Rebecca has worked in restaurants her entire adult life — from “running” a Warwickshire restaurant at 19 to sharpening her standards in Melbourne, and spending nine defining years inside one of London’s most respected restaurant groups. No degree, no grand plan — but a whole lot of graft, instinct, and a deep belief that if you remember people, they come back.
For the many GMs who quietly (or loudly) wonder what it takes to move into operations, Rebecca’s path is refreshingly transparent. She speaks openly about confidence dips, trying to quit in her first fortnight in London, asking for pay rises even when it feels uncomfortable, and stepping into senior leadership as a young woman within established, often older teams. Her progression hasn’t been linear or glamorous — it’s been built on resilience, emotional intelligence and the willingness to “get stuck in” to service, not retreat to the office.
In an industry where operational leadership is sometimes misunderstood, Rebecca’s perspective cuts through: ops isn’t just systems and spreadsheets. It’s people. It’s priorities. It’s swallowing the frog. And, ultimately, it’s "getting shit done".
How did you get into your current role?
I have worked in restaurants my entire working life. At 19, I was “running” a restaurant back home in Warwickshire. In reality, my financial acumen, wine knowledge etc. was non-existent, but I quickly learned that if you go the extra mile and remember people, they come back. I became addicted to the thrill of service and watching guests leave happy and then return again to do the same!
I didn’t go to uni and chose to travel and move to Melbourne instead. No regrets, as this is where I cemented my love for hospitality – I worked in brilliant restaurants with high standards and was able to learn so much from some incredible teams. The team morale was next level. When I moved to London in 2016, my career path was set.
My current role came about after I decided to move on from St. JOHN after nine years. I have been in the role of Head of Operations here at STRAKER’S and ACRE for nine months!
What’s been the hardest thing about your career journey so far, and how did you get through it?
One of the hardest parts was moving from Melbourne, where I felt confident and established, to London where I knew no one in the industry and because of this my confidence took a dive. I stepped into a management role as a young woman within a mature, longstanding team in a high-calibre restaurant group and felt completely out of my depth. I was so unhappy in the first two weeks that I tried to quit, convinced I wasn’t good enough but thankfully I was talked out of it! That restaurant group became my professional home for nine years.
Proving yourself against people older or with technically more experience is always a challenge but hard work, understanding and perseverance usually pay off
What’s the realistic salary range for a role like yours?
Operations salaries vary hugely depending on the size and structure of the business. Entry level ops roles within a small business or as part of a larger team tend to sit around £40–50k. To sit alone in a medium sized group can bring you anything between 60-90k. Director-level operations roles in larger groups can easily move into six figures, often with performance bonuses attached. I’m lucky to be in an ambitious business where as it grows, so can my role and return!
How has your earning potential changed over time?
In terms of Management hierarchy within restaurants, this tends to be pretty incremental as accountabilities increase and there is clear progression.
There have been a couple of plateaus too, often to do with a role focus switch up rather than a promotion. Any increase has always been due to hard work and dedication and sometimes, asking for it! Which i hate doing, but sometimes you don’t ask, you don’t get.
What’s the most unexpected part of your role?
However good you are with systems, financials etc. absolutely none of it beats an understanding of how people work. Emotional intelligence is as, if not more, important than any other operational skill and sometimes you have to put yourself on the ground and in the thick of it more, despite ‘needing’ that office time, to achieve long term.
Ops can truly cover so much! Sometimes it’s glamorous, often it’s really not.
What’s the best part of the job?
THE PEOPLE by a mile. Seeing the team develop and Managers training out things that have been trained to them is just so incredibly satisfying. Hospitality brings with it such a diverse array of people with unique backgrounds and so many different reasons as to why they are here and you can genuinely learn something new about your team every day.
Also there is truly never a dull day! It’s a great mix of firefighting and strategy and you never know what’s going to be thrown at you, especially in the current restaurant landscape. It’s stressful to be pulled in so many different directions but so incredibly rewarding when you work your way through it and see results at the other end, or merely get by!
What’s the hardest or most draining part?
Setting boundaries can be difficult, it can easily become a 24/7 job as with a lot of management roles within hospitality.
I think a huge one though is not beating yourself up too much – as a Head of Operations everyone in the business has a different idea of what you are to them; to the business owners, you are there to help secure the future of the business and deliver on the P&L. Your team craves development and growth and more day-to-day, tangible rewards (and rightly so!). Some team members just want the systems to be better and others want that quality coaching time etc. the list goes on. It can feel like a lot and it’s sometimes hard not to beat yourself up for not fulfilling everyone’s expectations at once – but you are only human! And you need to be honest with your team about that.
What skills matter most in your role, beyond the obvious ones?
Emotional intelligence as mentioned as well as resilience are huge. Resilience is built from experience. Often more junior managers will say ‘I wouldn’t know how to deal with that’ and my response is ‘neither did I until it happened!’. The more you see and deal with, the more you feel ready to deal with in the future. With competence comes confidence.
Otherwise, humility and the courage to own up to your mistakes. If you don’t, your team won’t feel empowered to own up to theirs!
What advice would you give to someone trying to break into this role today?
You don’t need a degree or huge credentials to secure a well-paying, satisfying job in hospitality! That’s one of the most beautiful things about our industry, you can build something really rewarding through experience alone. A lot of the more junior operations roles are essentially looking for solid GMs, so do take the plunge if this is you!
Work hard and ask questions – if you’re good, often you get overlooked as not wanting or needing to learn, so stand up for yourself and ask for extra time to run through something you didn’t quite understand, as people will assume you understand!
Lastly, don’t necessarily step into operations if you’re looking for a 9 - 5 office job. These do exist in larger groups with larger teams, but for where I’m at and the calibre and size of the restaurant group, this just wouldn’t work. Get stuck into service every once in a while to keep your finger on the pulse!
What’s the best piece of advice that YOU were given?
I have THREE.
‘If everything is a priority, nothing is’ which is especially true I think for our gorgeous neurodivergent colleagues. People in operations are often the filter of information and wants from owners, to the teams, and it’s important to break this information down into more bitesize chunks for them, so they feel like they are achieving and this can be celebrated!
‘Swallow the frog’ was and is a huge one for me. It essentially means prioritising your most unappealing or challenging task, for example a particularly difficult conversation at the start of your day. Just get it over with, you deserve not to have that hanging over you all day!
Also and simply, GET SHIT DONE. We love to see it.
