Promoting from within

In the beginning, when we opened Krimo’s at Seaton Carew in 1985, we needed to recruit staff to help us run the restaurant.  We tried two or three so-called experienced professionals sadly to discover that all of them were seasoned if not well-pickled waiters, waitresses or chefs who had often done nothing but seasonal work at Butlins or over in the Lakes District and were not really adequate for a family restaurant. We looked closer to home and found that most of the applicants had, for years done the rounds of all the restaurants, pubs and hotels in the area and therefore showed no ambition to progress. Karen and I were ourselves still learning how to run the restaurant but, as it was our livelihood, we needed to be careful who we employed. 

Suddenly, it dawned on us that we needed to form our own brigades. Karen in front-of-house and me in the kitchen, we started employing sixteen-year-old college kids who were studying for their A-levels and who were keen to learn.

Within months, we had a well-trained team of individuals who became the mainstay of our establishment. Every two years or so, those who left for university were replaced by a new batch of students eager to earn some pocket money and learn very important people’s skills. The practice went on through the life of our restaurants and over the years, we must have employed thousands of young people to help us run the restaurants.

There were a few who, after discovering their calling, decided to make a career of catering.

One such person was Kevin who started with us in the late nineties as an apprentice chef from college. When we moved Krimo’s to the Marina in 2000, he came along and later transferred to Portofino. I believed in in-house promotion and offered Kevin the position of second-chef. When we opened the tapas bar in 2006, he agreed to take over the running of the kitchen. 

In 2011, he decided to spread his wings and joined a catering training company then later became a lecturer at the College of Further Education. Many years later from apprentice himself, Kevin became our apprentice provider, continuing the tradition.

So once again, I called upon another member of our team to replace Kevin at the helm of Casa del Mar’s kitchen. Chris, who was second-chef at Portofino was delighted to be given the opportunity to run his own kitchen. He would later, in August 2017, take over the Tapas Bar with his wife, Laura whom he met at work. 

Although Chris ran Portofino’s kitchen very proficiently, working alongside Noel, he knew very little about tapas, but within a few weeks, he cracked them. After all, what are tapas but smaller portions of dishes he was quite familiar with. I was always on hand to answer questions, help him get things right and gladly try samples of his tapas. 

A few of our customers have often asked me why the central core of our employees has remained the same for many years, contrary to tradition in hospitality where people come and go at the drop of a hat. My answer has always been: “The secret is to treat people the same way you like to be treated. Simples!”

Of course, things can never be perfect all the time, but as long as everyone understands that whatever their job is, they are an essential part of the organisation and that every problem has a solution.