Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/131994
closeup The Heart of Perry Michelle Hespe catches up with restaurateur, businessman and chef Neil Perry, and discovers he's as calm and collected as his seven high-flying restaurants. T here's that famous saying: If you need something done, give it to someone who is busy. Neil Perry is one of those go-to guys. He runs seven successful restaurants with 600 staff, turning over 65 million a year; has a weekly column in Good Weekend; continually organises grants for a diverse range of charities; gets rustled up regularly for TV appearances on iconic shows such as Masterchef and Iron Chef Australia; and, to top it all off, has a wife and three daughters. Don't even ask about his hobbies… You've been living under a very big rock if you don't know of Neil Perry. He's the father of modern Australian cuisine and his group of restaurants includes the original Rockpool on George, established in 1989 and the bearer of three chef's hats; Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne (est. 2006) in the Crown complex; Spice Temple Sydney (est. 2009); Rockpool Bar & Grill Sydney (est. 2009); and Spice Temple Melbourne (est. 2010). Rockpool Bar & Grill Perth opened its doors in 2011, while Rosetta, a modern Italian restaurant at Crown Melbourne, was the most recent addition in late 2012. But as successful as he is, Perry is no stranger to the ups and downs of doing business. For seven years his flagship eatery was listed among the world's top 50 restaurants and had three chef's hats – then one was taken away from him and had to be won back in 2012. He opened XO and Wockpool (where Kylie Kwong launched her career as head chef) in Sydney but they later closed, unsuccessful. Perry admits that his company expanded too quickly, but that tumultuous time reflects the entire nature of business – and life in general, really. And he would be the first to say that down times can be the catalyst for positive outcomes and experiences. "Any smart businessperson knows you need to see failure as an opportunity. You would never understands ups if you didn't have downs," he says. "It's a fool who does not learn from those mistakes. Failure and success should be treated in the same way – you should learn from them both. You are only doing something wrong if you don't recognise failure and act on it." True to his word, Perry acted. The highly publicised demise of XO and Wockpool inspired him to expand into Melbourne, where he founded his famed Spice Temple brand. "I wanted to do something really different. Spice Temple was different to anything I had done before and it took real discipline to not slip back into what I knew. It also made me realise that I like to build brands," he says. "Rosetta was another chance to do that. It's a beautiful Italian restaurant that is nothing like "You've been living under a very big rock if you don't know of Neil Perry. He's the father of modern Australian cuisine ..." 10