Interview Cafe


Pho co-founder Stephen Wall is one of a new breed of restaurant owners mixing authentic street food with a premium casual dining experience. By Joanna Perry


culture


signature noodle soups are on the stove, and a waitress is busy preparing fruit for the fresh juices served. The buzz in the restaurant matches the Hanoi-like atmosphere of the rain storm brewing outside. The Vietnamese-inspired restaurant has been open only a


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couple of months, and is the latest in the expanding chain that was founded in 2005 at a site in nearby Clerkenwell. Set up by Wall and his wife and business partner Jules, the business now operates seven restaurants in total – six in London and one in Brighton – and growth plans are under way, with venture capital funding secured from ISIS Equity Partners to take the business to its next stage of development. The story of how the idea for the business came to the


couple is now well-known. While on a career break from jobs in marketing, and backpacking through Asia in 2005, they were struck by the food on offer; and couldn’t believe that no one was specialising in Vietnamese food in the UK. Following in the footsteps of other established restaurants


such as Wagamama, which specialises in Japanese ramen noodle dishes, the chain has brought pho – a type of noodle soup – to the masses in London and now beyond.


Customers count Going through the clippings from other interviews it looks like Wall has had quite a bit of press in the past, but things had gone a little quiet in the year until the ISIS announce- ment in early August.


autumn 2012


t’s the calm before the storm,” jokes Pho co-founder Stephen Wall, as we take in the surroundings of his Spitalfields restaurant at 10am on a Friday morning, with staff busying themselves in preparation for the lunchtime rush.


Tables are already laid, the stocks for the restaurant chain’s


Partly this quiet period was down to a focus on securing new investment funding. But Wall also explains that in the early days of the business it very much sought press coverage. His wife and he were keen to get the brand message across on their own terms, instead of, as he puts it “having to rely on critics coming to our new restaurants when they open”. Rather than uncovering a particular dislike of restaurant


critics, what this shows (and he goes on to demonstrate time and again throughout the interview) is that Wall is obsessed with his customers. And irrespective of what the critics think, if his customers keep coming back then he is happy. Wall doesn’t just want full restaurants, but restaurants


that are full of repeat customers. “We massively care whether it is the same people coming back. Our St John Street restaurant in Clerkenwell is seven years old, and that has been built on repeat custom.” In fact the first restaurant bought the couple two regular customers who later became investors in the business – gastro-pub entrepreneurs Tom and Ed Martin – who bought a 50% stake in the business in April 2007. Though neither Wall or his wife came from a restaurant


trade background, they have taken their understanding of marketing and branding, combined with a desire to delight their customers, and matched it with a dogged determination to learn the hard way. So in the business’ “first phase” as Wall calls it, when


they had their initial restaurant up and running, the couple worked “every single shift for 18 months to two years”. In fact Wall can remember that one of the odd nights he didn’t work was on his 37th birthday, when after signing a deal for funding with Tom and Ed Martin he went into the restaurant to celebrate and was served


PHO: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW


The chain is named after the national dish of Vietnam, a noodle soup. Pronounced ‘fuh’, pho is described as the ultimate street food, and in its country of origin is eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s served with a side plate of


herbs and chillies to allow diners to season as they wish. Marketed as being tasty, nutritious and healthy – it’s low in fat and full of fresh ingredients – it has a subtle and distinctive taste that comes from the hours taken to prepare the stocks used.


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