Martin Wolstencroft: “Staff have to care about themselves and the customer”

Wolstencroft founded the company in 1999 having worked his way up the career ladder at Whitbread. He believes that good staff ‘care’ about the service that they provide to customers.

“What we expect from them is that they care, I use that word a lot,” he told BigHospitality.

“They have to care about themselves, they care about the customer, they care about the company, they care about the service and the product that they deliver, they have to care about the full experience that they give. We want them to have pride in themselves and pride in the service they give.”

Wolstencroft, who was once the youngest bar manager in the country at the age of 22, looks for certain characteristics in his staff.

“We look for people with fun personalities who show that they are committed to the company, committed to the each other and a commitment to give the customer a great experience,” he said.

Biggest investment​

After borrowing money off of his parents to open the Arc at Headingly 15 years ago, Wolstencroft’s Arc Inspirations now operates 13 bars across the north of England and has recently opened its first bar in Manchester.

“It’s going fantastic. It’s a beautiful space opposite Selfridges and there’s a south-facing terrace that seats 130-covers, so it’s superb,” Wolstencroft said.

“It’s our biggest investment, over £1.5m, and it’s our biggest site. We’ve really gone for it there and we’ve invested heavily in our design and space, and also in our people. Hopefully it’s going to be our highest taking site.”

Wolstencroft told BigHospitality that further growth is on the cards but it will not be widespread.

“At the moment we’re just looking to grow in clusters, so we’ve opened in Leeds, Harrogate and York. We’ll look to open some more places around there, as well as in Manchester.”