Adele Oxberry FIH is the founder and CEO of Umbrella Training, a leading nationwide training and apprenticeship provider for the hospitality industry. We took five minutes out recently to catch up with Adele and find out why hospitality and training are both lifetime passions for her. How did you get into the industry? My mother was the executive … [Read more...]
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Five minutes with… Simon Esner
From entering the world of hospitality and catering at the tender age of 14 as a kitchen porter, to becoming a director and shareholder of one of our industry’s biggest names, Westbury Street Holdings, is quite some journey. I sat down with Simon Esner last week to gain insights into that journey and some of the lessons learned along the way. When you meet Simon one thing is … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Jane Pendlebury
Jane Pendlebury is CEO of HOSPA. Prior to being appointed as HOSPA’s CEO, Pendlebury ran its Membership and Events office from 2014-2016, growing it significantly. A well-known figure in the hospitality industry for many years Pendlebury spent Five Minutes With... us recently talking with our publisher. What brought you into hospitality? “I completed my degree in … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Sara Jayne Stanes OBE
Sara Jayne Stanes OBE is Chief Executive of The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, which aims to advance the education of people in the United Kingdom in the science and art of cookery, food, food provenance and service. Earlier this week we talked hospitality with Sara Jayne. How did you start in hospitality? “My formative career years were spent working as a producer … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Will Beckett
Hawksmoor is a British steakhouse and cocktail bar chain founded by Will Beckett and Huw Gott in 2006 on Commercial Street in London’s Spitalfields. There are five other Hawksmoor restaurants in London: Seven Dials, Air Street, Knightsbridge, Guildhall and Borough. There are also two restaurants outside of London, in Manchester and Edinburgh and Hawksmoor New York will be … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Katy and Simon Hulstone
The Elephant restaurant, Torquay is a seaside restaurant that is situated overlooking Torquay harbour. The Elephant was the first restaurant in Torquay to be awarded a Michelin star and that award has been maintained for 15 years. The restaurant is owned and run by Simon Hulstone and his wife Katy, so we arranged to have Five minutes with them both to learn more about their 15 … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Neil Fillbrook
Neil Filbrook is the Managing Director of Bank Brokers UK, an independent banking consultancy firm, part of Bank Brokers AB, operating across Europe. Bank Brokers work with more than 2,000 companies to improve their overall banking arrangements. We sat down with Neil recently to better understand how his firm work with so many household name businesses in … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Neena Jivraj Stevenson
Neena Jivraj Stevenson has been with Point A Hotels since their arrival on the budget-boutique scene in March 2017. In reality though, their story together goes back much further. Neena joined Point A’s family-run parent company, Queensway Group, back in 2015 - with planning for the development of a hotel brand of their own beginning as far back as July 2016. Neena, … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… John Davey
I trained as a chef in Bristol initially, but after experiencing a 9 month work permit at the Baur au Lac Hotel in Zurich in the summer of 1971, I realised that I wanted to work in a restaurant, not the kitchen. It was enchanting, the people so full of grace, it was something I wanted to be involved in desperately and I consider myself so lucky to have been a part of it, and … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… TWO Services
TWO Services: Who are we and what do we do? We’re an award-winning family business, specialising in the cleaning and maintenance of commercial kitchens and equipment for the FM and catering industries. As we’ve grown, we’ve stayed true to the values and service ethos of a family business. That’s why we were so thrilled to be the London and South East Family Business of … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Niall Keating
Niall Keating is executive chef of Whatley Manor in Wiltshire where he is credited with reinvigorating the hotel's dining offering. Since being recruited to Whatley Manor by general manager Sue Williams in early 2017, 28-year-old Keating has made an impressive mark on the business, helping one of the hotel's three restaurants – The Dining Room – win a Michelin star in October … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Paul Anderson
Paul Anderson took over as managing director of warewashing and food waste handling solutions business Meiko UK from Bill Downie in April 2017, a move which saw him return to the brand he had worked with as a regional sales manager 15 years previously. Paul has had close associations with the hospitality industry throughout his almost 30-year career, starting out with a fine … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Ian Thomas
Ian Thomas joined contract caterer Bartlett Mitchell as CEO in 2016 following a 20-year stint in facility management. The move to Bartlett Mitchell, which employs 800 people over 90 locations in London and the South East, has seen Thomas return to working with food, having begun his career in the hospitality industry where he held roles with the likes of Whitbread and Granada. … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Stuart Gillies
British chef and restaurateur Stuart Gillies has racked up an impressive 35 years in the hospitality industry, starting out as a chef in the early 1980s at Royal Garden in London before moving abroad to work in a number of kitchens, including Riche in Stockholm and Daniel in New York. Returning to the UK six years later, he worked at Le Caprice and Teatro, where he met his … [Read more...]
Five minutes with… Chris Moore of The Clink
Chris Moore joined The Clink Charity as chief executive in 2010, six months after the initiative, which trains prisoners to work in food service, food preparation and horticulture, was founded. Before joining The Clink, Chris racked up almost 30 years in the hospitality industry, training with the Holiday Inn Hotel Group in New York before working with the Hilton Hotel Group in … [Read more...]