About
Honest, experienced guidance from someone who has lived the work.
Independent hospitality businesses are the soul of their communities. They deserve the same quality of expert support that large groups take for granted. This is not watered-down advice from the sidelines.
The Philosophy: Why Atelier?
An atelier is a workshop. It is a place where things are made properly by people who understand the material.
I chose the name because it is the opposite of what "consultancy" usually implies. We are not here to hand you a generic PDF and wish you luck. We are here to get our hands dirty, find the friction points in your operation, and build something that lasts.
Atelier Sawyer exists to give independent operators the kind of high-level support usually reserved for the big groups: honest, experienced guidance from someone who has lived the work.
The Founder: From Pot Wash to Partner
"I started at fifteen with a pot wash sink and a Mexican menu. I had no idea it would become a thirty-year obsession."
I was not school-trained. Everything I know about this industry I learned by standing next to people who were better than me and paying close attention.
My journey took me from trainee manager to running institution-level venues like the Brass Rail at Selfridges. It taught me that consistency is the only thing that matters when the volume is high and the pressure is on. But the real education started when I began opening my own venues.
The Sun Inn and the Load-Bearing Truth
In 2007, I took over a pub in East London called The Sun Inn. It was making £10,000 a year. Within thirty months, we turned that into £800,000.
That turnaround was the engine for everything else. I built a small group of venues: a community pub in South London, a destination forest inn in Berkshire, and a fine-dining spot in Oxfordshire. At my peak, I was running three sites simultaneously.
Then I learned the hardest lesson of my career. A four-word clause in a lease cost me the Sun Inn. Because the group was a system, and the Sun Inn was the "load-bearing" site, the whole structure came at risk.
I don't just bring "best practice" to my clients. I bring the hard-earned wisdom of someone who has built it all, lost it, and started again. More than once.
London, Málaga, and the Universal Rules
Atelier Sawyer operates between London and the Costa del Sol. These are two very different markets with one thing in common: the fundamental rules of hospitality are universal.
Whether you are opening a fusion concept in Shoreditch or a bar in Marbella, you need three things: a clear concept, a team that cares, and numbers that support the dream.
I moved to Spain to build a new chapter. I have opened, turned around, and sold venues here just as I did in the UK. This dual perspective keeps our advice grounded in reality, no matter which side of the channel you are on.
What We Believe
We believe that independent restaurants, bars, and cafés are the soul of their communities. They are worth fighting for.
We believe that most "struggling" venues aren't failing because of a lack of effort. They are struggling because a few essential things have quietly slipped out of alignment.
There is almost always a route through the uncertainty. With clarity and an honest companion, you can make better decisions.