Recognised as a leading female entrepreneur, Sarah Willingham, mother, businesswoman and ex-Dragon, speaks to us about her career so far, balancing parenthood and business, her time on Dragon’s Den and her plans for the future.
As one of Europe’s most successful female entrepreneurs and investors, mum-of-four Sarah Willingham has appeared as a Dragon on the BBC’s ‘Dragon’s Den’ and previously as a judge on Raymond Blanc’s ‘The Restaurant’.
Beyond our TV screens, Willingham has led an incredibly successful career in the hospitality industry. In just her 20s, she led the international expansion of Pizza Express and turned Bombay Bicycle Club into the UK’s largest chain of Indian restaurants.
Most recently, Willingham launched her new business Nightcap PLC, which has since acquired the nation’s beloved The Cocktail Club (formerly London Cocktail Club), as well as The Adventure Bar and most recently, Barrio.
Here, Willingham lifts the lid on her career journey, tells us how she has balanced motherhood and business and why she’s optimistic about the future of hospitality.
‘Lightbulb moment’
Having worked at Planet Hollywood and Pizza Express in her 20s, Willingham travelled the world opening new restaurants. But, as she thought about her 30s and her desire to be a mother, she realised she could not continue down her current path, in which someone else was entirely in charge of her diary.
Armed with her experience of growing Pizza Express internationally, an inherent curiosity about business and an understanding of a business model that did not work – via Planet Hollywood – Willingham recognised how shareholder value could be created.
“I understood the simple, replicable business model and where the magic was,” she said.
“I wondered what I could apply this to. There were no large chains of Indian food and I had this dream of having the largest chain of Indian restaurants in the UK – applying the business model I’d come to learn – and that’s what I did with Bombay Bicycle Club.”
“There was no lightbulb moment, per se. The decisions I’ve made since I was 18 have all been driven by what I wanted out of my life at that time,” Willingham added.
Overseeing business growth
As a mother of young children, Willingham made a conscious decision that she would not be responsible for anybody else getting up in the morning other than her own children.
“That’s when I then made the shift into minority shareholding, investments and some consulting,” she said. “I started with a little business, an online money-saving website, and I started to do more TV and columns, which were more flexible with my time and I was in charge of my diary.”
One key investment was in the The Cocktail Club – of which there are now 13. It was a business she was this year able to buy, through her new venture Nightcap, marking a new chapter in her 10-year connection with the brand.
Hospitality – a love-affair
Just as her decision to become an investor and entrepreneur was driven by her desire to oversee her own time, Willingham said that her ‘pull’ to the hospitality sector was also personal.
“Ideally, I like to be involved with businesses where I could also be a customer and enjoy them. I love our bars, I’m out in them regularly, and at the time, Bombay Bicycle Club was the best Indian food in London,” she said.
“My career had to fall into line with my life and give me something more than just money in the bank. It must enhance my life and hospitality does this.”
The meaning – and point – of success
Willingham lived in Japan for a year, setting up Pizza Express, the staff gifting a daruma doll when she left, wishing her fulfilment. Upon receiving it, colour in the left eye, picturing what success means to you.
“I coloured in the left eye not long after being given it, when thinking about three things which success meant to me,” Willingham said.
“I wanted to be a mum, I wanted to share my life with someone and I wanted to achieve something in business. Your goal is to colour the right eye. I coloured in mine years later. I’d met Michael, had a baby and sold the Bombay Bicycle Club. My definition of success was those three things.”
Balancing parenthood and business
Willingham is an advocate for women in business, having herself navigate the challenges of motherhood and business. She said the key is ‘balance’.
“One of the things that’s important to me, and always has been since I had kids, was that some days I need to wake up as Sarah Willingham,” she said.
“I’m not just a mum, I’m not just a wife, I’m not all these things individually. I’m who I’ve always been. I think that’s very important not to forget for anybody as they navigate life.”
Having spent time working with women entrepreneurs and founders, there is a strong need to be very self-propelled and highly motivated.
“It’s not easy and can be a very lonely existence. But, if it works, and you can find that balance its magic because you will be able to navigate it around the life that you want to have at home. I’ve learned the hard way that you cannot do both at the same time.”
The Dragon’s Den experience
Willingham was invited to a screen test but had not considered the gig would go ahead.
“You get lots of approaches to do different things on TV and most of them don’t happen. I thought: ‘What a laugh. I’ll go meet Deborah Meaden. Maybe she’ll like me and we can become good friends’,” she joked.
At the time, she was investing in small businesses, with an understanding of different types of business models, and concedes she is lucky to have the ability to ‘take something quite complex and make it very simple’.
Two days later, she had been shortlisted to the final three and then confirmation came later that week that she’d been selected as a new dragon.
“On the first day of filming, I remember looking at those five chairs and that’s never left me – honestly, it’s terrifying. It’s incredible how people walk in through and do the pitch,” she said.
“I also hadn’t realised just how competitive it is between the dragons. I was like a kid in a sweet shop but it’s not just us picking them, they pick us as well.”
It was in the second series that Willingham invested in Craft Gin Club – a business she believes will be the most successful to ever come out of the den.
“The experience overall was great – one of the best things I’ve ever done,” she added.
Great business idea vs leadership qualities
“I would invest in a person before I would invest in a business model because I can always tweak a business model, but I can’t work with somebody who just doesn’t get ‘it’. The hardest bit is finding a good person, over a good business,” Willingham said.
There are three key elements that must be considered before investment, she highlighted. First, is the product or service something that people would want to buy – and more so than anything else? Then, secondly, how can those people be reached for marketing purposes?
Finally, a good business idea needs an individual who will drive it forward with ambition or outstanding product knowledge.
“When you have those three, then you’ve got an investable product,” she said.
Nightcap PLC
The idea for Nightcap was born during COVID-19 and during a discussion with husband Michael.
The pair recognised an opportunity for growth – including an opportunity to acquire property – as well as a need for equity investments, with many businesses having taken on debt during COVID-19 but still trading well.
That, combined with new consumer demand for premium late-night venues, highlighted a gap in the market.
Despite challenges along the way – including regional restrictions and lockdowns – Willingham said the IPO was dragged across the finish line, but to great success.
“Once we got the money in the bank, it was successful,” she said. “The share price is trading at more than double it was when we floated it. We very quickly bought our second acquisition, which has got phenomenal rollouts brands within it.”
From Tonight Josephine to Bar Elba, the Adventure Bar Group hosts some of London’s most popular venues, whilst Nightcap PLC’s newest acquisition, Barrio Bars, has multiple Latin venues across the capital.
The impact of COVID-19 on the future of hospitality
The key, Willingham said, is to ‘make hay while the sun shines’, with many in the industry now likely to be seeing positive feedback among younger clientele. Small businesses should focus on getting cash in the bank.
“For any slightly larger groups that want to recapitalise and grow quickly, we are a perfect home for them, because that’s what we want to do,” she said.
Advice for aspiring CEOs
“There’s a couple of important qualities, both as an entrepreneur and as a leader. You must be very self-propelled and self-motivated and have strong self-awareness” Willingham said.
“You can end up with the best team of people around you when you know what it is that you’re not good at. Don’t recruit in your mirror, recruit your opposite. Fill the holes around you.”
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