Ratnesh Bagdai

Ratnesh began his career as a duty manager at the Sheraton Hotel, where he developed his skills in F&B control, budgets and learnt the ropes of hospitality. After a small stint at a city wine bar operation, he was contacted by Jeremy King from The Ivy and Caprice Group explaining that the company was embarking on the opening of a third restaurant, J Sheekey, and needed someone to head up the finance team and strengthen the board. It was during this time that Ratnesh first worked alongside Mark Hix who was appointed to Chef Director at the same time.

At Caprice, Ratnesh introduced IT and networking to the group, new software and F&B programmes. As the company continued to expand Ratnesh and Mark decided to venture out and open a restaurant on their own - The Rivington Grill in Shoreditch. It was a humble investment with a humble business approach; weekly meetings and rent-a-crowd evenings at the start. But soon after it enjoyed year on year success.

In 2003 Ratnesh left the group to take up a number of consulting opportunities which included Brindisa Ltd and Rick Stein.He thrived on being his own boss, running an accounting business with a small team and having the operational exposure as part owner in the restaurants.

Several years later Ratnesh decided to team up with Mark Hix once more. Hix Oyster and Chop was the ideal location for the first site, with the Fish House in Lyme Regis following shortly afterwards. Ratnesh says “I am now working closely with Mark than ever before. We have a great management team here. Looking forward, we aim to grow the group, open in the right locations and have staff who share our passion."