How I Got Here: Charlie Carroll

Why restaurants? ​
I have always loved food. My earliest memories are of food and I love looking after people and helping others to have a good time.

Tell us something you wish you had been told at the start of your career?​
Don’t go from two restaurants to four restaurants at the same time as the birth of your first child in a six month period.

What do you do in your spare time?​
I have a three year old, so I don’t have much spare time. When I do, holidays, eating out, cooking and fishing.

What’s your favourite restaurant or group of restaurants (besides your current one)?​
A. Wong.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in restaurants?​
Working for myself in food some way or another.

What motivates you?​
Working with a team to imagine and create an idea and then making it into a reality.

Where was your last holiday?​
Mauritius.

Which colleague, mentor or employer has had the biggest influence on your approach to the restaurant business?​
My creative director, Ben Chapman. Ben has been involved in Flat Iron since before our first service at the Owl and Pussycat.

What keeps you up at night?​
Lots of things…

Worst business decision?​
Not managing to invest in this little food delivery start up called Deliveroo when I met its founder when it had a handful of restaurants and I might have had a chance!

Best business decision?​
Taking on our site in Covent Garden. It was a big gamble being double the rent of the other two sites at the time.

What are you reading at the moment?​
Riders by Jilly Cooper.

What piece of advice would you give to those looking to climb the rungs in the business?​
The same advice someone gave to me at the beginning of my career. There are three things that make a successful restaurant; food, hospitality and ambience. If you get all three right, you are probably doing okay.

If you could change one thing about the restaurant industry today, what would it be?​
To me, the industry is all about amazing people and if I could change something it would be its attraction to people looking for a career from outside the industry. The opportunities for an 18 year old to be running a multi-million pound business in a few years are unique to the industry and we desperately need to attract more great talent.