A LEADING York restauranteur will be sharing his menu for success at a business meeting staged by the Press and York St John University next week.

Following on from the success of a first business networking event, a second gathering will now take  place at the university on St Mary’s Walk on Wednesday May 15 from 5pm to 7pm.

At the first event in February, the audience of more than 100 enjoyed a speech from Tony Underwood, the former English rugby player and airline pilot, who is now a business performance coach.

The free event, the first of four planned, also included talks from Thomas Burton, Head of Apprenticeship Delivery at York St John and Mike Pennington of the Made Smarter programme.

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This time, guest speaker will be Oscar Akgul, co-owner and managing director of the Lucia restaurants in York, Harrogate and Beverley, plus the Cut and Craft steakhouse restaurants in York and Leeds.

Educated at Istanbul University, Oscar is a noted investor, entrepreneur and advisor for start-up businesses.

In 2020, just before the pandemic, the Lucia Bar and Grill in Swinegate enjoyed an £800,000 refurbishment. The Harrogate branch also enjoyed a £600,000 upgrade too.

In 2022, Oscar and business partner Osman Dogan also opened a Cut and Craft Steakhouse at the Victoria Quarter in Leeds, next to The Ivt and Ivy Asia.

The £1.6m new restaurant has 150 covers across 7,000 st ft, twice the size of the York site, with mezzanine floor and private dining space. Some 80 jobs were created, bring total staff numbers to about 470.

York Press: Steve Lowe of LOCALiQ and York St John University

A second speaker at the free event will be from the Growth Hub, who will offer ideas on how the growth hub can support businesses.

There will also be networking over canapes and drinks.

Steve Lowe, Yorkshire regional sales director for LOCALiQ said: “The business networking event is FREE to attend and open to all businesses in York to attend and network, meet new people, see inside the University and to hear from three carefully selected speakers.”

He added: “We want these events to be a place where it makes no difference of the size of your business, the number of years you have been trading or the experience you have, this is about having a network that comes together once a quarter to share ideas, make to connections and support each other to make York a great place to do business.”

To book your place go to the York Press Eventbrite page https://www.eventbrite.com/e/876610945937?aff=oddtdtcreator or search ‘York Business Networking Event with The Press and York St John University’ places are limited so please book early.

Those attending the networking event will also receive a complimentary copy of the next Yorkshire Business Review, which is out now.