{"podcast":{"title":"Hospitality Meets... with Phil Street","slug":"hospitality-meets-with-phil-street-122320","podcast_index_feed_id":122320,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/hospitalitymeets/","website_url":"https://www.hospitalitymeets.co.uk/","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/24567222-3ee9-4d84-8550-5857874d2ff6/HOSPITALTY-MEETS-MASTER-1.jpg","author":"Phil Street","episode_count":300,"summary":"Hospitality Meets is a podcast about people. Every week, Phil Street sits down with some of the most fascinating individuals in hospitality and beyond - from chefs, hoteliers, restaurateurs, and entrepreneurs to leaders, innovators, and changemakers. But this isn't a podcast about job titles. It's about the journeys behind them. The setbacks that almost ended careers. The opportunities that changed lives. The lessons learned through success, failure, risk, resilience, and everything in between. Through honest conversations, laughter, and the occasional unexpected life lesson, Hospitality Meets explores what it really takes to build a career, lead people, create memorable experiences, and find meaning in the work we do. Whether you're taking your first steps in hospitality, leading a business, or simply love hearing remarkable stories from remarkable people, you'll find inspiration, perspective, and plenty of reasons to believe in people. Because every great story starts with a conversation. Hospitality Meets. Stories. Spirit. People. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy","last_synced_at":"2026-07-16T08:20:08.940777+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hospitality-meets-with-phil-street-122320"},"episode":{"title":"#261 - Hospitality Meets Duncan Garrood - Putting Life in Your Years","slug":"261-hospitality-meets-duncan-garrood-putting-life-in-your-years","published_at":"2026-06-24T19:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hospitality-meets-with-phil-street-122320/261-hospitality-meets-duncan-garrood-putting-life-in-your-years","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hospitality-meets-with-phil-street-122320","url":"https://www.hospitalitymeets.co.uk/","audio_url":"https://pdcn.co/e/episodes.captivate.fm/episode/fea36e9b-0c7b-4ce7-92e0-b4fb4aa2e853.mp3","summary":"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…","meta_description":"What do a biochemist, a Chinese mansion house, Heathrow Airport, 250 burger restaurants, a pub turnaround, student accommodation, retirement living, and m…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5380,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hospitality-meets-with-phil-street-122320/episodes/261-hospitality-meets-duncan-garrood-putting-life-in-your-years/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hospitality-meets-with-phil-street-122320/261-hospitality-meets-duncan-garrood-putting-life-in-your-years.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}