Paula MacKenzie, CEO at Pizza Express: From Paper Rounds to the Boardroom
My Duvet Flip by Jack Parsons
Jack Parsons
4.2 • 8 Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Episode Guest
Paula MacKenzie is the CEO of Pizza Express, with a career spanning leadership roles across the food, drink, and hospitality sectors. Known for her drive and authenticity, Paula brings a bold, values-led approach to business and team culture.
Episode Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:24 Paula’s First Job – Paper Rounds and Earning Freedom
2:23 Young Paula Saves for a Stereo – The Power of Incentives
3:38 What Drives Paula’s Determination?
5:03 What Paula Would Tell Her Younger Self
6:00 Paula on Staying True to Who You Are
7:47 Paula on Boundaries, Values & Handling ‘Darling’ Moments
10:33 From Paper Round to Career Steps – Paula’s Journey Begins
12:04 Why Paula Left Accountancy for Industry
14:46 Paula on Feeling Like an Outsider in Finance
16:05 Lessons from Innocent – How Paula Learned to Break the Rules
18:24 The Show Must Go On – Paula on Doing It Anyway
19:25 Becoming CEO – Paula’s Cross-Functional Climb
22:57 Paula on Imposter Syndrome & Reframing Thoughts
24:56 What Paula’s First Day as CEO Really Felt Like
27:08 Paula’s 4 A’s Framework for Leading From Day One
30:00 The One Life Lesson Paula Swears By
31:41 Quickfire with Paula – Pizza Orders, McFly & Collabs
34:43 Strong Roots and Giving Back – Paula’s Perspective
36:00 Paula’s Duvet Flip – Doing What She Loves Every Day
Episode Partners
📊 Compare the Market
Discover how you can make a difference at Compare the Market, the company behind one of the UK’s most popular comparison sites. From tech and data to marketing and operations, they’re on a mission to simplify decisions for millions.
https://bit.ly/4i53Svj
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just keep being true to who you are. |
| 0:02.0 | I would say that to anyone of any age. |
| 0:05.0 | Keep putting one step in front of another in servitude of who you truly are. |
| 0:10.0 | Well, I think you really become your true of self at the age of five and the age of 80. |
| 0:14.0 | And in the middle, we kind of, we go in a little bit, kind of conservative, don't we? |
| 0:19.0 | Hi, I'm Paula McKenzie. I'm the CEO of Pizza Express. We |
| 0:23.3 | employed 10,000 people globally and this is my do-va-lip. You're looking back, it's your first job. |
| 0:29.1 | What are you, what are you thinking? What would you be telling you younger self? I earned £2. |
| 0:35.0 | For doing a paper round, which was about 120 papers. I used to have one of those little, as I call it, grannie's, like trolley things, but I used to pull up and down the streets. And having that paper round then was just a really focused attempt that I want my own money so that I have that freedom. Where did that excitement and that kind of urgency to make a difference come from? At the point you've got a fundamental value that's being overstepped, you have to have a boundary |
| 0:57.0 | and you have to be able to call it. |
| 0:59.0 | Knowing rules that you can easily break, do you become better filtering thoughts that aren't serving you? |
| 1:04.0 | I'm just cancelled my favourite please. |
| 1:06.0 | Are you ready for my final question? |
| 1:08.0 | I am. Go for it. |
| 1:09.0 | What gets you out of bed in the morning to flip the do-day? |
| 1:12.3 | I just love... So hi, I'm Paula McKenzie. I'm the CEO of Pizza Express. I'm super excited to sit down with Daxe. |
| 1:22.8 | I'm super excited, I think, just to share a bit about me and just for people to see the real me. |
| 1:28.4 | I really wanted to do this. I wanted to do it for a few years. It was just about picking the moment and now is a good moment. I haven't met Jack before. What am I expecting? Just a humble down-to-earth, really good chap. The one thing I hope people take away is that they can do anything that they put their mind to. All right, I'm here, Jack. |
| 1:47.4 | Let's do it. is that they can do anything that they put their mind to. |
| 1:46.8 | All right, I'm here, Jack. |
| 1:48.2 | Let's do it. |
| 1:50.7 | Paula, welcome to my duvet flip. |
... |
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