In an industry renowned for being run for men, chef Itamar Srulovich finds himself the lone male in a restaurant group mainly managed by women
Honey & Co is an unusual restaurant for many reasons, not least because it hardly feels like a restaurant at all. At first glance, this tiny ground-floor space in Fitzrovia in London, which opened in 2012, resembles someone’s front room with a few extra tables squeezed in. But then you enter and an outpouring of warmth hits you, along with the aroma of cardamom coffee and the sight of cakes lined up on the rear counter. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a regular, a tourist or someone famous,” says Bridget Fojcik, who runs its sister deli Honey & Spice across the road. “Everyone gets the same welcome at Honey & Co.”
It’s unusual in another way, too, although this didn’t fully occur to co-owner Itamar Srulovich until late last year. He and his wife Sarit Packer had just opened Honey & Smoke, a much bigger grill restaurant nearby on Great Portland Street, and they were sitting down with their managers for a long overdue catch-up. As the nine of them gathered in the new space, Srulovich noted everyone else in the core team – from head chefs to restaurant managers to office managers to the head of pastry – was a woman.
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