No matter which Hotel & Catering “trade” you chose as a career, it’s just as expensive getting started now as it was 40 years ago.
Forty years ago, on June 1st 1973, my father generously kitted me out with a complete set of razor sharp Swiss knives, 4 chef jackets, 4 chef pants, 4 chef aprons, 4 chef neckerchiefs, 4 tall white chef hats, one pair of white Dutch safety clogs, and a copy of Larousse Gastronomique, the total cost of which in 1973 was around 200 pounds, (300 dollars) or 20 weeks’ wages, as I was about to earn the princely sum of 10 pounds, or 15 dollars a week during my first year of formal apprenticeship as a commis chef at one of Edinburgh’s leading hotels, the legendary Caledonian, or CALEY, as it is fondly referred to by the locals.
He made this magnanimous gesture because at that time it was still obligatory for all “trade” apprentices to provide their own basic tools of the trade they were to enter, along with their own working attire, whether as a chef, motor mechanic, carpenter, plumber, painter, electrician or chimney sweep, (yes, we still had them 40 years ago), and in those cash dominated times, kids my age (17) had no access to credit cards.
So I needed to find the cash from somewhere quickly to get me started, otherwise the chimney sweep option was beckoning, which did not appeal to me at all, despite Dick Van Dyke dancing beautifully as the sooty faced chummy and cheery London chimney sweep, while singing “chim chimney, chim chimney, chim chim cheroo” in the movie Mary Poppins, which was still a smash hit in 1973.
The 300 pounds was a significant investment for my father and for me, as I was supposed to pay him back, but never did as he graciously declined repayment, saying that he was pleased and proud to see me embark upon a professional career which I really loved, and was happy to support me, if I promised to stick with it, so I did just that.
And so began a culinary career and journey that took me and my trusty Swiss knives to some exciting and exotic destinations around the world, until I swapped the starched white uniform of a chef for the starched and neatly pressed white shirt and business suit of a manager 17 years later.
Fast forward another 17 years to the day in 2007 when I arrived here as the General Manager in Karachi, not with a box full of cutting edge knives, but with a briefcase instead, containing a “cutting edge” Toshiba satellite laptop and a brand new email capable Nokia E70 flip out keyboard cell phone, two gadgets I considered to be the essential “tools of my new trade,” which was to be focused upon the rapid development of our people, our products and our profit, in that order.
During one of my first introductory meetings with my new department heads and sales teams, I was amazed to discover that not one of them had access to their company e-mail accounts at home, or on their personal cell phones, which was extremely disappointing, as I wanted to ensure that everyone had the capability to be connected to us, and to their clients 24/7, in order to receive and respond to urgent e-mails.
The same applied to laptops, with very few of our people having access to one at work or at home (the ancient fax machines were still the preferred modus operandi), as most said that the telephone land lines and power at homes were often interrupted (up to 12 hours a day), and that there was poor local wireless internet coverage of the city. In addition, the risk of violent robbery on the streets of Karachi was so great that they all refused to carry these valuable devices to and from work.
I guess it would have been relatively easy (but perhaps not so wise) for me, as the Owner appointed incoming GM, to politely yet firmly request everyone to immediately purchase a laptop and a cell phone capable of receiving their business e-mails, as I considered these items to be the modern equivalent of essential tools for our trade in the 21st Century, and as such key to our future business development.
But then I realized that many of them may actually be in the same position I was in, all these years ago when starting out as a knifeless and naked chef, and that to ask them now to spend 2-3 months of their hard earned salaries on items which I considered essential to their success, and indeed to our success, may not be such a good idea, as they may not have benevolent fathers looking over their shoulders, ready to subsidize and support their futures as Hotel Executives.
Since then, I am pleased to say that due to much improved business results, salaries and performance related bonuses, everyone on the management and sales teams can now access their e-mails on the move via their smart new android devices, despite the frequent 12 hour blackouts and cell phone signal outages, and in addition, my heroic sales team will soon have shiny new ipads provided to all of them, courtesy of our benevolent “father” and Chairman, Mr. Byram Avari, if they meet their targets for the new fiscal year.
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PS. My marketing intern’s father just bought him a 3000 dollar camera kit, which the excited young lad is using to launch his career as our marketing photographer and creative assistant.
Funny how some things change, and yet some never do, apart from the price of getting started in this wonderful business we call Hospitality.
About the author
Gordon James Gorman, General Manager Avari Towers (since 2006)
Gordon James Gorman has spent more than 40 years in the international hospitality industry, starting his journey at the Heart of Midlothian Football Club in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1972, not on the soccer field, but in the kitchens of their fine dining restaurant as an apprentice chef, later working his way up to the position of General Manager via stints at leading hotels in Glasgow, London, Paris, Rome, Nairobi, Mombasa, Abuja, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Hua Hin, Bahrain, Riyadh, Seoul and Karachi, with leading international brands that include Rosewood, Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Dusit, Accor, Hilton and most recently with Avari International Hotels in Karachi Pakistan, where he has spent the last six years.
He is an active blogger and feature writer for HOTELS magazine, ehotelier and various other Hospitality industry websites, the founder of FBAT, the Food and Beverage Association of Thailand, a much in demand keynote speaker on the subjects of Hospitality Management, Marketing Leadership and Young Entrepreneurship, and is an active supporter of many local charity and community projects in his adopted cities of Karachi and Bangkok.
His first book, entitled Five Years in Pakistan, Tall Tales of Hospitality from the Frontier of Terror, currently in the process of editing and publication, tells the story of how he and his team transformed the iconic Avari Towers, Karachi, which in 2007 was an uncompetitive four stars hotel, into the city’s leading five stars hotel, over the most tumultuous five years period in the nation’s history.
On his office walls at Avari Towers can be seen photographs of Mr Gorman, taken with many famous people, including President Zardari, President George Bush, Nelson Mandela, H.M. the Queen Elizabeth, Pope John, The King of Bahrain, President Moi of Kenya, Tony Blair, David Cameron, and many others to numerous to mention, all illustrating a lifetime of dedicated service which continues to this day in Karachi.
