Mighty oaks of the future

Young people are the new lifeblood of the hospitality industry, and once again Caterer & Hotelkeeper is asking employers to nominate candidates for the Acorn Awards (30 Under 30).

Since the launch of the Acorns in 1987, successful candidates have been fêted at a presentation lunch in London. But for the 10th anniversary, the awards to recognise the hospitality industry's youthful high-flyers will be presented at Gleneagles Hotel, in Auchterarder, Tayside.

The Acorns, established to pinpoint 30 of the industry's brightest and most dynamic under-thirty-somethings, have attracted a growing number of nominations over the past decade - a reflection of the increasing prestige in which they are held.

"The Acorns are viewed as a serious event in the calender," says Peter Lederer, managing director of Gleneagles. "For most of the winners, it's the first time they've got recognition from their peers and superiors, and it gives them a leap forward in terms of career prospects."

Sean Wheeler, operations manager at TGI Friday's, London, was a 1992 Acorn winner and is now in a position to nominate employees himself. He concurs with Lederer: "The awards help you to benchmark yourself against your industry peers. I was very pleased when I won because I'd been working hard and it was good to be recognised, and winning an Acorn definitely helped me with promotion within the company."

Three months after winning his Acorn, Wheeler progressed from being general manager at TGI Friday's in Reading to being head of training for the company. After three years, he was promoted to his current role as operations manager.

So, now that he is on the other side of the fence, what are his criteria for a potential Acorn nominee?

First, he looks for good business results; second, for a good track record of suggesting and following through new ideas; and third, skill in managing and motivating staff.

TGI Friday's has an Acorn success rate second to none, with a roll-call of six winners between 1988 and 1995. Wheeler believes the secret of the company's success is a "youth-oriented" staff and therefore a high number of eligible candidates.

"We often have people running £8-£9m businesses at the age of 26," he says, "and we do incentive schemes so we always get people who strive."

For Wheeler, the reflected glory that TGI Friday's is able to bask in when a nominee triumphs is an important factor in the company's continued support of the Acorns. "We want to be recognised in terms of a business where the management is professional and doing a good job, and the Acorn Awards do raise TGI Friday's profile within the industry," he says.

Winning employees, when they move on, can extend a nominator's recruitment net, says Lederer. As a nominator, he has an enviable 100% record - two nominees, two wins (1989, 1995).

The first, Jackie Campbell, who was area sales manager at Gleneagles when she won, has moved on to St Pierre Golf and Country Club in Gwent where she is business development manager.

Lederer believes she will eventually refer potential employees back to her old hotel. "Anything that extends your ability to recruit is a good thing."

Lederer nominated Campbell and Gleneagles' second success story, Terry Waldron, not only because their track records showed them to be "potential key players in the industry", but also because he felt the hotel should be recognising their achievements and giving them a push up the ladder.

"Caterer & Hotelkeeper is doing something very positive for the industry with the Acorns and if we have potential crème de la crème we should nominate them. Our business is only about people. You have to promote only the very best people; otherwise you die."

Spotting tomorrow's stars among today's talent can be a difficult task and the judges' job is made easier by clear nomination forms.

David Elton, director of marketing and sales at Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, 1989 Acorn winner and one of the 1996 judges, believes a perfect presentation form is one that is both analytical and factual and that shows its candidate to have progressed through more than one job - "more than two, preferably". Acorn winners by definition are going to make rapid career progress, he says.

One of the Acorns' strengths, stresses Elton, is a lack of categories for the 30 award winners and a recognition of back-of-house staff. "I'm very keen on including specialist areas [like accountants and housekeepers], not just restaurateurs and chefs."

And the lack of categories means the awards go to the 30 best candidates, not just to the best in pre-selected areas.

Elton is currently chairman of the Acorn Club, now in its sixth year, which is open to all past Acorn winners and provides an opportunity for members to meet and network. The membership stands at 120 and the quarterly meetings - either lunches or dinners, with guest speakers talking on industry issues - mean contacts are renewed and broadened on a regular basis.

"As everyone moves on, so the collective influence of club members grows," says Elton.

A swelling membership and increasing industry influence has led the club to establish a regional branch or chapter in Edinburgh where 1991 Acorn winner Jonathan Walker, conference and banqueting manager of the city's Balmoral hotel, is chapter secretary.

Wheeler is an enthusiastic member of the Acorn Club: "For me it's been fantastic. It's helped me to meet people in the industry and to share best-practice ideas - to be ahead of what's going on in the industry."