Meet the man behind Over Under

Founder & CEO Ed Barry gives us the lowdown on business, positivity, and his vision for the future.

This week we chat with Ed Barry, Founder & CEO at Over Under.

Ed leads the team and is on a mission to spread good vibes across London and have a positive impact on your day. For anyone who doesn’t already know, you can now find Ed Barry on TikTok, he’s an influencer in the making!

Ed, welcome to your first blog! I hope you’re ready to be quizzed. Straight off the bat, we want to know how does it feel to build your own business?

It’s very exciting, there is always lots going on but I wake up each day with a huge sense of purpose. I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved so far. I love leading a great team and I’m excited about what the future has in store.

How did you deal with people in your life telling you that you can’t or won’t be able to do it?

Before I started I was told by loads of people that it wouldn’t work. I was told that “there are so many coffee shops in London”. I knew what my niche was, I knew how I wanted to treat people in the company and how I wanted them to feel. By no means have I got everything right every time, but I knew what I wanted to achieve and went for it.

Did you always know Over Under would be successful?

I had no expectations, but I had hoped that it would be successful and I had belief in myself. 

How many times have you felt like you’re ‘winging it’? 

I wouldn’t say ‘winging it’ but there were so many things I hadn’t done before. When I started, I didn’t know how to run a business. I had never done payroll before, I didn’t know any building regulations or that I even had to keep all my receipts. I started on the floor serving food & coffee, I worked in the shop every day from the start. I think you just have to be open to learning new things and being a sponge when it comes to knowledge. You have to take learnings from everything. I look back now on things that used to phase me at the beginning and think now “oh that was nothing”. That’s when you can see how far you’ve come.

If I’ve never done something before I really have to take my time to figure out how to approach it. There are challenges that you can foresee but you haven’t necessarily encountered yet so I learn along the way - but that’s what makes it exciting, I’m always learning new things and that’s why I love what I do.

What is your vision for Over Under over the next few years?

I want to become the best hospitality business in the UK. When I get asked what that means, I really want it to be a fun and exciting place to work. I want Over Under to be a place people come to build new skills and have a career. Even if people only stay with OU for a short time, I want them to feel like they’ve learned something and have had a positive experience here. 

I would love Over Under to become a well-known brand both in the UK & internationally. It goes back to having a positive impact on your day. The more we build the brand, the more impact we can make.

This is one from the OU team, where do you get all your energy from? 

I was listening to this podcast the other day (by Jimmy Carr) and it talked about ‘your position and your disposition’. He said that life is 5% your position and 95% your disposition. It all comes down to outlook and everything in life is just your perspective really. I get up each day with a very clear purpose, I love building the company, I love what I do and I’m excited about what’s to come. 

How important is it for you that the positivity flows down to the team and that they have a positive outlook and are happy? 

It’s very important to me that people are happy here. It’s something I continue to work on and try to find ways to filter it down to everyone in the company. I just want to make sure the team feels supported and that they have progression opportunities and room to grow. A happy team means happy customers and a happier London!

We know you’re a very busy man, but we’re interested, what does your typical day look like?
I get up at around 5:45 most days and go for a bike ride or run. I then get breakfast at 7:00 and sit down to start work around 7:30.

My day consists of looking for new sites, managing direct reports, visiting existing sites and monitoring their performance, talking to potential investors and managing site builds. I’m always on the go, but love what I do and sometimes find it hard to stop. 

Lastly Over Under has recently been shortlisted as ‘London’s favourite Cafe’ in the Time Out Love Local Awards, why should people vote for Over Under Earl’s Court?

Over Under has been serving the local community in Earl’s Court for almost 5 years now. We only shut down for two weeks during the pandemic as we wanted to continue to bring good vibes to people during difficult times. It would also really elevate the Earl’s Court area and mean the world to the whole OU team and me.

Thanks so much for your time Ed! Voting closes for the Time Out Love Local Awards on 17th December, so if you love our banging brunch, great coffee, and good vibes, please take a couple of minutes to vote for us. We’d be so grateful!