Ben Shewry on creativity, self-doubt, and running a people-first restaurant

Executive overview

Success pulls creative people away from the work that made them successful. Ben Shewry, chef-owner of Attica, has spent 19 years guarding his time at the stove against the mounting demands of running a celebrated restaurant.

His answer is deceptively simple: keep returning to the original love. Every other insight — on plagiarism, self-doubt, leadership, friendship — flows from that discipline.

The greatest threat to ongoing creativity is the success that rewards it.

The dish development process

• A new dish can take one month to over a year, through potentially hundreds of iterations
• Development is 360-degree: ingredient sourcing, recipe, plating, story, front-of-house articulation, cultural fit
• Ideas often start with an ingredient — finding it, understanding its history, confirming commercial viability
• Ben knows instinctively when a dish is ready; it never goes on the menu until he believes it absolutely is
• A "kill your darlings" policy means finished dishes never return to the menu, forcing constant forward momentum

Handling plagiarism and idea theft

• Belief that another idea is always coming makes theft easier to absorb
• Early in his career, when Attica was near bankruptcy, idea theft genuinely stung
• Distinguishes between honest creative inspiration (admirable) and passing off others' work as your own (dishonest)
• The forward-looking creative mindset is the practical antidote, not forgiveness or indifference

Returning to the source of creativity

• The more successful you become, the harder it is to do the thing that made you successful
• Actively protects cooking time against emails, meetings, media, and management demands
• Has evolved to start ideas at home when restaurant schedules don't allow it
• Broad interests outside cooking — music, skateboarding, travel, art — feed creative thinking
• Depth plus breadth (T-shaped) consistently produces more creative output than deep specialism alone

Self-doubt as a tool

• Self-doubt is healthy when controlled; it prevents blindly charging into bad decisions
• Opening Attica Summer Camp during COVID lockdowns was opposed by almost everyone — turned out to be a success
• The transition from employee to first-time restaurant owner was his peak moment of self-doubt; he bet his house on it
• Self-doubt becomes easier to bear as you accumulate a track record of successes and recoveries

Speaking out on food critics and awards

• Continued silence felt worse than the risk of speaking publicly
• Felt a responsibility to people in the industry who had similar experiences but wouldn't speak out
• The decision took nearly a year of back-and-forth with his wife Kylie before publication
• The response was overwhelmingly positive — hundreds of messages from the hospitality and creative industries

People-first business leadership

• Most business failures trace back to taking focus off people
• Profit follows when you get the human fundamentals right: fairness, common decency, genuine care
• The leader's own standard — not what they demand of others — sets the tone
• A well-cared-for team generates an energy customers can feel; it's the "fourth dimension" of a great business
• Overcomplicating management is the common mistake; the basics are simpler than most owners think

Cultivating adult friendships

• Actively chooses friends who reciprocate — not relationships where one side carries all the effort
• Drawn to people who are unusual, kind, and communicative
• Generosity with experiences rather than gifts: organised a surprise ten-course tasting menu on a hire boat for friends
• Reliability is central — if he says he'll do something, he does it
• Silliness and playfulness are underrated in serious professional lives

Practical cooking tips

• Better pots and pans make a measurable difference; build the collection slowly over years
• Avoid Teflon; ceramic non-stick (e.g. Woll) is a good alternative
• A flat-bladed wooden spoon has far more surface contact than a round one — more useful for almost everything
• Sharp knife, quality Parmesan, garlic, and a lemon cover most kitchen needs
• Air fryer best use: boneless chicken thigh marinated in olive oil, garlic, Dijon, lemon, salt, and pepper
• Source ingredients from people you can have a conversation with; provenance almost guarantees quality