Overall ranking: 15 (48)
Restaurant ranking: 5 (14)
James Horler - Snapshot
James Horler is chief executive of La Tasca Group, which currently operates 58 authentic Spanish tapas bars and restaurants (including four in the USA) under the La Tasca brand, six upmarket Spanish restaurants called La Viňa and a new premium bar, grill and smokehouse concept called Sam & Maxie’s.
Horler and John Barnes (the former managing director of Harry Ramsden’s) bought La Tasca in 2001 from Neil Gatt, who founded the chain in 1993.
James Horler - Career guide
James Horler, who was born in 1965, started his career at 16 as a kitchen porter and waiter for Trusthouse Forte. He progressed to conference and banqueting manager and food and beverage manager before transferring to the group’s roadside business. Here, he quickly rose from unit manager to become Little Chef’s youngest regional director at the age of 24.
Horler moved to Granada to oversee nine motorway service areas with an annual turnover of £210m and 2,900 staff. From 1996, Horler was operations director at City Centre Restaurants (now The Restaurant Group) where he expanded its Frankie & Benny’s brand from five to 65 outlets over five years.
In September 2001 Horler bought La Tasca for £28.2m with backing from private equity firm Penta Capital. Early 2005 saw the group float for £54m on the Alternative Investment Market, with Penta retaining a 23% stake.
James Horler - What we think
James Horler’s talents won him a Caterer and Hotelkeeper Acorn award in 1994 for his achievements at Granada – where he led group projects to develop company-wide policies. Ten years later he landed Catey Group Restaurateur of the Year award, the same year that La Tasca was also voted the Best Concept of the Year in the Retailers’ Retailer Awards.
When Horler bought La Tasca in 2001, the northern-based chain comprised 16 outlets with 800 staff and annual sales and operating profit of £22.3m and £3m respectively. By April 2006, Horler had transformed the chain into a national player with 65 restaurants, more than 1,800 employees, annual sales of £55.6m and a pre-tax profit of £5m.
By the end of 2004 Horler had taken La Tasca to two sites in the USA and introduced the first two La Viňas in Liverpool and Manchester.
With La Tasca positioned in the middle of the casual dining market, La Viňa targets an older, more sophisticated clientele with dishes from inland Spain rather than the costas. The new Sam & Maxie’s launched in 2006 takes the group into a new market – the leisure park - with a family-oriented bar, grill and smokehouse format.
Horler’s inspirational leadership skills and unconventional management approach have attracted as much praise as his ability to manage, market and develop a restaurant brand. “We think big and act small,” Horler told Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine in 2004.
La Tasca has no flashy head office – Horler works from home and senior managers are based at the sharp end in the restaurants. The money saved on overheads is instead ploughed into training and a pioneering managing partner profit-sharing scheme. It’s an approach that made the group the joint winner in the Caterer and Hotelkeeper Best Places to Work awards in 2006.
La Tasca is growing at a rate of 14 outlets a year and Horler’s goal is to expand to up to 100 La Tascas and 50 La Viňas in the UK using cash generated by the business.
Longer term, Horler is seeking a financial partner with local management experience to develop La Tasca in the USA and would also like to move into Europe with franchise partners.
James Horler – Further Information
La Tasca company profile from CatererSearch
La Tasca official website
La Tasca profile on Google Finance
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