Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants

The Challenge: The four pub-restaurant brands (Beefeater, Brewer’s Fayre, Table Table and Taybarns) had indistinct market positions and were losing share to other casual dining chains. Internally they were also seen as the ‘poor relation’ to their hugely successful sister brand, Premier Inn. Whitbread created the new position of Restaurants Marketing Director to address this.

The Result: I was appointed as the Interim Director to establish the team and the strategy whilst the permanent post-holder was sought. I led key brand re-positioning and menu development projects, whilst creating an over-arching marketing strategy that could both sit alongside and leverage the other Whitbread businesses, Costa Coffee and Premier Inn. I also introduced a new digital strategy to reduce reliance on tactical promotions.

“Sam is quick to identify the marketing and organisational challenges that a business faces. She sets out a coherent strategy, expertly builds cross-functional teams and aligns everyone behind a single strategy. She is un-phased by politically charged environments and is also charismatic – which means however complex and challenging the project, it’s a pleasure to work in a team under her direction.”

Claire Hunt – Chief Strategy Officer, Candi Digital

“Sam understood the business challenges extremely quickly and developed a strategic framework to address them, enabling much improved ways of working and a true step-change in performance. Sam not only aligned the senior leaders behind the new marketing strategy, but was also truly supportive and hands-on – a true team leader and a team player. Sam has a real breadth of marketing experience and is an inspiring leader. It was a real pleasure working with her.”