When Markus Anderson was 26 years old, he began working as a waiter at Soho House in London. Back then in 2003, it was the original and only branch of what would one day become a global brand that oozes cool, creative connectedness with clubs in 42 cities and 240,000-odd members.

He’d moved to London from Toronto, waiting tables while he waited for his career in the arts to take off. But instead he found he was rather good at the theatre of hospitality. He regularly served Nick Jones, Soho’s founder. When he told him one day that he was done with waiting tables, Jones gave him a job in Soho’s membership team and, soon after, his first assignment.