My name is Rob. My wife is called Suzy. And we are the founders of Hollow Legs Media.
Hollow Legs Media is the result of years of collecting experiences that, at the time, didn't seem connected.
I spent more than 15 years working in marketing, communications and content. Writing copy. Managing websites. Producing graphics. Editing photos and videos. Running social media channels. Creating email campaigns.
Suzy's career was firmly rooted in hospitality. She worked across front-of-house, restaurant management and as a freelance barista. Many years ago, she became part-owner of an independent coffee shop. Even today, her dream is to one day open a coffee shop or coffee truck of her own.
While our careers couldn't have looked more different, outside of work, our interests were more closely aligned.
I love to cook. Suzy loves to bake. We lived together for many years in London and regularly hosted dinner for friends. We even talked about starting our own supper club. We've always been the kind of people who plan weekends around cafes and restaurants, try new recipes at home and talk about where to eat next.
We would also travel extensively and use those opportunities to sample dishes from all over the world. For example, I once planned an entire New York trip around food, creating my own self-guided pizza tour of Manhattan so that I could see the city's landmarks while (more importantly) eating at the pizza joints I'd been researching for months.
Then COVID happened.
Like so many people, we suddenly found ourselves spending much more time at home. And like so many people, we started a food blog! We cooked. We photographed our creations. We filmed videos. We wrote recipes. We posted on social media.
With nowhere to go and no one to invite over, we were producing food at a pace that far exceeded our ability to eat it. Suzy would bake a chocolate cake one day, and I would follow with a banoffee pie the next. Our freezer quickly reached capacity, and since I can't bear to waste food, there was only one solution: we kept eating.
I already had years of experience creating digital content for a living, but food photography introduced an entirely new creative challenge. Week after week, we refined our photography, editing and visual storytelling without thinking we would one day use those skills professionally.
But COVID changed more than our hobbies.
My then marketing role came to an unexpected end just as the hospitality industry found itself desperately short of staff. Suzy was managing a restaurant in London, and the kitchen urgently needed help. Knowing my love of cooking, she persuaded the owner and head chef to give me a trial. It was supposed to be a temporary solution but I instead found myself being recruited as a sous chef. Either I impressed or they would've taken on anyone without a runny nose...
The pace was relentless, but I loved it. Alongside our shifts, Suzy and I also helped the restaurant by photographing dishes, redesigning menus, rebuilding the website and managing its social media. For the first time, our backgrounds in hospitality, marketing and content creation all came together.
Eventually, I accepted a new marketing role that I simply couldn't turn down and, after briefly juggling both careers, reluctantly stepped away from the kitchen. Working a 9-to-5 for a renowned brand, then racing to the restaurant for evening service on some days, before returning to the kitchen on weekends, proved to be unsustainable.
But something had changed. I had seen first-hand how much effort goes into creating an exceptional guest experience. Suzy and I had also witnessed how difficult it is for restaurants to consistently create content while running a busy venue. All the seemingly unrelated chapters of our lives were now pointing towards the same thing.
Before we could turn that idea into a business, life had other plans. We welcomed our first child and made the decision to move from London to my hometown of Hong Kong, bringing us closer to family. That paved the way for Hollow Legs Media to became a reality.
Today, Hollow Legs Media exists to help restaurants, cafes, bars and bakeries tell their story by capturing the food, people and atmosphere that make each venue worth visiting.