The Pinewood Restaurant - Mark Smith
Situated on the Main Street in Prestwick, we are ideally placed for that discreet business lunch, golfers popping in for dinner or that special occasion for a family event. Behind our charming stained glass window exterior is a warm and inviting ambience where you will always enjoy discreet and understated service from attentive, knowledgeable staff and a range of superb dishes to satisfy the most discerning palate.
Local produce is featured very strongly in our menus. Scotch beef from Ballantrae, fresh fish is delivered daily from the west coast, game in season from local shoots, vegetables and herbs grown from local farms, plus an abundance of fresh fruit from around the world. www.thepinewood.co.uk
Mentor: Lyndsey Phillips
The Pinewood was thefirst business Mark had run. He realised that “Things were getting tough as the recession hit,” and decided it would be good to get some independent help, and as a member of the local Chamber of Commerce he was aware of the Business Mentoring program. Mark was matched with Lyndsey Phillips who has a wealth of business and catering experience on a global level from her career with Lucozade and Ribena as a National Account Manager and latterly through running her own successful delicatessen with a business partner.
Mark explained that he had been in the catering world for 16 years but always “had a boss before. So I needed someone to bounce things off with experience and a good point of view”. There was no specific area that they were working on but Lyndsey explained that “as with all mentoring, I listened and provided a sounding board guiding him about how to look at aspects of the business and hoped that he would come to a solution.” Mark said that most importantly she taught him that “we ran the business and the business should not be running us”. Lyndsey expanded on this saying that “he was very task orientated and didn’t see the whole picture and needed to be reminded that he was trying to get a better quality of life by being his own boss not having it take over his life. One day I sent him to walk on the beach for a day just to think and talk it over with his partner.”
Mark explained that the restaurant was quite small, and they took the decision to keep covers low to just 30 seats and increase their prices despite being in recession. This decision has paid off and since conversations with Lyndsey the spend per head has increased by £5 (or £300 a day) and they are still as popular as ever. Lyndsey is also pleased with the result and said that “he took on board what we discussed and we had a good relationship which I hope will be ongoing”.
