Founder and operator. Building businesses and assets designed to outlast the effort it took to create them.
There's a version of the hospitality story that ends in a head chef role at somewhere well-regarded, a reputation built over decades, a life spent in other people's dining rooms. I could see that version clearly from the inside. I chose a different one.
It started collecting glasses in a Manchester nightclub. That led to running some of the city's best bars, then a move to Melbourne where I worked for Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck Group and immersed myself in a wine and restaurant scene that changed how I thought about both. It shifted my palate and my ambitions in equal measure.
In 2019 I founded Top Cuvée. What started as a neighbourhood restaurant became something more deliberate when COVID hit. Rather than wait it out, I pivoted hard into retail and e-commerce, building an omni-channel wine brand from the wreckage of the hospitality industry. That decision defined the shape of the business: hospitality, retail, e-commerce, and wholesale running simultaneously, anchored by a proprietary product range that now drives the majority of revenue and delivers margins that are unusual in an industry not known for them.
The result is a seven-figure business stocked nationally, from Selfridges to independents across the country, delivering direct to customers from Cornwall to Aberdeen, with brand partnerships spanning Google, Nike, New Balance, Ganni, and Oatly, among others. Built without outside capital, and deliberately structured so the business doesn't depend on me to function. That was always the goal.
Getting the business to that point gave me something back: time to think clearly about what comes next. I'd spent years watching how value actually moves through an industry, not from the outside, but from inside each layer. Restaurant, supplier, landlord. The people quietly doing well weren't always the ones working hardest.
Property follows on from that. I'm approaching it the same way I approached everything else: properly, from scratch, without rushing the early work.
The longer aim is simpler than it sounds. I want my kids to inherit the knowledge and capability to run systems, not just something to spend. I've seen what that looks like when someone gets it right. That's what I'm going for.
Top Cuvée is the wine brand I founded in 2019 with a simple brief: make wine less intimidating and a lot more interesting.
It grew from a single neighbourhood restaurant into a national omni-channel brand with its own product range, a loyal direct customer base, and a wholesale operation supplying independents and institutions across the UK.
topcuvee.com →Property is the next logical step for someone who spent a decade understanding how value actually moves through an industry.
Restaurant first. Then supplier. Then I started paying attention to the landlords. The people quietly making money weren't the operators, they were the ones who owned the assets underneath them. I didn't read that in a book. I watched it happening from inside the chain.
The same thinking that built Top Cuvée is being applied here. Start properly. Understand the mechanics before moving at volume. Build something that runs on systems, not effort.
That work is underway. If you're an investor, operator, or someone with a deal worth looking at, the contact form is below.
A selection of features, interviews, and appearances.
I'm interested in hearing from property investors, operators, and anyone with a deal, an introduction, or a perspective worth sharing. Less interested in pitches.
Fill in the form below and I'll come back to you.