A drink with the master of UK entrepreneurship
LUKE Johnson is a man who takes a while to introduce. He seems to have run, or had his hand in running, half of the middle-class high street. Pizza Express, Giraffe, Patisserie Valerie, Belgo, Strada, Feng Sushi, Baker and Spice, the Signature Restaurants that owned The Ivy and Le Caprice – to name a few.
On top of that, Johnson is chairman of Risk Capital Partners, a private equity house, the part owner and chairman of Superbrand, a brand research company and the director of a car park equipment company, APT Controls.
Beyond the world of business, Johnson also writes newspaper columns and is a co-founder of the think tank the Institute of Entrepreneurs. From 2007-2010, he was chairman of Channel 4. Little surprise that Penfolds asked him to share his entrepreneurial story at their Vintage Years speaker series.
PARTY PROFIT
He didn’t set out to be a business owner though. Johnson studied medicine at university. Only his wild partying led him off this course: “I got a taste for enterprise when my friends and I set up a nightclub at university. The parties we hosted in our rooms had gotten a bit out of control, so we were banned from holding any more.” Their business model was so good that they franchised it to students in Bristol and Cambridge.
After university, however, he gave up on medicine and headed for the City, working as a media analyst at the stockbroker Grieveson Grant (subsequently Kleinwort Benson Securities). It wasn’t until he was 27 and “very restless” that he started his entrepreneurial adventure.
PIZZA DELIVERS
His big break, however, came from a contact he found through a newspaper advert that he stumbled upon by chance. David Page was looking for a buyer for his popular but underperforming pizza business. Johnson and his Oxford chum Hugh Osmond, who later went on to start Punch Taverns, entered into negotiations with Page.
The pair bought the chain for £15m, working with David Page, who went on to be the company’s chief executive and later its chairman. The team grew the business from Page’s 12 restaurants to over 250 Pizza Expresses, and the share price from 40p to over 900p. Johnson left the business in 1999 when the market capitalisation reached over £500m.
Despite being worth an estimated £120m, money clearly doesn’t motivate Johnson. He credits his father, the historian and author Paul Johnson: “He is still writing books in his 80s, he is entrepreneurial in his own way.”
To register your interest in the next Penfolds Vintage Years speaker event taking place in September, please visit www.penfolds.com
CV | LUKE JOHNSON
Roles: Chairman of Risk Capital Partners, a private equity firm. He is the part owner and chairman of Superbrands, Giraffe Restaurants, Patisserie Valerie and Baker and Spice. He is a major owner and director of the market leader in car park equipment APT Controls. Johnson calls himself a “projector”, in line with the 17th century term for a man involved in many different businesses.
Age: 49
Raised: Iver, Buckinghamshire
Lives: London
Studied: Medicine at Oxford University, graduating in 1983
Family: Married with three children
His vintage year: 1993, when Johnson took control of PizzaExpress with partners, before growing the business from 12 owned restaurants to over 250, and the share price from 40p to over 900p.