By Angela Green:
Restaurant News is sponsored by Newbridge Software
Restaurateur Sam Harrison has announced the appointment of Robbie White as ‘Head of People’ at his expanding repertoire of west London businesses, including Sam’s Riverside, Sam’s Larders (three sites), Sam’s Kitchen, and the soon-to-be-launched Sam’s Waterside in Brentford.
Commenting on the appointment, Sam Harrison explained: “In the last 12 months, we will have added four sites to our little west London portfolio, and our team has grown from 50 to 150.
“The business is based around working with great people and making sure that we look after them. Restaurants are all I have known since I left school, and I feel very lucky that the industry has provide me with an incredible career, and ultimately the opportunity to open my own places.
As the company expands, I want to do everything possible to ensure that we recruit the very best people and then develop and nurture them. For our continued success, I need our teams to flourish, so we have engaged Robbie as ‘Head of People’ to help us focus on our staff welfare and growth.”
Robbie’s background has been in hospitality since 2001, when he worked in Dublin at Café Java and then Yamamori (2006-12), both in manager positions. He then moved to London to Hawksmoor, starting as a waiter then progressing to Restaurant Manager (2012-20). And prior to joining Sam’s group, Robbie was ‘Head of People & Culture’ at Vinoteca (2021-23), an ideal broader role that leads well to the new position with Sam.
Robbie enthuses that he wants to make a real mark supporting Sam and the teams, stating that he is “passionate about people management, training and development, and strategic business planning to create a better environment for all employees.”