Rupert Clevely recruits Dawn Donohue as chief operating officer for joint venture with Enterprise: Industry veteran Rupert Clevely, who founded Geronimo Inns, has recruited Dawn Donohue as chief operating officer for his new “managed expert” joint venture with Enterprise Inns. The tenanted pub company has recruited Clevely as joint venture partner for its first opening under a new business model that will see the company providing the capital expenditure to convert pubs to managed sites with a target of at least £20,000 turnover per week – Clevely receives 25% of profits generated by the ring-fenced venture. The first site, The Hob in Forest Hill, is expected to open in September with two more sites to follow by the end of the year – a total of ten sites is the first target for the joint venture. Clevely said: “I am delighted to announce that Dawn Donohue will join me in our new partnership with Enterprise Inns as chief operating officer. I have known Dawn for a number of years and always hoped we might find a way to work together. She will start at the beginning of September this year. This tremendous news will help us to grow in a series of carefully programmed steps. She will add professionalism and support. Her understanding of the industry will be hugely positive.” Donohue worked for Novus between 1997 and 2011, opening many of its London sites and then ran the Tiger Tiger estate regionally. In 2008, she became operations director for Novus looking after their premium and food division. Most recently, she has worked as managing director of Brompton Brands , running the business in London and internationally. In May, Clevely told Propel: “I love being involved in operations day-to-day and there’s still plenty of opportunities within the London area. The Enterprise estate offers a decent flow of pubs. You couldn’t build Geronimo Inns in the same way today – you couldn’t get access to the sites because a Fuller’s or a Young’s would buy them. The Enterprise deal is a great opportunity with a good pipeline of sites. There are great aspirations between us and Enterprise but we need to see how we get on.” Enterprise is looking to recruit more “managed experts” for its new business model with a target of opening between 15 and 25 sites per year for the next five years, with an average investment of £400,000 per pub.