Laura Mills named managing director of The Wolseley Hospitality Group

Laura Mills has been appointed managing director of The Wolseley Hospitality Group, bringing senior restaurant leadership experience to the operator behind The Wolseley, The Delaunay and Brasserie Zédel. Her appointment was announced on 20 October 2026, and the company’s leadership biography confirms that she joined this month.

The former Ivy Collection managing director takes charge of a business whose appeal rests on the individual character of its restaurants as much as their shared standards. Her opening message places continuity, colleagues and the guest experience at the centre of the role.

Laura Mills’ remit at The Wolseley Hospitality Group

In its announcement, the group highlighted Mills’ experience of developing leaders and creating supportive working cultures. Mills, in turn, said her priority was to preserve what guests value about the restaurants while supporting their teams.

“My focus is simple: to protect everything that makes our restaurants so special,” she said in the company announcement. She also emphasised the people responsible for delivering that experience and the opportunity to shape the group’s next chapter with them.

Her own LinkedIn post described the move from being a regular guest at The Wolseley to leading the wider company. The appointment is to The Wolseley Hospitality Group, rather than solely to the Piccadilly restaurant.

Career background at The Ivy Collection

The group’s official biography records Mills as operations director at The Ivy Collection in 2019 and managing director there in 2023. It lists her move to The Wolseley Hospitality Group in 2026, establishing a progression from restaurant operations leadership to responsibility for an established multi-site business.

That background makes the appointment relevant beyond a single flagship restaurant. Leading an established collection involves maintaining service expectations across different locations and supporting the managers who translate a group’s priorities into daily operations.

A portfolio of individual London restaurants

The Wolseley Hospitality Group is owned by Minor International. Its London portfolio includes The Wolseley on Piccadilly and The Wolseley City, alongside The Delaunay, Brasserie Zédel, Colbert, Fischer’s, Bellanger, Soutine and Manzi’s.

The restaurants do not all follow one format. The company describes Colbert as a neighbourhood café inspired by Paris, Fischer’s as drawing on Vienna’s grand cafés, and The Delaunay as a European café and restaurant serving across the day. Manzi’s brings a different, seaside-inspired identity to Soho.

These distinctions provide important context for Mills’ emphasis on protecting each restaurant’s appeal. The group’s published values also place staff and guests together, identifying empathy, integrity and respect as foundations of its service culture.

Leadership significance for restaurant teams

For hospitality employers, the appointment illustrates the connection between brand stewardship and people leadership. A recognised restaurant name depends on consistent delivery, but a collection of individual venues also needs room for local identity and judgement.

Mills’ initial statements signal an intention to work with the existing team and preserve those strengths. They do not set out a restructuring programme or quantified operating targets, so the announcement should not be read as evidence of either.

The immediate focus is a leadership transition within an established restaurant business. How its people-first priorities translate into management development and the guest experience will be the more useful measure of the next phase.

Related reading: Guy Freedman’s operations leadership role at THE PIG and Richard Cooke’s appointment at Hotel Bel-Air.

Source notes: The Wolseley Hospitality Group announcement; official Laura Mills biography; group ownership and values; restaurant portfolio. Checked 20 October 2026.