From London's Best Kitchens to Her Own: The Story Behind Katie Exton's Lorne

Katie Exton trained in some of London's most exacting dining rooms, like Michelin-starred Chez Bruce, Phil Howard's The Square, and The River Cafe, before opening Lorne in 2017. Nine years on, it's one of Pimlico's best-loved neighbourhood restaurants, the kind of place where diners notice nothing but the food, the wine, and the company. We sat down with Katie to talk about building that reputation, and why payments are one of the few things she no longer has to think about.

Her path into hospitality wasn't planned. "After university I became fascinated by wine and wanted to work in hospitality, but my experience was mostly casual waitressing," she says. A Canadian sommelier named Terry, working at Chez Bruce in Wandsworth, took a chance on her, a decision she calls life-changing, and one that taught her what good service actually feels like from the inside. "It's curtains up and showtime," she says of service, even now, nine years into running her own restaurant. "When you're in service, you're completely in the moment. There are no distractions, just the guests, your team, and the service ahead. I still love that feeling."

 That philosophy shaped Lorne into the restaurant Katie always hoped to build, though she says it didn’t happen by chance. "The chef and I had a clear vision when we opened, but restaurants develop their own identity over time," she explains. "Lorne has its own identity now, beyond whatever our original concept was, and our job is to stay true to that."

Tending to the local community shaped her strategy throughout the years. "Pimlico residents are incredibly loyal, and we are, at heart, a neighbourhood restaurant," she says. On any day, you’ll find local regulars, theatre-goers, business lunches, dates, and tourists all sharing the space. "Whoever walks through the door, we want them to feel welcomed like a local."

 Why seamless payments is a core part of dining experience 

Katie has a hand in almost every part of the evening: the menu, the atmosphere, the pace of service. The one part of every meal she can't plan for is the bill. Whether it's a quiet dinner for two or a busy business lunch, payment is the last thing guests experience, and if something goes wrong, it's often what they remember most. If a card declines or the payment terminal freezes at a busy table on a Friday night, it can take only a few seconds to spoil an otherwise perfect meal.

It's exactly the scenario Katie has built her approach around avoiding. "Guests don't come to Lorne because of the card machine," she says. "They come for the food, wine, company, and atmosphere. The payment process should happen smoothly in the background and let the experience end on a positive note."

Because that moment matters so much, Katie started asking more of her payment provider too. Lorne had used the same one for years, and at first there was no reason to change, but she wanted something that matched the rest of how she runs the restaurant. Knowing Zeller was already supporting over 100,000 businesses around the world gave her the confidence to make the switch, and it turned out Zeller's pricing was more affordable than her previous provider too, a welcomed bonus rather than the reason she went looking.

The proof has been day-to-day: "The terminals are quick, easy for the team to use, and most importantly, they've worked consistently since day one," she says. "We haven't had any issues, which is exactly what you want from a payment provider."

"In many ways, the best payment experience is one that nobody notices. Of course, the moment something doesn't work, it suddenly becomes critical." - Katie Exton

Welcoming diners and cards from around the world

Lorne's central London location brings a particular mix of customers: a steady flow of corporate lunches, business dinners, and overseas visitors, alongside loyal local regulars. This means they need to accept a lot of Amex, business, and international cards,  which often can be trickier cards for restaurants to process, many providers handle them less smoothly than domestic payments. For a restaurant built around making every guest feel like a regular, that's not a small thing: no diner should ever sense a flicker of hesitation at the till, whatever card they hand over.

"We're based in central London, so we get a lot of Amex and corporate clients," Katie says. "Since switching to Zeller, we don't think twice about any of those cards anymore. They're handled exactly the same as everything else." That kind of consistency has given Lorne room to grow that side of the business, rather than hoping each one goes smoothly.

One feature that has really helped Lorne’s business clients are Digital Receipts. "It's a simple thing, but genuinely useful," Katie says. "We host many business lunches and dinners, and being able to receive a digital receipt immediately saves guests from keeping track of paper copies or emailing us afterwards for duplicates."

For a restaurant like Lorne, that confidence comes down to one thing: payments need to have the same high standard they offer on every service. The experience should be quick and reliable without exception, whatever card is on the table. That's what frees Katie up to spend her time on the parts of the business only she can run: the menu, the room, and the guest sitting in front of her.

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