Where founder energy meets FTSE 250 discipline
Helping founder-led and PE-backed businesses navigate the transition from start-up to scale-up.
Scaling is hard. Don’t do it alone.
Founders scaling from start-up to scale-up hit a tough reality: what used to work no longer does.
You need operational leadership, execution power, and trusted support, but not always full-time. Through hands-on support, operational expertise, and people development, I help founders and PE-backed teams scale smarter, faster, and with less risk.
As the business grows, you are stuck firefighting, stretched thin across everything. Burnout is creeping in, and there’s no space to think strategically.
I free up your bandwidth by stepping into operational leadership - running key functions, driving projects and giving you back the headspace to focus on growth.
What used to work as a start-up in a small team now breaks as you scale. Keeping teams aligned gets harder. You need operational maturity, but a full-time COO hire feels too soon or expensive.
I step in as a fractional COO, providing real leadership, team accountability, and structure minus the risk of a perm hire.
As investors get more involved, expectations rise. You feel exposed and know you need to de-risk and level up.
I bring an experienced external perspective, improving systems, reporting and operational rigour so you stay ahead of investor expectations and risk.
You realise you're short of the right people and leadership layers to deliver at scale and it's dragging the business down.
I help build operational capacity, mentoring internal leaders, filling gaps with trusted talent, and helping the team deliver today and grow tomorrow.
How I work with businesses
I work with a mix of collaboration, care, a strong support network, and a get-it-done attitude. The journey isn't always easy, with ups, downs, and tough decisions. But the outcome is consistent: genuine progress and momentum.
Building Operations
I work directly inside your leadership team 1–3 days a week, fully embedded in roles like COO, Chief of Staff or Chief Customer Officer. I lead teams, drive projects, shape operations, represent your business externally, and move the whole company forward. Hands-on, not advisory.
Impactful Projects
I quickly audit how things are really working, cut through the noise, and give you a practical plan you can act on. We can then fix it together – good for projects like profitability improvement, operating cadence implementation, or delivering tech procurement and roll out projects that actually stick and last.
Hospitality & Leisure Groups
I stay outside your day-to-day, but always in your corner. I bring a sharp commercial edge, real tech nous, and 2 decades of operator judgement from founder-led independents to FTSE 250 environments. I help you find profit in your P&L, lead your team with heart and choose tech that pays back.
B2B Hospitality Tech
I bring 20 years of experience in branded and founder-led operations, including Chief of Staff and COO roles at Rotageek (acquired in 2025). I help you build what operators will actually buy and use. You also tap my huge operator network across UK multi-site groups. We meet regularly to talk strategy, product, pipeline, and open doors together.
Previous projects completed
Implementing Tech People Love
Workforce Management System Change
Partnered with the RAC to deliver a major change to their mission-critical Workforce Management system. Led the project from the vendor side — scoping bespoke development, managing cross-functional delivery, and supporting thorough testing and deployment. Worked closely with enterprise teams to ensure smooth rollout, training, and long-term adoption across the organisation.
Labour Model Reset
A cultural rethink and reset of labour management
Led a full overhaul of labour budgeting and forecasting to give operators clarity, control, and confidence. Built accurate hours-based budgets tailored per site, separated out training and one-off costs, and introduced clear management of base vs flex hours. Improved daily sales forecasting and rota visibility, tightened T&A practices, and drove a cultural shift - moving labour from a weekly stress point to a well-managed part of the operation. The result? Fewer hours used, less waste, and a more consistent, sustainable way of working.
Working with me
CEO @ Comptoir Group Plc
Nick Ayerst
"Travis was an excellent hire into Comptoir Group, he is a great leader and communicator and has pro-actively tackled priorities that are really making a difference."
CEO & Founder @ Ballie Ballerson
Wenny Armstrong
"I had the delight of employing Travis at my business for 18 months. As a founder, I had many chunky projects kicking around my head that I was able to delegate. Travis could start and finish a wide range of projects, and ultimately decomplexified and improved the business. I can not recommend him more highly and it is with regret he no longer works for me."
People Director @ NQ64 Arcade Bars
Chantal Wilson
"Travis is a real innovator; always willing to find different solutions to age old problems. I love that! He is a thinking partner that I admire and learn from, the impossible is always possible. If you want insight from a new and different perspective, call Travis."
Director of Operations (UK) @ Vapiano
Steve Collard
"I gained a lot from working alongside Travis, not least from his creative thinking and unique insight, but also his professionalism, positivity, consistency and of course from his sense of fun - he’s a good guy to be around; an energy giver. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Travis at any senior level within our industry, he is very capable."
CEO @ Rotageek
Chris McCullough
"I worked with Travis for nearly 4 years at Rotageek. Travis brings experience, logic and energy to any role. He has the ability to turn his hand to any task and is able to pragmatically break down a problem into component parts and step through them, to achieve a result. This is a rare skill set and for scaling companies, a valuable one. Travis is a great 'people person'. He motivates others and his energy and enthusiasm are infectious. We were lucky to have Travis join us at Rotageek and I have no doubt that he'll be ridiculously successful in his career. If you have the opportunity to appoint Travis to your team, take it. He will make an impact and show others what 'good' looks like."
Founder @ BabaBoom
Eve Bugler
“Travis has the experience and mindset of an owner that sets him apart from other advisors.
His ability to work out what matters to your team and to live and breathe a culture is first-class. He’s a natural and dextrous problem solver, with a really broad skill set covering tech, ops, food & and general management so he can wear many hats with credibility and provide a holistic perspective. He is the person who you want by your side when as a founder you are going through the tough pivotal moments, not only because he will deliver the results, but also because he’ll make the journey more enjoyable."
Director
Zero Carbon Forum
"Travis combines a perfect blend of being lovely to work with and ruthlessly efficient at getting stuff done. Always a pleasure!"
Set menu projects
Alongside tailored support, I offer a few proven, productised engagements that deliver fast, measurable value with clear outcomes.
One-off Sessions
Strategy, advisory, mentoring - whatever you need.
- Personalised advice, practical next steps and focused time on whatever you want
- A focused 70-minute 1:1 delivered virtually or in London
- Flexible scheduling at your convenience/timezone
- No long-term commitment
- Contact me for a package discount for a longer duration or recurring support
£140/hr
Triage Audit
Find revenue + EBITDA, fast.
- Targeted review of the business from top to bottom - from bar to boardroom. Not a desktop exercise.
- Uncover real revenue, EBITDA and productivity and process improvements that will add up.
- Detailed, specific presentation and action plan with SMART goals
- Continue with hands-on implementation and delivery if desired. (No obligation whatsoever)
- Kick off to presentation in 3 weeks
£2,250
Tech Purchase
Experienced, unbiased process.
- We run the whole process for you, but with you - requirements, vendor selection, RFP & demos.
- Focused on company vision, strategy and integrated needs
- Real references and proper pricing. We know how to handle vendors and don't get referrals
- Options to support implementation if desired
- Start to signature in 4 weeks
£3,000/starting
Tech Embed
Deploy new systems right.
- Your rollout is managed by specialists with real-life hospitality ops experience who do this for a living
- We've managed tech implementations with the country's biggest brands, e.g. Pret, the RAC and Superdrug
- On time, on budget with high engagement
- Delivered by Travis and a partner network of experts
- Duration dependent on numerous variables
£5,250/starting
Grow with Thrifty
Happy Customers
Sales Calls
Team members
Global Revenue
Over the last 20 years, we have achieved exceptional results across various stages and sectors within the hospitality and leisure industry, including restaurants, pubs, bars, and nightclubs as well as competitive socialising. Our expertise covers all aspects of a business operation with an experienced down-to-earth cross-functional approach.
Performance
Create and foster a fast-moving, open, goal-focused, accountability culture that gets real revenue and EBITDA results
People
Full lifecycle advisory ability from attraction to alumni. People Ops. Employee Relations and org design
Product
Concept and offer creation, customer journey and experience design, operational and profitable delivery of food and drink
Property
Site selection, operational design that works, PPM and R&M setup and management processes. Keeping operations safe and legal
Growth Strategy
5, 3, 1 year mission, goal, actions strategy framework, quarterly and annual business planning facilitation, OKR and other goal setting methodologies, EOS
Technology
Systems evaluation and recommendations, implementation partner, project management and systems administration
Processes
SME business operating cadences, meeting structures, accountability, efficient automated processes to eradicate low-value work
Sales + Marketing
Advisory across digital marketing, campaigns, brand, pre-booked sales, customer service, support and events
Pricing Packages
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Standard
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Premium
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