McKerracher steps down at Restaurant Association
When Ian McKerracher resigned last week as chief executive of the Restaurant Association (RA), it was not because he was bored with the job.
He has not tired of lobbying the Government on behalf of the 3,000 restaurateurs who belong to the association in the UK. Nor has he had his fill of the wining and dining that is part and parcel of the job.
His decision to leave is simply due to the fact that his priorities have changed.
Whereas he used to be happy working long and hard, now he wants to spend time with his sons Alexander, aged two, and James, three months.
He explained: "When I joined the Restaurant Association I was a single man, and now I am a married father of two. It would be very easy to spend the next five or 10 years doing what I am doing as a single man, and it would be great as a married man. But not as a dad."
When McKerracher leaves the association on 27 September, he plans to do freelance work from home. His first project will be to develop the annual GoEat! festival, which he launched at the RA two years ago.
Of course, that is hardly his only achievement. When he joined four years ago, the body was named the Restaurateurs Association of Great Britain (RAGB). McKerracher immediately put his stamp on it by changing its name, and he is understandably pleased that, under his leadership, association membership has more than doubled in those four years.
Other achievements have included his successful lobbying on a number of issues, which has helped to save the industry many millions of pounds, and his revival of the Young Chef/Young Waiter competition.
With the highs, there have also been lows, and one of his greatest frustrations has been the Government's introduction of a raft of new regulations, even though the RA has supported measures such as the national minimum wage.
He said: "There has been such a lot of legislation that at times I have wondered whether the effort is worth it. Restaurateurs are highly passionate, creative individuals, but there is a risk that increasing levels of legislation will stifle that creativity."
McKerracher's experience as chief executive has also left him with one or two criticisms of the industry.
"It sounds glib," he said, "and it is easy for me to say, but I think there are a lot of people who talk about what is wrong and what needs to be done, particularly on issues such as skills and training, but few who do anything.
"There is also an issue of greed in this industry. Those I admire the most are the quiet achievers who have held back from the temptations of becoming get-rich-quick kings and who are passionate about what they are doing."
Turning to the future, the greatest challenge for his successor will be, he believes, to attract all restaurateurs in the UK to join the association. "Most restaurateurs are inward-looking and are focused on doing what they need to survive," McKerracher said. "They don't have time to be a member of a trade body, and I don't think that will ever change - not unless membership becomes compulsory."
He added: "I would have liked to have created an environment in which every restaurateur in the country who was not a member of the association would have felt slightly disadvantaged. Having said that, I think I leave the association in much better shape than it was, in terms of activities and initiatives."
He concluded: "I hope I have taken the association forward, but that is something that only time will tell."
Ian McKerracherIan
McKerracher joined the Restaurant Association as chief executive in August 1998, after having organised the 1998 Carlton London Restaurant Awards.
His career spans more than 20 years in the restaurant industry, during which time he has worked with people such as Prue Leith, Egon Ronay, Antony Worrall Thompson and Marco Pierre White.
He edited the Martell Guide to the Best Hotels and Restaurants in Europe, and worked for many years as an inspector for Egon Ronay's Guides.
Other work includes three years as director and general manager of One Ninety Queen's Gate in London, and he was a director and co-owner of two London restaurants, B Square and Snows on the Green.
