Nick Jones on Building Soho House and Leading Through Growth

Nick Jones says he entered hospitality partly because his exam results and dyslexia limited the paths he thought available to him, but also because he saw an opportunity to offer people a different way to eat, drink and stay. He enjoyed watching a room of guests have a good time.

He did not grow up assuming he would be successful. Jones recalls struggling at school and says he still works because he loves the job rather than because he sees himself through other people's view of his success.

Before Café Boheme, Jones ran three restaurants called Over the Top that did not work. He says the company did not go bankrupt, but he learned how difficult it is to motivate staff and pay suppliers when business is poor. Looking back, he values that experience as preparation for later decisions.

Jones kept trying because he believed people wanted to eat, drink and enjoy themselves; he needed to understand what they actually wanted. When he opened Café Boheme in 1992, he reversed the earlier approach to atmosphere, decor, food and service. In the 2022 interview he says the café was still operating.

Café Boheme opened early and closed late, with a kitchen available throughout the day. Guests could come for coffee, a drink, jazz or a meal rather than being required to have a formal dinner. Jones describes flexibility and atmosphere as central to the idea.

Social media can make a venue visible more quickly, Jones says, but he believes customers return only if the experience is good and consistent. His emphasis is on making the place worth recommending rather than relying on attention alone.

Jones is uncomfortable with the word brand and describes Soho House as a way of living and a home away from home. He believes that feeling can appeal across cities. As founder and chief executive at the time, he has a direct commercial interest in that characterization.

Asked whether expanding a private members' club erodes exclusivity, he argues that new houses give existing members more places to go and broaden the community. He describes members as valuing that network. This is his view of the company's proposition, not evidence that every member agrees.

Jones remembers opening in New York as the hardest expansion: he had to raise funding, build in an unfamiliar city and explain the private-club concept. He says the effort nearly brought the business down.

For future city selection, he describes Cities Without Houses, a membership program that holds events before a physical house opens. Local members can indicate demand and help connect the company with properties and developers. His discussion of 85 future cities or houses is an expansion ambition from 2022, not a count of completed openings.

Good storytelling is simple, Jones argues. He says dyslexia has made simplification important to him in design, food and technology as well as communication. Too many layers can obscure a story rather than make it clearer.

Jones says he continues to learn and took time to understand financial figures. Running his earlier business required him to do the accounts himself; as the company grew, he could rely on a leadership team with expertise in areas where he felt less capable.

His leadership style has changed over time. He describes himself as demanding and willing to challenge people, while seeing motivation as a major part of running a global operation. For him, high performance combines passion, care for people and care for the product; he believes profit can follow.

Jones admits that he has made hiring mistakes and finds interviews imperfect. He values internal promotion, from entry-level service roles into management, alongside outside hiring. He advises being honest about the hard work involved rather than presenting the business as uniformly polished.

When an external hire receives a role an existing employee wanted, he recommends explaining the reasons clearly and honestly while acknowledging that the internal candidate may be suitable for another opportunity later. He sees direct conversations as a faster route through difficult issues.

Hiring failures are not always the individual's fault, he says: the employer may not have explained the work accurately. He suggests telling candidates the reasons they might not want to join, so they can decide with a realistic understanding.

Jones says he often makes mistakes himself. A leader should admit a bad decision to the team and change course instead of defending it merely to preserve appearances. He also talks with colleagues about being safe to acknowledge errors, while calling that culture a work in progress.

As a father of four, he values kindness, decency and the ability to get along with others. He credits his wife with much of the parenting and says he tries to become less challenging when he returns home from work.

Stebbings asks how to remain a strong operator while being present with family. Jones says balance is difficult for a workaholic entrepreneur and cautions against praising long hours without considering health and family. He is still learning to slow down and says he sometimes wishes he had better balance.

Jones interprets member feedback as coming from people who care. Critical comments may still hurt because he is passionate about the business, but he tries to examine whether they reveal a mistake and encourages candid feedback.

In a quick-fire round, he identifies keeping the team motivated and confident about its future as a difficult part of his role. He says public-company leadership brings greater exposure and pressure, while expressing his belief that satisfied investors and members can go together.

Jones would like hospitality to be seen as a strong career choice. He argues that serving guests teaches transferable skills, from working with different people to practical tasks. For his children, he names kindness, decency and a strong work ethic as traits he values.

Looking from 2022 toward 2032, Jones says he wants Soho House to be properly global and inclusive of people with a creative spirit, supporting them socially and professionally. This is his aspiration for the business, not a statement that the expansion or inclusion goals have been achieved.