Time for
Le Bistro Caterers is one of the fastest-growing catering companies currently operating in Scotland and with a projected turnover of £4m for 1999, is probably the country's leading independent caterer.
In just under a year, Le Bistro founder Liz McAreavey has tripled the company's workforce, which has gone from 30 to 90 since April. Le Bistro has six formal contracts, including the Royal Yacht Britannia, the Scottish Office (mainly diplomatic dinners given for visiting heads of state) and the Royal Highland Show, plus several informal contracts such as weddings (worth close to £1m of McAreavey's overall turnover). And McAreavey is confident she will exceed her £4m estimated turnover. "There are a couple of new contracts we are tendering for this year and if we're awarded either of them then it could push the turnover up again!"
James Tagg was only too aware of the unsocial hours some sectors of the industry demand from people, having grown up in a family with hotel connections. So when he discovered food service, Tagg quickly realised he could combine his love of catering with the opportunity to achieve the life style he wanted.
Although his career has included stints working within other sectors - sous chef at the Braamfontein Hotel, Johannesburg, and lecturer in food production and service at Glasgow's John Wheatley College - his CV is dominated by contract catering.
Today, the 34-year-old food service manager for Eurest, Scotland, can no longer keep his working week down to 40 hours. But he's happy to work for longer because he loves his job so much - one of his missions is to attract new blood into the industry and inspire young chefs to exploit their career opportunities.
"I have been working in the catering industry since I was 12 and have had a love affair with it ever since then," explains Tagg. "But having worked in various catering establishments, from two- to four-star hotels to long-term contract catering outlets, I have progressed my craft career and am now in a position to help progress the new blood entering the catering industry."
While Compass employs 5,000 people in Scotland, its operating company, Eurest, has a staff of 2,000 north of the border. Eurest currently holds 125 contracts in Scotland (serving on average 36,000 meals a day, 10% at executive dining level), and Tagg is directly involved in 85 contracts, identifying shortfalls in training and implementing craft-based training packages.
Tagg finds his role extremely rewarding, but he is concerned that the industry will be faced with a shortfall in skilled chefs over the coming years. As a result, he operates a modern apprenticeship scheme for 16- to 18-year-olds, in addition to recruiting chefs who have completed Scottish and National Vocational Qualifications, Higher National Certificate or Higher National Diploma.
As a member of the Federation of Chefs Scotland, Tagg has represented Scotland at international level in culinary competitions. And his experience with the Scottish National Culinary Team has helped him strengthen the Eurest Culinary Team, which has also competed at international level.
Another chef-turned-manager who is also one of the most respected chefs on the competition circuit is Willie Pike. As executive chef for Gardner Merchant's corporate business in Scotland, he is responsible for about 40 sites.
Like Tagg, Pike is in charge of identifying the chef-related training needs within the company, but he also performs the role of executive chef for the Standard Life Group in Scotland.
Although he is often on the road, Pike still spends a large percentage of his time in whites. "I am fortunate that the furthest north I travel is General Accident in Perth and most of our business is in Edinburgh, the corporate capital, and in Glasgow, where I live," he explains.
Pike has worked within other sectors of the industry too. "I taught at Glasgow College of Food Technology for 13 years and while I was teaching others I also developed advanced skills myself. I could have gone for promotion within education, but I didn't want to be a pen-pusher. I didn't have that much confidence in education and I still wanted to be a chef."
Hidden talents
Pike had not been with Gardner Merchant long when the company realised he had many hidden talents. "They set me a few challenging tasks and fortunately I came up smelling of roses," he laughs. One such task was for JP Morgan, a client in Istanbul, which wanted to host an authentic Turkish meal served to a European standard for its key clients. "Under extremely difficult conditions, I produced the meal and it proved to be a great success."
The head chefs from the sites Pike is responsible for attend a chefs' circle on a regular basis to highlight the needs of the business. For example, finger buffets are currently increasing in popularity with clients, so Pike has developed a new training package, which is run at Gardner Merchant's training centre in Kenley, Surrey, for all head chefs in the corporate side of the business to get some fresh ideas and take them back to their respective workplaces.
As captain of the pastry arm of the Scottish National Culinary Team, which was recently awarded 14 gold medals at the Luxembourg Culinary World Cup, Pike has spent a great deal of time developing the Gardner Merchant Culinary Team. His efforts have certainly paid off - Gardner Merchant was the first contract caterer ever to win a gold medal in the La Parade des Chefs international restaurant service competition at Hotelympia last year.
Sporting chance
As the person responsible for hospitality at Rangers Football Club, Peter Kingstone must surely hold one of the most sought-after jobs in catering.
Kingstone, whose career includes periods at Turnberry, in Ayrshire, and Gleneagles, Auchterarder, was appointed manager of Rangers Hospitality 10 years ago, shortly after David Murray became chairman of the Scottish Premier League club. Murray was keen to establish an in-house catering and hospitality operation at Rangers' home ground, Ibrox Stadium, and from its inception, the intention was that it should be run as if it were part of a hotel. "We operate seven days a week as a five-star hotel, but with no beds," explains Kingstone, who is responsible for 76 full-time and 420 part-time staff.
Rangers was one of the first clubs in the UK to set up an in-house catering department. The club has spent £3.5m on catering equipment during the past decade, and Kingstone says the investment has paid off. From June 1997 to May 1998 (Rangers Hospitality's financial year runs alongside the football season), turnover for food and beverage was £4.5m.
Catering facilities at the club include 33 private dining rooms and 42 fast-food outlets. Among them is the 100-seat Argyle House restaurant, which is open every day to the general public, apart from match days (of which there are 20), when the room reverts to a private dining room.
Training is important to Kingstone, who expects his personnel to experience as many different areas of the business as possible"to find their niche". "Chefs need to know about fixed rates and maintenance, rather than just how to cook, and front-of-house staff need to know what goes on in the kitchen," he explains.
"In a normal hotel, when a chef needs to recruit a new member of staff, the head chef goes to human resources and they handle the administrative side of recruitment. Here, I make all my managers, including chefs, responsible for their own recruiting. That means placing an advertisement in the appropriate publication, interviewing, etc."
Kingstone believes Rangers Hospitality provides an inspiring working environment for its staff. "We're very strong on internal promotion, but we bring in outside people from time to time to introduce fresh ideas," he explains. Paul Fennech is a good example of the promotion structure at Rangers. Having arrived at the club eight years ago as sous chef, he has since been promoted to head chef and is currently executive chef. Fennech, who was the first food service chef to be awarded the Public Restaurant of the Year title at the Scottish Chef Awards, when the event was launched in 1995, is now responsible for nine kitchens. n
Additional research by Joanna Wood
