The Pig's Founder Shares the Recipe for the Boutique Hotel Brand

In 1990, as general manager of a traditional five-star country house hotel in Britain, Robin Hutson found himself enforcing dress codes and rules he no longer believed in. While London's dining scene was revolutionized by casual gastropubs, the countryside's 1990s high-end inns remained stuck in a time warp of jacket requirements and child-free zones.

Two decades and several ventures later (including the brand Hotel du Vin), Hutson would upend Britain's rural hospitality scene with The Pig — a brand that redefined country house hotels by stripping away pretension while maintaining boutique standards. His financial backer was Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire boss of a chemicals company.

The Pig's formula — gourmet, locavore restaurants with rooms — proved so popular over 14 years that it has grown to 9 boutique hotels in historic buildings with about a few dozen rooms each.

In 2022, private equity firm KSL Capital Partners acquired the entire share capital of The Pig's parent company, Home Grown Hotels, for an unpublicized sum.