从逃学生到披萨大亨
David Page didn't quite bring pizza to the UK, but he did play a crucial role in making Pizza Express one of the country's most popular places to eat in the 1980s and 90s.
大卫.佩吉并不是吧披萨带到英国的人，但正是他扮演了重要角色，才让“披萨快线”成为20世纪八九十年代最受欢迎的餐厅。’
But his journey to becoming boss of the famous pizza chain - and owner of other restaurant groups such as Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Franco Manca - was far from conventional, and characterised by a penchant for doing things his own way.
而他一路成为最有名的披萨供应链—以及“汉堡美食厨房”和"弗兰科.曼卡“”餐饮店的店主—的大老板的过程非常与众不同，并且带有强烈的他的个人色彩。
Now 65 years old, the serial restaurateur recalls a time when, in the mid-80s, he went to ask for a £2m business loan, only to be met with incredulity from his bank manger because he was wearing slipper-like espadrilles.
这位如今65岁的连锁餐饮店主回想起了以前八十年代中期的时候，他去申请两百万英镑的贷款，却遇到了银行经理人的怀疑，因为他穿着平底凉鞋式样的拖鞋。
"I wasn't wearing any socks either!", the Londoner says with a chuckle. "He couldn't quite believe it, but he still lent me the money."
“我也没穿袜子”，这位伦敦人笑着说。“他不太敢相信我，但最后还是把钱贷给了我。”
As a younger man, few would have guessed that David would go on to run some of the UK's best-known restaurant chains.
作为年轻人，很少有人会猜到大卫会一路走来最后运营英国最有名的连锁餐饮店。
In 1969 he was expelled from his Jesuit-run secondary school Wimbledon College in southwest London, for what he politely describes as "truancy".
1969年，他从伦敦西南的温博顿大学的耶稣朗分校辍学，原因被他礼貌地形容为“逃学”。
右一为主人公
David then tried to become a cartographer at the Ordnance Survey, the UK's mapping agency, but his refusal to cut his hair or wear a tie resulted in another parting of the ways.
大卫便试图成为陆地测量部（一家英国绘图所）的制图员，但他不愿意剪头发也不愿意戴领带，最后导致了离职。
Next he began training to become a teacher, and washed dishes at his local Pizza Express in south London to make ends meet.
接下来他开始接受培训成为一名老师，同时在伦敦南部当地的“披萨快线”洗盘子来赚钱糊口。
The first Pizza Express had opened in central London in 1965, and by the early 1970s it had a handful of branches across the capital.
第一家披萨快线于1965年在伦敦中部开张，到了1970年代它已经在首都有了好几家分店。
David says he soon realised that working in the restaurant industry was his true calling, and when the opportunity to become a Pizza Express branch manager arose he soon ditched the classroom.
大卫说他立马意识到在餐饮业工作才是他的真正所长，于是当他遇到了成为披萨快线分店经理的机会 时，他就迅速辞掉了教师的工作。
By 1981 he had bought the franchise to operate a Pizza Express in Chiswick, west London.
到了1981年他买下了伦敦西部奇西克的披萨快线的经营权。
"If you fancied learning how to become a capitalist you became a franchisee," says David, who took out a second mortgage to fund that investment.
"如果你想学习如何成为资本金的话，你就成为一名特许经营人吧，”大卫说，他有一次抵押贷款来进行了这次投资。
"I didn't know what a capitalist was - my parents were socialists, so capitalism was a very dirty word."
“我不知道资本家是什么—我父母是社会主义者，所以资本主义是一个很肮脏的词汇。”
David, who went on to open many more franchises over the next decade, says Pizza Express was "pioneering" in the 1980s, and a breath of fresh air in England's then rather bland food scene.
大卫在接下来的几十年里又开了更多的分店，他说披萨快线在1980年代算是个先锋，给相对来说比较空白的餐饮行业带来了一缕新风。
He even recalls getting a letter from an "unbelievably delighted customer" in Banstead, Surrey, who proclaimed the opening of the town's Pizza Express was the most exciting thing to happen there since the library was bombed in 1942.
他甚至回想起收到了一封来自萨里.巴斯特德“激动无比的顾客”的来信，他说镇上披萨快线的开张是继1942年图书馆炸毁以来最激动人心的事。
By the time Pizza Express was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1993, David and three business partners had 25 franchises that formed the biggest part of the newly-listed company.
当披萨快线于1993年进入伦敦股票交易所时，大卫和他的三个经济合伙人这家新上市的公司已经拥有25家连锁分店。
Despite claiming not to have known what a balance sheet was back then, David became chief executive and later chairman, during which time Pizza Express grew to about 300 outlets - mostly in the UK, but a few in other countries, such as the US, as well.
尽管声称那时他连财务报表是什么都不知道，大卫还是成为了首席执行官和后来的董事长，在此期间，披萨快线增长到了三百家分店—大部分在英国，少数在外国，比如美国等。
The chain was then sold in 2003 to a number of private equity firms for £278m.
这个连锁系列于2003年以2亿七千八百万英镑的价格卖给了几个私人企业团体。
Today Pizza Express is owned by China's Hony Capital, and has branches in 11 countries.
今天披萨快线已经被卖给了中国的弘毅投资，在全球十一个国家拥有分店。
After leaving Pizza Express David went on to co-found restaurant parent group Clapham House, whose chains included Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Bombay Bicycle Club and Tootsies.
在离开披萨快线后，大卫继续又合伙建立了餐饮管理集团克拉彭之家，其连锁店包括汉堡美食厨房，孟买自行车俱乐部和亲密伙伴等。
Another decent payday came in 2010 when Clapham House was bought by South African chilli chicken chain Nandos for £30m.
另一个隆重的收购日于2010年到来，这时克拉彭之家以三千万英镑的价格被卖给了南非的辣味鸡连锁品牌Nandos
But rather than take early retirement, the then 58-year-old David started looking for the next restaurant opportunity.
但他没有退休，当时28岁的大卫开始寻找下一个餐饮行业里的机会。
His attention was drawn to a small artisan pizza shop called Franco Manca that had opened in Brixton, south London, in 2009.
他的注意力被手工披萨小店弗兰科.曼卡所吸引了，它在2009年时是一家位于伦敦南部布里克斯顿小店。
With customers queuing around the block for its wood fired and sourdough pizzas, David says that he and his team were "fans of the concept from day one".
当顾客们在街区排起长队来买它家的炭烤酸面基披萨时，大卫说他和他的团队第一天起就成为了它们的理念的粉丝。
They soon invested in Franco Manca to help it expand, and in 2015 David's new investment group Fulham Shore bought a majority stake for £27.5m.
他们立马给弗兰科.曼卡投资来帮助它进行扩建，于2015年大额我的新投资集团福汉姆海岸以两千七百五十五英镑的价格买下了主要的股份。
There are now 40 Franco Manca outlets, mostly in London. David personally designs each restaurant, keeping the sites compact to ensure no space is wasted.
现在已经有四十家弗兰科.曼卡分店了，大部分在伦敦，每一家分店大卫都亲自设计，保持格局紧凑，不浪费空间。
But things haven't all gone according to plan for the restaurateur, whose Fulham Shore also owns the Real Greek restaurants.
但对于这位餐饮店大亨来说，并不是所有事情都尽如人意，他的福汉姆海岸现在还同时拥有真实希腊餐馆、
He says he has passed up on countless opportunities to invest in successful ventures, including Krispy Kreme donuts, the Caffe Nero coffee shop chain, and food delivery business Deliveroo - which he decided "would never work".
他说他也错过了数不清的可以投资成功的实体的机遇，包括奶油脆脆甜甜圈，莱诺连锁咖啡馆还有食品外卖生意—当时他认为行不通。
David also says that Brexit - the UK's decision and continuing path towards leaving the European Union - was a "major disruption" to both Franco Manca and the Real Greek, and the UK's restaurant sector in general.
大卫还说脱欧—英国逐渐脱离欧盟的决定—对于弗兰科.曼卡，真实希腊和英国的整个餐饮行业来说都是一次大变动。
He says this is because the weaker pound has pushed up raw material prices, and fewer Europeans are coming to the UK, making it harder to recruit staff.
他说这是因为英镑促进基本物价上涨的幅度越小，来到英国的欧洲人就会越少，对于服务行业来说就更困难。
In addition David says that the wider public are now going out for fewer meals as UK economic growth has slowed.
另外大卫说，随着英国经济增长的放缓，大众现在更少外出就餐了。
Back in September Fulham Shore issued a profit warning and said it was putting the brakes on expansion plans.
在九月份福汉姆海岸出现了盈利危机，准备把宝押在扩张计划上。
Roger Tejwani, a restaurant sector analyst at stockbrokers Finncap, says that the current trading environment is "tough" for firms like Fulham Shore.
罗杰.特万尼，股票中介所Finncap的餐饮板块分析师说，现在的经济环境对福汉姆海岸这样的公司来说是比较紧张的。
However, he adds that he is confident of the group's longer-term prospects, partly because it has such an experienced management team who have all "seen this movie several times before".
然而，他补充说他对这个集团的长远眼光是很有信心的，因为它拥有身经百战的经营团队，这种大风大浪已经见过好多次了。
When asked if there is a secret to his success, David answers: "It's not just me." Instead he has worked with the same team for the past two decades and says it's "one big happy family really".
当被问到有什么成功秘诀的时候，大卫回答说：“靠的不光是我。”他已经跟同一支团队一起共事了二十多年，并说它已经是一个大家庭。
While Franco Manca may never have quite the global reach of Pizza Express, which its new owners hope will turn China onto pizza, he thinks it has potential beyond the UK.
尽管弗兰科.曼卡还没有达到披萨快线的影响力，它的新店主希望让中国人也爱上披萨，他认为它拥有超越英国的潜力。
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