Acorns 2019: Terri Dell, 27

General manager, Brookmans, the Peach Pub Company

Nominator Chris Stagg, operations director, the Peach Pub Company

Proudest moment "When the first general manager I worked for, aged 15, came to our pub relaunch. She saw how far the business and I had come and how much of an impact she had had in shaping my career."

Greatest inspiration "Many industry names spring to mind, such as Danny Meyer and Joe Bastianich, but really, it is the people I am surrounded by, such as our operations director, Chris Stagg. I'm also proud to be involved in a pub company full of strong female role models."

Why hospitality is a great career "It's all about family. Despite the long hours and sometimes exhausting days, my team are the most incredible people to be around and they teach me as much as I teach them."

For Terri Dell, the hospitality bug bit early. Aged just 13, she took a job at Farmer Palmer's Farm Park in Organford, Dorset, and by 16, she was restaurant supervisor, leading a team of 15. Before and during university, she worked at the Old Granary, Hall & Woodhouse's Wareham gastropub, becoming assistant manager.

Upon joining Brunning & Price's Duke of York in Barnet, Hertfordshire, at 21, she swiftly had to learn how to manage a £20,000-a-week, food-led pub and a 20-strong team when both the general manager and deputy left suddenly. From there, Dell became a roving deputy, supporting pubs without a general manager.
She became the Peach Pub Company's youngest general manager at 24, and has now transformed two challenging pubs, the most recent being Brookmans, in Brookman's Park, Hertfordshire, where she turned a £52,000 annual loss into a £58,000 profit within 18 months. Unsurprisingly, she was promoted to ‘ultimate' general manager last October and will be managing multiple sites by the end of this year.

Dell also runs a series of best practice workshops for Peach managers, with whom she no doubt shares one of her favourite maxims: "None of us is as smart as all of us. Most problems are solved by working together."