Dan O'Regan — Bristol restaurateur, Country Living columnist and hospitality writer
Country Living columnist  ·  Bristol Life  ·  Notes on a NapkinCountry Living  ·  Bristol Life  ·  Substack

Running
restaurants.
Writing about
the business
behind them.

Most hospitality writing looks in from the outside. I'm still running shifts at BANK and Lapin in Bristol. That makes the writing more honest.

Still running shifts. Still honest about it.

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Columnist
Country Living Bristol Life
Newsletter
Notes on a Napkin
Featured in
The Telegraph The Observer The Guardian Vogue The Good Food Guide The Broadsheet
Dan O'Regan, owner of BANK and Lapin restaurants in Bristol
About

Self-taught. Still learning. Still on the floor.

Five years. Building two restaurants in Bristol from scratch with co-owner and Executive Chef Jack Briggs-Horan.
9.73CODE Happiest Places to Work 2025 — advocacy score out of 10
1,000+Notes on a Napkin subscribers

I came to hospitality through coffee: the floor, training, wholesale, and competing in barista championships. Moved to Bristol in 2019, and when Covid ended my role at Colonna, I opened BANK on Wells Road in Totterdown. Lapin followed a few years later on Wapping Wharf.

Most of what I write comes from still running shifts — the economics of independent restaurants, staffing decisions, UK hospitality policy, and what actually makes a room work. A monthly column for Country Living, another for Bristol Life, and Notes on a Napkin on Substack.

I'm interested in the gap between how the restaurant industry presents itself and how it actually operates. And in the people who close that gap every service.

Better articulated than any thought leadership I read from my colleagues working with the hospitality sector. Well written. Well argued.

Urvashi Roe — Former Director, Big Four Consultancy · on Notes on a Napkin
What I do

Two restaurants,
two columns,
one newsletter.

01

Restaurants

BANK in Totterdown and Lapin on Wapping Wharf. Two very different rooms running on the same idea: good food at honest prices, and a team worth looking after.

Visit the restaurants
02

Writing

A monthly column for Country Living, another for Bristol Life, and Notes on a Napkin on Substack. Writing that comes from still running shifts, not looking back from a distance.

Read the work
03

Speaking & Media

Panels, broadcast, podcasts, and live appearances on restaurant economics, hospitality culture, people and retention. Represented by DML Talent.

Speaking topics
Selected writing

Essays, columns,
and industry writing

Essays on restaurant economics and culture, a monthly column for Country Living, and a column for Bristol Life — all written from inside two working restaurants. Read all writing.

Economics

You Think Restaurants Are Expensive?

A worked example of what two tables actually make a restaurant — from the £29 prix fixe to the £200 celebration dinner. The numbers are not what you think.

Read the essay
Food & Culture

The Difference Between Taste and Judgement

On the gap between having an opinion and having earned the right to one — and what the internet has done to both.

Read the essay
Culture

Leave Them Wanting

On the two kinds of full, and why the best meals end with the guest already planning when to return.

Read the essay
All writing

Bring customers in and help them understand the opaque inner-workings of a frequently misunderstood industry.

Jimi Famurewa — The Counter, Broadsheet London · named alongside Fallow and The Dusty Knuckle
Speaking and Media

Panels, interviews,
broadcast and beyond.

I'm still running shifts, which tends to be useful on a panel. Most hospitality voices speak from memory. I'm speaking from this week.

I talk about restaurants in plain language: the economics of a room and the pricing decisions that look obvious until you're actually making them.

I'm represented by DML Talent for broadcast, speaking, and live appearances.

Representation

For broadcast, speaking, and live appearances, DML Talent are the people to contact. For writing commissions, drop me a line directly.

Contact DML Talent
i.

Restaurant pricing and economics

The economics of restaurants are misunderstood. Explaining them honestly is a form of respect for the guest, not an apology.

ii.

Staffing and retention in hospitality

The best retention tool is a fair, predictable working environment. The basics — predictable shifts, fair pay, room to grow — matter more than most operators admit.

iii.

Food sourcing and philosophy

Technique is a tool, not a destination. The job is to help an ingredient express itself clearly.

iv.

Wine lists and hospitality economics

A list should communicate clearly what a wine tastes like and why it belongs. Wine is not an examination.

v.

The honest failure

The account of a failure is more useful than a polished success. Most panels avoid this subject. I don't.

The restaurants

BANK and Lapin —
two Bristol restaurants,
same values.

BANK restaurant, Totterdown, Bristol
Totterdown, Bristol

BANK

A fire-led neighbourhood restaurant on Wells Road in Totterdown. Seasonal cooking, a room that feels settled, and a lot of familiar faces.

Lapin restaurant, Wapping Wharf, Bristol
Wapping Wharf, Bristol

Lapin

A French-leaning room in a shipping container by the water. Smaller and quieter, with a menu that takes its time.

A menu that could thaw the iciest of hearts.

Grace Dent — The Guardian · review of Lapin, Bristol
Notes on a Napkin

A newsletter about
what running a restaurant
actually looks like.

Service notes, producer visits, things that didn't go to plan, and the economics behind a good night out, written without jargon. Three or four times a month. Most issues free.

Read Notes on a Napkin
Notes on a Napkin  ·  You Think Restaurants Are Expensive? Notes on a Napkin  ·  Business Rates, Explained Notes on a Napkin  ·  Your Eyes Betray You
For editors

Taking on the
right commissions.

I write about the reality of running restaurants. Not from a study. From the shift.

If you're working on something about restaurants — the economics, the culture, the people inside them — I'd love to hear about it. I write from inside a working restaurant, which means better access, more honest numbers, and a perspective most writers can't get to. I take on a small number of commissions alongside the restaurants — so if the brief sounds interesting, it's worth getting in touch.

For broadcast, speaking, and live appearances, DML Talent are the people to contact.

Pitches and early conversations welcome.

Commission a piece

I respond to all commission and press enquiries within two working days.

—

Columns and recurring series

Country Living and Bristol Life already know what a regular column looks like. Happy to talk about what that could look like for you.

—

Features and reported pieces

On restaurants, hospitality, and the industry behind a good night out. I'll bring the access, the figures, and a view from the floor.

—

Panels, broadcast and background

Broadcast and speaking via DML Talent. For background or a quote, just drop me a line.