Fractional Operations & People Lead
Senior operational support, without another full-time salary.
I work alongside founders and leadership teams to bring order to growing businesses – strengthening operations, supporting people and making sure the decisions actually get delivered.
30+
years in hospitality
13
years in senior multi-site leadership
2 to 13
venues, through growth
c.250
people
8+
openings
The recognition
Your business has grown. Has the way it runs kept up?
Most founder-led businesses begin with people doing whatever needs to be done. That resourcefulness gets you a long way – until the business grows, the team expands and every decision still seems to find its way back to you.
Managers are working hard but not always in the same direction. People issues take longer than they should. Important projects keep losing out to the crisis of the day. Your systems technically exist, but some of them live in somebody's head and others live in a folder nobody opens.
In hospitality, there is always something: a supplier increase, a staffing gap, a piece of equipment with impeccable timing, or a contractor who disappears just as the deadline becomes real. Add rising wages, NI, utilities, rent, rates, insurance and changing employment responsibilities, and it is hardly surprising that leaders are stretched.
That is where I come in. I help create the structure, clarity and follow-through that allows the business – and the people inside it – to work better.
Fractional, explained
What fractional support actually means
Fractional support gives you experienced senior leadership for the time you genuinely need it. I might work with you one or two days each week, step in for a demanding period, or take ownership of a defined project.
Rather than advising from the outside, I work inside the business: alongside your managers, in your systems and close enough to your operation to see what is really happening. The arrangement is built around what the business actually needs, and it can scale up, scale down or conclude once the right structure is in place.
What it gives you
- Senior experience without a full-time appointment
- Hands-on ownership rather than distant advice
- Support shaped around the business
- More operational breathing room for the founder
How it can work
- One or two regular days each week
- A monthly retained arrangement
- A fixed-term operational project
- Interim leadership during change
- An intensive review and implementation period
“I do not arrive, write an impressive report and leave you with a longer list.”
I get under the skin of the business, work alongside your team and help turn good intentions into practical action.
Because sometimes the answer is not a new app, six meetings and a colour-coded action plan. Sometimes it is a clear decision, an honest conversation and somebody making sure it gets done.
Where I can help
Four places I make the difference
- 01
Operations & structure
Clear responsibilities, practical systems, useful reporting and operational standards that hold up when the pressure is on.
- 02
People & management
Better manager capability, fair people processes, clearer communication and support with the difficult conversations that cannot be left indefinitely.
- 03
Growth, openings & change
Senior ownership of launches, restructures, new systems and critical projects – keeping people, deadlines and operational reality connected.
- 04
Founder breathing room
Taking day-to-day operational weight off the founder, improving accountability and reducing the number of decisions that need to land on one desk.
The realities
I understand the realities – not just the theory
I have not learned operations from a textbook or a spreadsheet. I have learned it through services, openings, restructures, licensing issues, staffing crises, supplier negotiations, broken equipment, shifting deadlines and the occasional contractor who mysteriously disappears when you need them most.
I know a packed venue is not automatically a profitable one.
I know small inefficiencies quietly become expensive habits.
And I know ‘it’ll only take five minutes’ should always be treated with healthy suspicion.
There are no magic wands. There are better rotas, clearer responsibilities, tighter systems, smarter purchasing decisions, stronger managers and fewer expensive surprises.
Experience
Experience that has been lived, not borrowed
I have spent more than 30 years in hospitality and operations, including 13 years helping an independent Bristol business grow from two venues to 13, around 250 employees and £10 million in turnover.
I have worked from the floor to the leadership table, across operations, people, payroll, compliance, systems, suppliers, openings, growth and restructuring. Being an operational generalist is my superpower: I understand how all the moving parts affect one another.
- 30+ years
- in hospitality and operations
- 13 years
- growing an independent Bristol business
- 2 to 13
- venues
- c.250
- employees
- c.£10m
- turnover
- 8+
- openings
A good fit if…
You will recognise at least one of these
- Your business has outgrown the systems that once worked.
- Too much operational responsibility still sits with the founder.
- Your managers need greater structure, support or accountability.
- People issues or compliance responsibilities are becoming more complex.
- Important projects are continually overtaken by day-to-day demands.
- You need senior capability but cannot justify another full-time appointment.
Next step
Tell me what’s making work harder than it should be.
Thirty minutes, no obligation and no hard sell. Tell me what is taking too much of your time and I will tell you honestly whether I can help.