Paolo Tonellotto
Paolo has worked in F&B for over 16 years. In 2006 he left the Supper Club in Rome to join Blood and Sand at The Hide in London. In 2011 he became a partner, initially managing The Hide, and now working as group GM across our 3 sites.
He is zealous about his wines (particularly if they originate in Italy), and steered The Hide to the finals of the Louis Roederer UK's Best Wine List in 2010. Under his tenure, The Hide was also awarded 5+ by Difford’s (one of only 13 bars globally at that time). He was one of 6 Imbibe Magazine personalities of the year in 2009. He is now working closely with Gruppo Campari.
Paolo firmly believes that attention to detail and customer service are key to any operation – along with a healthy dose of enthusiasm and charisma from the team!
paolo at bloodandsand.com
Paul Mathew
Paul is a conservation biologist and bartender with over 25 years experience in the drinks industry. Paul founded Blood and Sand with Rufus Grantham in 2005 in order to open The Hide. He moved to Beijing in 2009, where he set up Blood & Sand Hong Kong and worked extensively with the rapidly growing drinks industry in Asia for over seven years.
He has a proven track record in new business development, beverage programme creation, team building, training and marketing across venues in the UK and Asia. As well as working with venues, he has consulted for major drinks companies on brands and events, and in 2019, launched his own non-alcoholic aperitif, Everleaf.
paul at bloodandsand.com | @wisebartender
Rufus Grantham
Rufus founded Blood & Sand in 2005 with Paul Mathew. Alongside an 18 year career in financial services in London, he nurtured his love of the drinks industry and the evolving modern cocktail scene until finally taking the jump into bar ownership with The Hide. Following qualification as a chartered accountant, Rufus worked in The City as an investment banker at Nomura/Lehman Brothers ultimately as Deputy Head of European Equity Research, managing circa 140 staff and a $100m cost base, providing investment advice to institutional investors on 450 listed companies across Europe. He left Nomura in 2013 to help expand Blood & Sand, as well as taking a CFO role with tech startup RealEyes based in Soho, before spinning the city with Royal Bank of Canada as Head of European and APAC research.
He brings his extensive financial experience to the company, including pre-opening budgeting, fundraising, cashflow management, management reporting and operational financial models for bar startups as well as a love for Manhattan variations.
rufus at bloodandsand.com | @demonbitters