An assistant mananger at the Manchester branch of steak house chain Hawksmoor who accidentally gave away a table a £4,500 bottle of red wine has been given a promotion by the company.
Ellen Stott made headlines earlier this year for the mix up, but has now been promoted to general manager. At the time of the mishap, Stott was shadowing the management team, but has now become a manager herself. Speaking to the Evening Standard about her promotion, Hawksmoor founder Will Beckett said: “Ellen started on day one of Edinburgh, taking a waitress role despite having a lot of management experience because she believed in what we do here. We quickly promoted her and started preparing her for more senior roles because we believe so much in her."
"I think Ellen’s experience of what happens at Hawksmoor – both in terms of developing people and how to treat them when things go wrong (or right) – will stand her in great stead to be a wonderful Hawksmoor general manager."
Hawksmoor, which also has several sites across London and one in Edinburgh, won praise on social media for its light-hearted response to the error earlier in the year. The morning after the incident, the Hawksmoor Manchester Twitter account posted: “To the customer who accidentally got given a bottle of Chateau le Pin Pomerol 2001, which is £4,500 on our menu, last night - hope you enjoyed your evening! To the member of staff who accidentally gave it away, chin up! One-off mistakes happen and we love you anyway.”
The cheery response has been ‘liked’ almost 17,000 times on the platform, even garnering a response from famous faces. Television host Piers Morgan joked that he'd like to reserve a table “with the same waiter”.
The mistake occurred after a table of customers in the restaurant ordered a bottle of the 2001 Chateau Pichon Longueville Contesse de Lalande, which costs £260. Hawksmoor founder Will Beckett has since revealed that a manager from another branch had been helping out the waitress who was serving the table, and when the manager offered to find the wine for her, they accidentally picked up the 2001 bottle of Chateau le Pin Pomerol, which clocks in at £4,500 (17 times the price of the intended bottle).
Adding to the social media buzz, Hawksmoor’s account subsequently tweeted a picture of the offending bottles side by side, cheekily commenting that “they look pretty similar”. The staff member who made the mistake won’t be facing any disciplinary action, with Beckett commenting that he didn’t see the need to criticise her for making a one-off mistake. He did however joke that he “will tease her for this when she stops being so mortified.”
The £4,500 bottle of wine that was served is extremely rare, as only 500 cases of it were made. The wine has been described on review sites as “legendary” and “mythical”.
If you have a penchant for extravagant food and drink in restaurants, cast your eye over our roundup of the most expensive dishes in London.