Chef Jonathan MacDonald got his first job in the hospitality sector at the age of 16, at Yes on West Nile Street in Glasgow, while he was still at school. He now heads Scoop Restaurants Group, which has an annual turnover of £15 million and employs around 200 people. He highlights the “creativity, people and pressure that comes with running restaurants” as things which attracted him to his current role. In between times, Mr MacDonald travelled the world with the McLaren Formula One team and lived in Australia and Vietnam.
He least enjoys "feeling underprepared”.
And Mr MacDonald flags rising costs, the increase in employer national insurance contributions and an “outdated non-domestic rates system” as among the challenges facing the operators of quality independent restaurants.
He declares: “Right now is one of the toughest periods I’ve seen in hospitality.”
Mr MacDonald, on his ambitions for Scoop, says: “The ambition is sustainability over size. We strive to build restaurants that still feel fresh and relevant years after opening.”
Name: Jonathan MacDonald
Job title: Managing director and co-founder
What is your business called? Scoop Restaurants Group
Where is it based? Glasgow
What does it produce/do?
We operate five restaurants across Glasgow and Edinburgh - Ox and Finch, Margo and Sebb’s in Glasgow and Ka Pao in Glasgow and Edinburgh - and we also provide restaurant consultancy to hotel clients.
To whom does it sell?
The dining public! Anyone looking for a good meal and somewhere they know they’ll be well looked after.
What is its turnover? £15 million
How many employees? Around 200
What attracted you to your current role?
It’s the combination of creativity, people and pressure that comes with running restaurants. I love the pace and that it’s a job where you can design something from the ground up and then see people enjoy it in real time.
What were you doing before?
I got my first hospitality job at 16 at Yes on West Nile Street while still at school. I studied hospitality management at Strathclyde University and worked in Glasgow kitchens before moving to London to join Absolute Taste, cooking at high-profile events and later travelling the world with the McLaren Formula One team.
After a year in Australia and travelling through Asia and living in Vietnam, I came back to Glasgow in 2011 and set up Scoop Events soon after, focusing on pop-ups, large-scale catering and collaborations. Together with Daniel Spurr, we opened Ox and Finch in 2014 as our first permanent restaurant and that’s when the group began to take shape.
What do you least enjoy?
Feeling underprepared. Years in kitchens taught me that preparation really is everything.
What do you consider to be the main successes of the business?
The incredible team we’ve managed to build. Restaurants only work if the team pulls in the same direction and the best part of the job for me is seeing people grow within it, take ownership and shape it into something that reflects them as well as the business.
What are your ambitions for the firm?
We’ve never chased expansion for its own sake. We want to grow organically, opening new sites only when the opportunity feels right and the right people in our team are ready to take the lead. The ambition is sustainability over size. We strive to build restaurants that still feel fresh and relevant years after opening.
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What are the challenges facing the sector and market, and what could be done to overcome or address these?
The pressure on margins with food and drink inflation, energy costs, and the increase in employer national insurance has the potential to be catastrophic in a people-intensive industry. Add to that an outdated non-domestic rates system and a 20% VAT rate on restaurant food, and it becomes very difficult for quality independents to justify the level of investment required.
What single thing would most help?
Reform of the non-domestic rates system. It doesn’t reflect the realities of running restaurants that invest in people, premises and local supply chains. While I’d welcome changes to VAT or national insurance, rates reform is probably the most achievable and most urgently needed.
What is the most valuable lesson you have learned?
Understand your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your team. People thrive when they’re doing what they’re good at and enjoy, with ownership and support. My role increasingly is about creating the environment for that to happen.
What was your best moment?
Ox and Finch winning its Michelin Bib Gourmand shortly after opening in 2014 was a surreal moment that will long live in the memory.
What has been your most challenging moment in life or business?
Right now is one of the toughest periods I’ve seen in hospitality. Costs keep rising and margins tighten. The only way to get through it is to stay disciplined: watch the KPIs, buy well, waste nothing, stay agile and keep delivering value for guests. We’re fortunate to remain profitable with solid foundations, but it feels like a tipping point. I think some good independent operators will choose not to continue.
How do you relax?
Spending time with my wife, Dawn, and our four kids. It’s not always relaxing in the conventional sense, but it’s grounding and reminds me why I work so hard.
What phrase or quotation has inspired you the most?
An old boss used to always tell us: “Look for wee improvements every day. There’s no such thing as standing still. If we’re not moving forward, we’re sliding backwards.”
What is the best book (fiction or non-fiction) you have ever read? Why is it the best?
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. It captures the madness, camaraderie and honesty of kitchen life.
Where do you find yourself most at ease?
Sketching restaurant layouts on my computer. I’ve been doing more of it recently for hotel clients. It’s oddly calming.
If you weren’t in your current role, what job would you most fancy?
Managing a hotel or resort somewhere sunnier than Glasgow.
What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?
I loved living in Melbourne in my twenties, the food and coffee culture is incredible. I might have stayed if it wasn’t so far from home. Scotland eventually pulled me back. I wanted to build something here.
