HUNGRY. Espresso: Rory Sutherland vs. The Devonshire Founder: 38 Secret Unique Selling Points of a Pub
Oct 30, 2025
Rory Sutherland, a savvy behavioral economist and advertising guru, joins the visionary founder of The Devonshire pub in Piccadilly. They dive into how the pub’s retro reopening sparked a surprising customer surge. The founder reveals 38 innovative features like on-site butchery and Ember Grill ovens designed to set them apart. Sutherland emphasizes that quirky elements boost perceived value and shares insights on the balance between creativity and operational challenges. Together, they showcase why unique differentiators matter in today’s competitive landscape.
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Chapters
Transcript
Nightmare To Hurricane Opening
- The founder feared opening the Devonshire because it hadn't been a pub for 12 years and he dreamed of standing alone behind the bar.
- Instead the opening was a hurricane of customers, creating unexpected operational challenges they then solved.
Choose Hard, Distinctive Features
- Do write a list of really hard-to-copy features and commit to executing them to create a gap from competitors.
- Running those difficult choices hard makes your venue unmistakably different and valuable.
Thirty-Eight Distinct Selling Points
- The Devonshire implemented 38 unique selling points, from Czech beer taps to on-site bread baking and their own butchery.
- They debated cutting the list but decided—via Charlie's encouragement—to proceed with all of them.