Dirty Linen - A Food Podcast with Dani Valent · A Deep in the Weeds Production

Greg Sanderson (Speakeasy Group) - a focus on workplace culture

·39 min·2 clips

Greg explains the "traffic light system" with green, orange, red, and purple for guest behavior.

Danny opens by framing the talk around workplace culture and the way people are cutting back on alcohol or not drinking at all. Greg says hospitality matters because it gives people places to come together for life's big moments. He presents Speakeasy Group as a business built around hospitality, service, and clear standards. The discussion keeps returning to values because he sees them as the easiest way to keep a team aligned. He names values like best for the guests, doing the right thing, and evolve and excel. Those values are not decorative. They shape hiring, firing, and the way the company speaks to staff. The group reinforces them through a monthly newsletter and by recognising value champions. Greg argues that culture is formed in the ordinary moments when leadership is not in the room. The conversation treats that as a practical challenge, not a slogan. Danny presses him on what the company is trying to avoid or encourage by making those values explicit. Greg answers that clarity about purpose keeps everyone moving in the same direction. He also says hospitality is not brain surgery, but it still matters in how people celebrate and connect. That keeps the tone grounded and human. Danny asks about the traffic-light system, which Greg describes as a code of conduct. The system is meant to give the team a shared way to judge behaviour and expectations. The interview stays close to how a business actually runs rather than drifting into branding language. It also sits against the backdrop of people reducing their alcohol consumption or not drinking at all. Greg's answers stay practical, reflective, and tied to the kinds of spaces his group wants to create. The result is a conversation about people, rules, and care inside a hospitality business that wants to keep showing up for guests.

As heard by us

A practical look at how hospitality culture is built and reinforced day to day.

Greg Sanderson's conversation treats hospitality culture as something practiced, not just declared. As co-founder and managing director of Speakeasy Group, he walks through the values that guide the business, from best for the guests to doing the right thing and evolve and…

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Why you'd press play

You want a bar-industry conversation about workplace culture that gets down to hiring, firing, feedback, and the code of conduct behind the room.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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