Resources we recommend

A short, unfussy list of the references we actually use: trade bodies, directories and a few market notes we share with clients, candidates and the odd curious guest. We would rather list five things that are worth reading than fifty that are not.

Trade bodies and directories

For operators and hotel teams, the useful starting points are the organisations that keep the market honest and the standards visible.

The Michelin Guide — the reference a location is still benchmarked against first, and the quickest read on what a catchment can support.
The World Restaurant Association — a directory of the serious venues worldwide; the starting point when you need a comparable operation in another market.
The Restaurant Association — UK industry representation, labour and licensing guidance, and the best sense of where the domestic market is heading.

The luxury retail side of a project

A food hall inside a department store is never only a food project. The watch, jewellery and fragrance floors next door are part of the commercial picture, and so are the guests who shop there. For that side of a brief we keep a small set of references.

Richard Mille replica

The watch that comes up most often in any luxury food hall we have planned, and the one where the secondary market has the most to say. This reference walks through the lines in enough detail to judge what a guest is actually asking for — and the UMI replica section is the closest thing to a working comparison of where that market sits relative to the boutique price.

Hodinkee

Watch industry news and reviews, read faster than most of it. A useful way to keep up with which brands are moving in the luxury retail space and what their customers are talking about.

From our own desk

The guides we publish come from the same projects. Start here if you are planning rather than browsing:

This list is reviewed when it is useful, not on a schedule. If we have sent you something that is not on it, that is probably why it is here.

Tell us what you are planning and we will point you at the references that match the brief.