Rare Restaurant’s Rising Star proves ‘the sky is the limit’

Sean Weeraratna is a prime example that “the sky is the limit” when you choose a career in hospitality, regardless of your background.

That is the opinion of Rare Restaurant’s CEO, Martin Williams, who says his newly appointed operations director has had a “unique” journey so far.

Starting as general manager at Gaucho Edinburgh in March 2019, Weeraratna has doggedly risen through the ranks.

Representing Scotland’s national cricket team before starting in the industry, Weeraratna was “very ambitious, from the first moment he came on board,” says Williams.

“He has gone above and beyond, driven by his love of the sector.”

Assigned the task of transforming its underperforming Edinburgh site, Weeraratna’s unwavering dedication resulted in 25% site-level growth in 2019.

Now spearheading Gaucho’s expansion outside of London, he played a pivotal role in the success of subsequent openings in Newcastle, Glasgow and Liverpool, mentoring all three general managers through the process.

“He is mentoring our emerging stars in the business, taking the time out of his day to spend one-on-one time with them - developing them to be leaders of the future.

“We like to have people that we can put on the pedestal, showing the right behaviours and our company values.”

“When he was a GM, I remember having the conversation about hiring additional resources for his team, and he said no, I’m going to take the slack”, MD Ross Butler says, reflecting on Weeraratna’s propensity to personal sacrifice to drive the business forward.

 Moving to Cardiff, outside of his area of operation, to support a new opening was one example of this.

“When someone is willing to put themselves on the line and sacrifice for the company’s benefit - that is the kind of behaviour that we look to and say wow.”

Butler applauds Weeraratna’s humility and “emotional intelligence”, which has gained him further respect amongst colleagues.

The rising star’s inspiration to restructure the business for this year has also been significant, according to Williams.

As a result of Weeraratna’s advice, the business is now divided between north and south with distinct operations leads, training centres, HR and marketing departments.

“That’s very much on Sean’s encouragement that as we’ve grown the business, we needed a structure that supports it, and is more focused on out of London,

“You see a lot of premium restaurants trying to copy and paste what works in London across the country - we don’t do that.

“We rely on his opinion for where we make those changes.”

After success in Edinburgh, Weeraratna has been instrumental in scouting future venues, with both MD and CEO relying on him to be the “eyes and ears”.

“We trust his ability to quickly understand what a city or a section of a city is like.

“Trusting him not just to do his job, but trusting his point of view and ability to make a snap decision”, whether that be around staff, benefits, culture, or menu development.

Beyond the parameters of his role, Weeraratna is striving to put each restaurant at the centre of its community and create opportunities for younger generations.

His involvement with the Doddie Weir Foundation and the School of Hard Knocks, which uses sport to tackle unemployment, crime and poor health, shows “a keenness to take people out of that environment and give them opportunity.”

The father of two’s influence extends to corporate benefits, notably driving improvements to parental leave.

“We have probably got the best maternity and paternity benefits in the hospitality sector, and Sean’s been one of the key people in the businesses to assist us with that.”