Hospitality: Case studies

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Ricky, conference service manager, Four Seasons

Ricky completed a placement year with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in 2001, gaining work experience in human resources, sales, marketing and catering. After completing his degree in 2002, gaining a BA in Business Studies from Middlesex University, he got a job as the sales administrator in the Four Seasons Hotel, London.

‘Three months after I joined, I was promoted to the delphi system operator (DSO). I was in charge of the hotel’s primary sales database, analysing and producing reports and ensuring consistency in data. A year from there, I was offered the position of regional DSO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), where I was responsible for the development of the database for all of our hotels in the EMEA region. My job has taken me all over the world, including, Portugal, Amman, Berlin, Sharm-El-Sheikh, and Las Vegas. I was in constant touch with so many different people, building contacts and friends.

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After another six months I was promoted to the conference services manager position, leading a team to execute the group business of the hotel. I organised different events from Cartier and Bvlgari product launches to the recent Forbes CEO Middle East Forum. I handle logistics for heads of state and VIPs; these have inclded the President of Venezuela, the Prime Minister of Japan and even the Prince of Wales.

Four Seasons really invest in you and completely support you in whatever career decisions you make. I applied for a transfer to Doha in Qatar to help open a new hotel. There is no better experience within the hotel industry than the opening of a new hotel, especially when you’re working with like-minded people from different places and cultures.

To succeed in this industry, you need passion and spirit. You need to be ready to work long hours. Appreciation of a guest who had a brilliant stay or meeting is really important, as it drives everyone to continue to succeed and to raise the bar.’

Frankie, assistant manager, McDonald's

'It was after graduating with a first-class honours degree in Business Management from the University of Central Lancashire that I discovered McDonald’s amongst the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers.

When I was offered a position, I snapped up the chance to work for McDonald’s and haven’t looked back since. I’ve worked for the company for one and half years and I’m well on my way to running my own restaurant. My day-to-day duties are dependent upon the shifts I’m working (e.g. breakfast, day or close).

The first job of each shift is to complete a travel path (a walk around all areas of the restaurant and drive-thru) to form a list of things that need attention throughout the shift. Once this list is complete, it needs to be prioritised, into immediate actions that could be of a health and safety or food hygiene matter, actions that need attention as they would impact customer experience, and actions that need attention but do not have a direct impact on customers. This list forms the basis of the shift action plan.

In addition, I have additional responsibilities, such as training, HR, food safety, profit and loss, staff scheduling, and marketing. Goals are set each quarter in each of these areas and it’s my role to ensure that audits are completed and teams formed to assist.

The most enjoyable part of being an assistant manager is the variety that the job brings. You will learn all areas of running a multi-million pound operation, gaining experience of recruiting, training, managing accounts, implementing marketing programmes and following legislation regarding employment practices and food handling. The only negatives are that shift work can be hard to get used to, there are lots of early starts and late finishes, and working most weekends is difficult at first'.

Major Iain Hurst, British Army

Major Iain Hurst studied BA (Hons) in Economics and Sociology at Royal Holloway, University of London and upon graduation went to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1995.

He was commissioned into the Royal Logistics Corps and was posted to Germany as a troop commander. During this time he also completed a tour of Bosnia and an exercise in Canada. He joined as he was interested in the opportunities to work within food service.

In 2000, he was selected for the Army's year-long Food Service Officers' course - a course that taught him the intricacies of catering, chef management and famine relief operations. He was also given the opportunity to complete an MSc in Food Logistics Management at Bournemouth University. ‘I completed the food course as I wanted a specialisation - to be on operations and to be the specialist point of contact for one area is something I found very rewarding.’

Iain was then posted to a specialist Battalion that required him to oversee the supply of food to soldiers in both Arctic and Mediterranean climates. He then completed a further tour of Bosnia in 2002. Following this, he took up a position in the Defence Food Service Headquarters, monitoring food supply to all three services all over the world, and ensuring that food is suitable for the environment where the troops are based.

‘What I enjoy most about the role is finding an empty warehouse in a far-flung country, seeing all the stocks arrive and then a few weeks/months later seeing an empty warehouse again. It’s knowing that everyone in my area of responsibility has received from my soldiers and me.’