Podcasts
A feast for your ears.
What's Cooking? is the podcast for hospitality operators scaling smart. Hosted by Conor Sheridan – CEO and Founder of Nory, and a former operator who built and ran multi-site restaurant brands himself.
Each episode goes behind the scenes of fast-growing restaurant groups to explore how they tackle the big operational challenges like disconnected systems, staffing chaos, and margin pressure.
Season 1 • Episode 8
How Black Sheep Coffee Built a Category-Defining Brand on the Bean Everyone Else Wrote Off
By Conor Sheridan with Gabriel Shohet
July 8, 2026 - 62 mins
Gabriel Shohet, co-founder and co-CEO of Black Sheep Coffee, on building a 135-site coffee brand by betting on the bean the specialty industry rejected, the franchise architecture that protects the model, and the conviction that has kept the business founder-owned.
Conviction Over Consensus with the Co-CEO of Black Sheep Coffee
Gabriel Shohet, co-founder and co-CEO of Black Sheep Coffee, on building a 135-site coffee brand by betting on the bean the specialty industry rejected.
July 8, 2026 - 62 mins
A Second Act with the Global Director of Jamie Oliver Group
Ed Loftus, Global Director of Jamie Oliver Restaurants, on rebuilding Jamie's Italian, scaling globally to 80+ sites across 24 countries while UK casual dining was in free fall, and the discipline behind a genuine second act.
June 14, 2026 - 49 mins
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Rebuilding the franchise with the COO of Creams Cafe
Creams Cafe COO Oliver Rodbard on scaling a franchise system across nearly 100 sites, why vertical integration is a margin gift to franchisees rather than an extraction tool, and the operational discipline behind Creams 2.0.
June 3, 2026 - 46 mins
Eight weeks to open: Louisa Richards, Restaurant Director, Hawksmoor
Hawksmoor London Restaurant Director Louisa Richards on opening St Pancras in eight weeks at peak Christmas trading, scaling a 20-year-old culture, and the operational discipline that holds standards across eight high-volume sites.
May 20, 2026 - 47 mins
Discipline at scale: Alasdair Murdoch, CEO of Burger King UK
Burger King UK CEO Alasdair Murdoch on running 600 sites through delivery's structural shift and operational discipline.
May 6, 2026 - 57 mins
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Elevating experience with authenticity: Gemma Glasson on Wahaca reimagined
Wahaca CEO Gemma Glasson on closing the gap between exceptional product and guest experience, partnership-led growth.
April 22, 2026 - 1 hour 6 mins
Easy on people, tough on standards: A COO's leadership philosophy
In this episode of What’s Cooking?, host Conor Sheridan talks with Amy Hom, Chief Operating Officer at Barcelona Wine Bar, about scaling leadership in hospitality.
December 11, 2025 - 41 mins
UK Budget deep dive with Kate Nicholls: Higher costs, zero relief
In this special episode of What's Cooking, Nory CEO Conor Sheridan sits down with Kate Nicholls OBE, Chair of UKHospitality, to dissect the UK Budget 2025 and what it really means for operators.
December 2, 2025 - 42 mins
How Andrew Maxwell scaled Boojum and backed hospitality giants
In this episode of What’s Cooking? host Conor Sheridan chats with Andrew Maxwell, Operating Partner at Imbiba, about scaling and investing in hospitality businesses.
November 13, 2025 - 31 mins
5 brands & 250 locations: how Azzurri Group uses data
In this episode of What’s Cooking? host Conor Sheridan chats with Jim Hingston, Digital & Technology Director at Azzurri Group, about digital transformation in hospitality.
October 30, 2025 - 35 mins
The fast and furious arrival of Dave’s Hot Chicken to the UK
In this episode of What’s Cooking? Neil Remedios, Operations Lead for Dave’s Hot Chicken UK and Ireland.
October 16, 2025 - 19 mins
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How Blaze Pizza (US) scales tech across 300 franchise locations
In this episode of What’s Cooking? Chris Demery, CTO of Blaze Pizza, joins Conor Sheridan to unpack tech transformation in hospitality.
October 2, 2025 - 42 mins
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Inside Nory’s Series B: disrupting hospitality with AI
In this special episode of What’s Cooking?, host Conor Sheridan is joined by Jose Gaytan de Ayala.
September 18, 2025 - 50 mins
Prezzo Italian: why brand is an operating system, not a campaign
Mark McCulloch, Founder of Hospitality Marketing Guru.
September 4, 2025 - 52 mins
Inside Rosa Thai’s playbook
What does operational excellence really look like in the real world of hospitality? In this episode of What’s Cooking?, Conor Sheridan sits down with Jonny Bramwell.
August 21, 2025 - 45 mins
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Inside Blacklock's People-First Growth Strategy
In this episode of What’s Cooking? Conor Sheridan sits down with Maria McCaan.
August 7, 2025 - 41 mins
How Chaos Helped Giggling Squid Thrive
In this episode of What’s Cooking? Conor Sheridan sits down with Darko Salaj.
July 24, 2025 - 33 mins
Change management lessons from Bill's Restaurants
Tom James, Managing Director at Bill’s Restaurants, joins Conor Sheridan.
July 10, 2025 - 45 mins.