Boom7 Meet The Owner | Ep 17 | Mario (Fratelli) - From banker to restaurant owner

Meet The Owner

Friday, 12 December 2025 - 48 minutes

Steven Dryden-Hall takes a deep dive into Mario's life from his early years driving swanky sports cars and running nightclubs with all the hedonism and debauchary that come with it, to his current business, an award winning Italian restaurant Fratelli in Woburn.

This conversation rolls through his journey from Luton school days to investment banking in London, the wild nightclub years, and the leap into running two hugely successful restaurants with his brothers. Expect stories of family, food, failure, resilience, bottomless brunch mayhem, Sicilian roots, big wins at the food awards, and the honest challenges of hospitality today.

Mario opens up about branding, standards, staffing, location, and the mindset needed to survive in business. There are brilliant anecdotes about fast cars, high-pressure trading floors, the birth of Fatelli, the rollercoaster of the 2008 crash, and the unexpected opportunity that led to the restaurant opening. It’s warm, funny, insightful and packed with real-world advice for anyone who loves business, restaurants or a great story told well.

#MeetTheOwner #Fatelli #Woburn #RestaurantLife #BusinessStories #HospitalityUK #ItalianFood #MiltonKeynes #Ampthill #EntrepreneurLife #SmallBusinessUK #StevenDrydenHall #PodcastUK #LocalBusiness #FoodAwards