
• Treating students like customers
• Why later living might be one of the most exciting sectors in hospitality today

Along the way we explore leadership, customer experience, entrepreneurship, curiosity, reinvention, and the power of saying yes to opportunities before you're entirely sure how they'll work out.

One of my favourite stories came from Duncan's time in China.

After fifteen dinners with a potential business partner, countless toasts, and enough Mao Tai to test the resilience of a small nation, the gentleman put his arm around him and declared:

You are my little brother."

Moments later, he passed out.

Business was secured.

As leadership lessons go, it's certainly more memorable than most MBA programmes.

There are also some absolute gems throughout the conversation:

💭 "We're not here to put years on your life, we're here to put life in your years."

💭 "If you don't take the opportunities when they come, the things you're missing out on are unknown."

And perhaps my favourite takeaway of all:

💭 "I've literally never regretted saying yes to any of these opportunities."

Because that's really what this episode is about.

Not airports.

Not pubs.

Not burgers.

Not retirement living.

It's about curiosity.

It's about adventure.

It's about having the courage to step into the unfamiliar.

And trusting that you'll figure the rest out along the way.

Funny, thoughtful, insightful and packed with stories.

A brilliant conversation with a man who's spent a lifetime proving that some of the best opportunities arrive disguised as uncertainty.

Enjoy

Show Partner

A big shout out to today’s show partner, RotaCloud — the people management platform built specifically for shift-based teams.

RotaCloud lets managers create and share rotas, record attendance, and manage annual leave in minutes — all from one simple, web-based app.

It also makes life easier for teams, allowing staff to check rotas, request holiday, and pick up extra shifts directly from their phones.

To find out more, head to RotaCloud

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