#245 - Hospitality Meets Ella De Beer - Electric Mayonnaise & Chicken on a Stick

#245 - Hospitality Meets Ella De Beer - Electric Mayonnaise & Chicken on a Stick

From Hospitality Meets... with Phil Street by Phil Street

March 4, 2026 · 53 min · Season 9 · Episode 245

About this episode

Ella De Beer shares her unpredictable journey in the hospitality industry, discussing her experiences and insights on leadership and personal growth.

This week I sat down with the brilliant Ella de Beer co-founder of Electric Mayonnaise and one of those hospitality people whose career reminds you just how brilliantly unpredictable this industry can be. From waitressing at 14 in South Africa (while telling everyone she was 16… obviously), to opening restaurants, running pubs, building multi-site businesses, leading people functions at brands like Ottolenghi & MJMK and now helping shape the next generation of hospitality leaders, Ella’s story is packed with graft, curiosity, and a healthy dose of “why not give that a go?” Along the way there are some absolute hospitality gems… including the moment she handed Leonardo DiCaprio chicken on a stick , worked 3am Soho finishes fuelled by “Chinese tea” and helped open a 300 cover restaurant just as the financial crash hit. Ideal timing. But underneath the brilliant stories is something deeper, a conversation about the power of hospitality as a career, the importance of learning by doing, and why developing people might just be the most important job our industry has. In this episode, Ella and I get into… • Starting in hospitality at 14 and discovering confidence through people •…

People in this episode

Host: Phil Street

Guest: Ella De Beer

Topics covered

  • hospitality career
  • entrepreneurship
  • restaurant management
  • leadership development
  • personal growth

Keywords

  • hospitality
  • Electric Mayonnaise
  • restaurant opening
  • leadership
  • career development
  • Soho
  • financial crash
  • personal stories

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Electric Mayonnaise

Places: South Africa, Netherlands, Soho

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