Glasgow Supper Club with Lord Willie Haughey

Our Supper Clubs are participative, relaxing evenings enjoying good conversations, enabling members to get to know one another whilst hearing from an inspirational speaker.

Places are strictly limited and are available exclusively for members and invited guests on a first come first served basis.  By keeping these events intimate, we ensure there are plenty of opportunity to ask questions as well as an open forum where all attendees will have the opportunity to discuss the emerging themes from the speaker as well as their own experiences.  Shared experiences are at the heart of WeDO, ‘individually we can be successful, together we can be extraordinary’ and Supper Clubs give us the opportunity to do just that.

We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming Lord Willie Haughey as speaker at our second Supper Club of 2022 at the newly re-opened, renowned Ho Wong Cantonese restaurant.  Lord Haughey is one of Scotland’s most successful and down-to-earth entrepreneurs despite his astounding success.

Lord Haughey commenced his career as an air conditioning engineer before taking up a managerial role with a facilities management business in the Abu Dhabi.  On his return to Scotland, he set up his own business with £70,000 of savings he had accrued. He founded City Refrigeration, a refrigeration equipment and maintenance supplier, with his wife Susan in 1985, initially employing 4 people in Glasgow.

In the 1980s, Lord Haughey and his wife Susan sold a majority stake in the business to the 3i equity firm.  A downturn in the financial situation caused them to sell two other small companies they had established back to City to increase turnover and broaden the range of services provided by the firm. In 1997 the company signed a deal with Asda to maintain refrigeration equipment in stores throughout the United Kingdom. Due to the success of that venture, Lord Haughey and his wife found themselves able to buy back almost full control of City from 3i in 1999, allowing them to have decisive input on its future strategic direction; a gradual, continuous expansion of its operations followed over the subsequent decades. Today, City is one of the world’s largest privately owned FM companies having accumulated a wealth of experience serving a variety of sectors — healthcare, petrol forecourts, leisure and hospitality, retail, distribution and logistics, commercial property and construction.   They are relentlessly focused on developing and shaping the future of FM, harnessing the power of innovation, technology and data to inform every step of their work.  They employ over 9,000 people around the world in America, Australia, the Far East and Europe and generate an annual turnover in excess of £600 million.

Lord Haughey was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 Scotland overall winner.  On the same evening, City was presented with the Sustained Excellence Award.  He backed the Entrepreneurial Spark start-up accelerator, hosting the Glasgow ‘hatchery’ in his City Refrigeration Headquarters.

Lord Haughey was awarded an OBE in 2003 and knighted in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to business and philanthropy.  On 18 September 2013 he was created a life peer taking the title Baron Haughey of Hutchesontown in Glasgow.  In 2005, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Technology by Glasgow Caledonian University.

Join us for what will be a truly memorable, fascinating and entertaining evening in the company of Lord Haughey who, without doubt, is one of Scotland’s most esteemed entrepreneurs.

BANQUET AT THE HO WONG

MIXED HORS D’OEUVRES

Chilli and Salt Spare Ribs, Prawn Toast, Spring Roll, Chicken Satay, Yuk Sang, Salt & Pepper Prawn

AROMATIC CRISPY DUCK

Shredded duck served with cucumber, spring onions, Hoi Sin sauce and pancakes

MAIN COURSES

Fillet of beef in Chilli and Salt

Sweet & Sour Chicken

King Prawns with Spring Onions and Ginger

Fillet of Beef Cantonese Style

Sliced Chicken with Green Pepper

Szechuan King Prawn

Fried Rice & Soft Noodles

CHOICE OF DESSERTS

If you want to find out more about our Supper Clubs, here’s feedback from our most recent one in Edinburgh on 5th April.