他是倫敦餐飲業(yè)的明星投資人

Paul Campbell greets me warmly and guides me to a corner table, allowing the waitress to take our coffee order and then asking her to return with the breakfast menu. He is casually dressed: a white shirt with top buttons undone; dark jacket and dark but not matching trousers. He does not need to impress.

保羅•坎貝爾(Paul Campbell)熱情地迎接我，并把我?guī)У焦战且粡埐妥溃茸尫?wù)員上了咖啡，而后再讓其取來(lái)早餐菜單。坎貝爾穿著休閑：白襯衣(最上面的扣子并未扣上)、黑色夾克衫以及暗色褲子(與上衣不太搭)。他無(wú)需靠穿著來(lái)搏取印象分。

Campbell is the public face of Hill Capital Partners LLP. In fact, he is its only face, and its sole director. And yet over the past seven years he has carved out a particular and very useful niche for himself.

坎貝爾是Hill Capital Partners LLP的明星人物，事實(shí)上，他是唯一的明星，因?yàn)樗枪疚ㄒ坏目偛谩６谶^去七年中，他成功開拓了與眾不同而又成績(jī)斐然的細(xì)分行當(dāng)。

As he sips his flat white, I ask him to describe his role. “I find really interesting restaurant businesses to invest in early, businesses that have invariably been the creation of equally interesting individuals,” he says, “and then I support and help them as much as I can to expand.”

就在他啜飲著flat white咖啡時(shí)，我問他如何界定自己的角色。“我發(fā)現(xiàn)感興趣的餐飲公司(由同樣有意思的人創(chuàng)辦)后就先下手為強(qiáng)。”他說，“而后我會(huì)全力以赴幫助其發(fā)展壯大。”

His most notable successes in London to date have been the Hawksmoor steakhouses, the Vinoteca bistros and Blacklock, the noisy restaurant that specialises in lamb chops finished on a grill with the help of an old iron. His involvement in all three began, however, very differently.

迄今為止，他在倫敦投資的最得意之作是入股霍克斯韋爾牛排館、Vinoteca小酒館以及Blacklock。后者是食客如云的餐飲店，專營(yíng)烤羊排(有烙鐵“相助”的爐子上烤就)。但他入股這三家餐飲公司的路數(shù)卻是大相徑庭。

It was in 2009, when Will Beckett and Huw Gott had opened their first Hawksmoor, that they contacted Campbell with a view to his future involvement. He met them, ate their food and was impressed. As a non-executive director he has backed them all the way; today they have six London sites and a further one in Manchester (and will open in the rebuilt World Trade Center in New York, probably in 2019), as well as four branches of Foxlow, their other restaurant brand.

那是2009年，當(dāng)時(shí)威爾•貝克特(Will Beckett)與Huw Gott剛開張首家Hawksmoor牛排館，他們就接洽坎貝爾，希望后者能投資?？藏悹柵c其會(huì)了面，并品嘗了他們做的牛排，對(duì)此贊不絕口。作為非執(zhí)行董事的他后來(lái)一直鼎力相助。如今，威爾•貝克特與Huw Gott已在倫敦開設(shè)了六家分店，并在曼徹斯特開設(shè)了一家分店(2019年預(yù)計(jì)在重建的紐約世貿(mào)中心(World Trade Center)開設(shè)分店);此外，他們旗下另一餐飲公司Foxlow也已開設(shè)四家分店。

Meanwhile, Campbell’s involvement with Vinoteca began when he was a customer at its first site in St John Street. His initial approach was rebuffed but nine months later, founders Charlie Young, Brett Woonton and Elena Ares were planning their second site and returned his call. There are now five Vinotecas, with another opening in Bloomberg’s new London head office in early October.

與此同時(shí)，坎貝爾光臨Vinotecas在倫敦圣約翰街(St John Street)的老店后，就想對(duì)其投資入股，卻遭到對(duì)方斷然拒絕。但九個(gè)月后，酒館創(chuàng)始人查理•揚(yáng)(Charlie Young)、布雷特•沃頓(Brett Woonton)與埃麗娜•埃瑞斯(Elena Ares)打算開設(shè)分店，于是主動(dòng)請(qǐng)其投資。如今，Vinotecas已在倫敦開有五家分店;位于彭博(Bloomberg)新落成的倫敦總部大樓的分店也將于今年十月初開張。

Campbell’s friendship with Blacklock’s founder Gordon Ker began in very different circumstances. Ker was a lawyer working on a lease for Hawksmoor when, at a celebratory dinner after signing, he admitted that he was captivated by the idea of becoming a restaurateur and had even made a business plan. Campbell was drawn in and the second Blacklock site has just opened successfully in the City.

坎貝爾與Blacklock創(chuàng)始人戈登•科爾(Gordon Ker)的友情之旅則是走了完全不同的路數(shù)?？茽栐秦?fù)責(zé)Hawksmoor牛排館租賃事宜的律師。在一次租賃簽字儀式后的慶祝晚宴上，他坦承萌生了自己當(dāng)餐館老板的強(qiáng)烈愿望，甚至還草擬了開店計(jì)劃。坎貝爾對(duì)其進(jìn)行了投資，如今第二家Blacklock分店剛剛在倫敦的金融城(the City)開業(yè)。

I ask him for common themes. “Well, I suppose that all of my investments are in fairly traditional formats — steakhouses, restaurants with a wine focus — but where each is given a modern twist. I feel my bravery is in investing early rather than in judging whether a particular style of food is going to become mainstream.”

我問坎貝爾秉承何種投資主題。“我認(rèn)為自己所有的投資項(xiàng)目都在非常傳統(tǒng)的領(lǐng)域——牛排店、突顯葡萄酒特色的餐館——但是，每家都得有現(xiàn)代風(fēng)格。我覺得自己的膽識(shí)在于下手早、而不是去判斷某個(gè)餐飲細(xì)分行當(dāng)未來(lái)是否會(huì)成為主流。”

Campbell also evaluates the way potential partners are prepared to work, and whether or not they will take guidance. “How willing are those I am going to back to listen? Entrepreneurs must be open to my advice,” he stresses.

坎貝爾同樣會(huì)評(píng)估未來(lái)合伙人的經(jīng)營(yíng)理念，以及對(duì)方是否愿意接受自己指導(dǎo)。“我的投資對(duì)象多大程度愿意傾聽我的建議?我提的建議餐飲經(jīng)營(yíng)者必須接受。”他強(qiáng)調(diào)道。

He gained his experience — and his financial muscle — first as financial director of PizzaExpress and then as chief executive of the Aim-listed Clapham House Group. It was an exciting period for the group’s Gourmet Burger Kitchen, a lone upmarket chain in what has become a crowded market.

他在餐飲經(jīng)營(yíng)方面的經(jīng)驗(yàn)與日俱增(投資回報(bào)同樣如此)：首先擔(dān)任英國(guó)比薩餅連鎖餐廳PizzaExpress的財(cái)務(wù)總監(jiān)，而后又出任英國(guó)另類投資市場(chǎng)(AIM)上市的Clapham House Group集團(tuán)CEO。在其執(zhí)掌期間，Clapham House Group旗下的高端連鎖餐廳Gourmet Burger Kitchen在強(qiáng)手如林的倫敦餐飲業(yè)發(fā)展迅猛。

Today, Campbell says, the situation has changed. “Premiums, cost pressures, increasing consumer discrimination, the rise in the importance of the female diner are all factors for any restaurateur. But the one I fear more than any is a rise in interest rates. We have got used to cheap money and I hope it stays that way.”

坎貝爾說：如今已是時(shí)過境遷。“各種費(fèi)用與成本飚漲、消費(fèi)者的鑒賞力與日俱增以及女性用餐者越發(fā)舉足輕重都是餐飲經(jīng)營(yíng)者需要考慮的因素。但我最擔(dān)憂的是利率上升。對(duì)低利率我們?cè)缫蚜?xí)以為常，希望政府能維系現(xiàn)有利率不變。”

Nevertheless, in Campbell’s view there are still golden opportunities for laying down the basis of any burgeoning business. “Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol are cities full of people where there is an underprovision of restaurants, and the property is so much less expensive than London,” he says.

然而，在坎貝爾看來(lái)，任何新興行當(dāng)一旦夯實(shí)好基礎(chǔ)，還是大有可為。“曼徹斯特、伯明翰、利茲以及布列斯托爾等城市都是人滿為患，餐館供不應(yīng)求，而且相比倫敦房?jī)r(jià)要低得多。”他說。

The location may change but Campbell’s approach will not, his goal always to ensure that a brand works coherently for the restaurateurs, their customers and their staff.

餐館選址可以變動(dòng)，但坎貝爾的投資方式不會(huì)變;他的奮斗目標(biāo)永遠(yuǎn)是確保品牌與經(jīng)營(yíng)者、消費(fèi)者以及員工水乳交融、珠聯(lián)璧合。

“A non-executive director brings experience, is well connected and coaches rather than dictates,” says Hawksmoor’s Will Beckett. “Paul has all of these qualities in spades.”

“非執(zhí)行董事經(jīng)驗(yàn)多、人脈廣、需宏觀指導(dǎo)而非指手劃腳。”Hawksmoor老板威爾•貝克特說。“坎貝爾完全是集上述優(yōu)點(diǎn)于一身。”

Campbell tells me that these days he receives a business plan a week, but cannot pinpoint just what it is that makes him choose one. He does admit, though, to his good fortune in being able to help people grow in the restaurant business — and to having some fun along the way.

坎貝爾告訴我：近期他每周都會(huì)收到一份企劃書，但無(wú)法準(zhǔn)確說清楚自己最終抉擇的依據(jù)。然而他的確坦承幫助餐飲經(jīng)營(yíng)者發(fā)展壯大，并因此帶來(lái)不菲回報(bào)——也是其樂無(wú)窮。