“I first dabbled in hospitality at the age of 13. Keen to get some independence, and earn some money for myself, I took a weekend job washing dishes at the Gunsite Café. This was an eye opener for me at the time as the venue wasn’t a quiet one!
Fast forward a few years, and I’ve left Victoria College, 5 A-Levels under my belt and a path that would have me studying for a civil and structural engineering degree before heading into the army. This all got thrown to a side when I decided to travel for a bit first. Ending up in Australia I needed to make some money to top up the dwindling pot. I was offered a job helping in a kitchen in Sydney and 1 week later had an application for a student visa going in and I was enrolled on a catering course. I had found a job that I loved the challenge of, felt pride in what I was doing, and was keen to see where it could take me.
Australia has some incredible fresh produce and I was fortunate enough to spend time working with it. A few years later the time had come to move back to Jersey, to catch up with family, and have my nephew arrive into the family. While back in Jersey I worked my way up to Sous Chef in one of the hotels at the time, enjoying the work/life balance I was afforded, especially in the summer in jersey where I spent my split shifts on the beach.
I still didn’t feel completely settled, and a friend I started cooking with in Australia was set up ion Brighton and asked if I wanted to come and join him there. A week later, bag over my shoulder, I got off the train in Brighton and begun the next chapter of my life.
I worked in a 4-star hotel called the Lansdowne Place Hotel, churning through some of the most covers I had experienced in my career. The hotel was not only a busy guest venue but had a large function capability. Often down in staff, we all came together as a team to solider through as best we could. Sadly, though this is where I had my worst experience in my career.
The head chef was not a great leader of a team and had some anger issues. I remember one night he jumped over the pass and manhandled the Maître d’ over an extremely petty issue. The final straw for both myself and about half the hotel staff was when he got back off a two-week holiday. We had absolutely smashed through the two weeks, with the hotels General Manager coming into the kitchen to personally congratulate our efforts over that period. When the Head Chef returned, instead of praise, he started picking up on small negatives and putting the team down. I left that kitchen and in hindsight I can say my cooking career finished at that stage, and my next hospitality chapter begun.
I started working the bar for a venue I had formally run the kitchen for. At first it was just to help them out as I worked out what I was doing with myself, but I quickly started moving up the ladder, and more importantly, was introduced to the world of cocktails.
As someone who had spent the previous few years immersed in flavours, this was a fantastic revelation to me. I had a whole new medium to play with and took every effort to do so. My next move saw me arrive at Above Audio. At the time, it was one of the top bars in Brighton, with one of the best clubs underneath it too. I took a step down in position to allow me to train under some incredible people, and it wasn’t long before I found myself as the Head Barman. This was my last position I held until I left Brighton to move back to Jersey. When I left, Audio had just celebrated its 3rdbirthday and massed 13 national awards.
Moving back was interesting. Rojo had not long opened, providing Jersey with a new level of cocktails, and I spent my first few years back opening Wildfire and Tanguy’s, training and developing menus for multiple venues, and taking the Bar Manager position at the Grand Hotel as they got their 5thStar. I went through a transitional phase with venues at this point, and then had the opportunity to take a 3-month consultation with Liberation Group as they took over a cocktail bar in Guernsey. 3 months turned into 13 months, and I came back to a unique job offer and with a new girl in my life.
I begun work as the Brand Development Manager for JJ le Sueur, using my skills to promote my brands and place them via training and venue assistance. I spent 5 years at the company and loved my job completely. During this time, I got married and left the company as my son was born.
I then proceeded to spend the next 8 months opening two restaurants. For those who have done venue openings before, you will understand the amount of work and effort that goes into this, often up to 90-hour weeks with a new-born to come home to. This was a challenge to me but the results at the time were worth the effort.
For those of you with family, you will appreciate that it changes your life completely. You want to spend as much time together as you can and working within new restaurants wasn’t affording me the time I wanted with my son. We had had a few years of heartache to finally get him and I didn’t want to have been through all of that to not see him.
My wife saw the role of Association Manager come up for the JHA. I put in my CV and a covering letter and was delighted to get called in for a first, then second interview. The job was mine and the second week of 2018 saw me begin in the role. I took to it like a duck to water and have since been enjoying the varied challenges it provides. My work was swiftly rewarded with a promotion to CEO, with the results of my first year in office seeing a 50% growth in membership and a greater PR image. With the tireless support of my committee, we were able to reignite the JHA and begin its journey to where we are today.
I’m now 18 years into my career. I have loved most of it, and couldn’t recommend a better industry to work in. You really can do or be anything you want within the industry and if you are determined enough, there is no end to where you can end up.”
Simon Soar, CEO, Jersey Hospitality Association