Siblings reap rewards from a Hole lot of effort
FROM a very young age Ryan and Lucy Hole knew they wanted to run their own business, and the pair were determined to make that happen.
With a family full of entrepreneurs the pair grew up working at their family newsagents where they would put in the hours before and after school.
Ryan, 35, and Lucy, 28, both left school with no GCSES but the siblings, who grew up in Uplands, now own popular venues The Secret Beach Bar & Kitchen on the Swansea seafront by St Helen’s and The Optimist Bar & Kitchen in Uplands.
“We both haven’t got a GCSE to our name,” said Lucy. “It’s a case of hard work pays off. Even when we were younger we would sell sweets at school.
“You can always go back to education. I would love to go back now and have some sort of qualification in hospitality.”
Talking about growing up, Ryan, who now lives in Sketty, admitted that he didn’t have any interest in school.
“We were useless at school – from about 14 or 15 I didn’t have any interest in school at all,” he said.
“My parents were putting a bit of pressure on me and I was always, like: ‘I’m going to have my own business, don’t worry about it, I don’t need to get a job, I don’t need GCSES for that.’
“We were really lucky – our dad had a newsagent’s and also his brothers owned Oldwalls and Fairyhill, wedding venues in Gower.
“Both our grandfathers were in business, all our uncles, our dad and mum. We have got 20-odd cousins, probably 17 or 18 of them have got their own businesses.
“We are both very creative thinkers. There’s no substitute for hard work and taking risks,” he said.
Lucy, who lives in Tycoch, added: “From a young age we had no choice but to go and work in the newsagents. It was hard graft.
“We were nine and we were standing on piles of newspapers so we could see over the counter to serve people.”
The Optimist opened in 2017 and The Secret opened in 2019. Ryan was eating breakfast at a café in Uplands when an opportunity came up to buy the venue.
“I was working for our other family business,” he said. “I decided that personally I wanted to create my own kind of way.
“We just had a chat about it and said we’d both be interested in doing something,” he said.
“One day I was having breakfast – we used to go every single day with my dad and Lucy – and the owner came over and said he was thinking of selling, and we went from there then.
“Uplands was up and coming at the time. We wanted it to be a positive place to visit and work. We were a café in the day and nightclub in the night so we would go in for eight in the morning, work on the tills, probably have an hour off in the day and back in the night then.”
Shortly after, an opportunity came up for the venue which is now The Secret. “This [place] came up for a tender – it’s the best thing in the world, it’s an amazing location,” Ryan said.
But what is it really like running two businesses together?
“Challenging, but we work well together,” said Ryan. “I tend to work on the business, predominantly on finance and strategy, and Lucy works on operations day to day, HR, staff.
“The age gap is enough – there’s seven years between us. We both respect each other’s strengths.
“Going back to our upbringing, that’s what our parents had always done. We were conditioned for it I guess, it was ingrained in us. It wasn’t a surprise, that is what business is like.
“We wanted a young team. Lucy is the general manager – she’s 28 now but when she started she was 25. I am the oldest person working in the business – I’m 35. We have created a young team so socially we get on. Our plan is to grow and we want everyone to grow with us,” Ryan said.
Lucy added: “We are 24 hours on a business. When you go home you’re not really switched off. You would never go if it was busy.”
Since the coronavirus pandemic began The Optimist has been closed but they created a brand called Yosei, a Japanesestyle street food takeaway that was a spin-off brand from the venue.
The pair are planning on relaunching the business when they can reopen indoors with a new menu and interior.
But the siblings have been lucky that they have been able to provide a takeaway service with The Secret. Despite the challenges of the past year the siblings were determined not to make any of their staff redundant, something which they have achieved.
In lockdown The Secret has become a popular spot for crowds to gather nearby due to its seaside location. This has led to piles of rubbish being left on the beach when the sun has been shining.
Staff at The Secret, alongside volunteers, take part in weekly beach cleans to try to keep the area clean and tidy.
Ryan said: “Monday morning we have beach cleans and volunteers come down. We wanted it to be not just a restaurant but a real community hub.
“It’s difficult because we’ve got to balance that we are in it to make money with a social responsibility of where we are. We are selling products that can be left on the beach so we have changed all our packaging so everything is completely recyclable.
“Sometimes we could or maybe should have stayed open later, but as soon as we saw there were groups we closed down. We premium-priced the alcohol on purpose to try to keep the kids away basically.”
Lucy also admitted that it was hard to know whether to post on social media as they didn’t want to encourage crowds to the area.
When asked if they ever argue, the immediate response was “always, every day” before laughing.
“There’s never big arguments, just disagreements. That’s how it works. If you’re in business with someone who isn’t your brother or sister they could take offence at something you have said. You’ve got each other’s backs and protect each other and trust the other person to do the work,” Ryan said.
Lucy added: “That is why it works. You do argue as brother and sister. We all want the same, it’s not two business partners head to head, we all want the same thing and we are all in it to get the same success.”
The pair now have sister Amy and brother Tom working with them. Amy
works in HR as an office manager and Tom is in operations and logistics.
Lucy said: “We wanted to create a business where the family are in it. We go
for Sunday dinner and even though we start the day by saying: ‘Right, don’t talk about work’ it all comes round with: ‘So what we going to do here, what we going to do there?’ That is when our ideas come alive.”
Ryan and Lucy have also secured a new hospitality venue in Swansea.
Ryan said: “We’ve got a five-year plan to grow our businesses to a certain level and hopefully we’ll
be able to have the management team in place where you can start taking some time off.
“Our plan is to look for unique areas around Swansea and South West Wales.”
And what advice would the pair give to anyone looking to start a business in the hospitality industry?
Lucy said: “The advice I would give is just go for it and take the chance. I
think you regret the chances you don’t take. So just go with it.”
Ryan added: “It’s long hours, it’s unsociable hours.
“When everyone else is enjoying themselves on sunny weekends, bank holidays, Christmas, new year, that’s when we’re really busy, we don’t get that time off.
“Be prepared to work really hard, but it’s also really rewarding as well.”