The Caterer interview
in the kitchens. My belief is that unless we can create much better role models, then what are the other women going to aspire to be? I don’t have any hopes to change the world, but if I can change the attitudes of the women in our business, that will be a huge step. I think the conference has done that. It’s ener- gised our women to push themselves forward.
Do you think women are their own worst enemies? Definitely, I think that women are more con- cerned with being liked and they put up a lot of their own barriers. I know that I used to put up 100 excuses as to why something wouldn’t work before I’d even tried it – it’s all to do with a lack of confidence. A woman will look at a role and think, “Oh no, I’ve only got 30% of those skills, I’m not going to go for it”, while a man will think “Woo hoo! I’ve got 30% of those skills, I’m going to go for it!” It’s a dichotomy between men and women.
To use Sandberg’s term, women lean out – they choose family over career and don’t think the two can be complementary and equally rewarding. Women wait to be noticed and recognised for doing a good job, rather than pushing themselves forward for the next opportunity or promotion. I was incredibly lucky, I had two gentlemen
who did notice me and forced me to challenge myself and move up the corporate ladder. So now I, and some of the other people who helped with the Aspiring Women Conference, are mentoring our female employees and approaching women in our business who we know can do these jobs and saying “Why haven’t you applied for these roles?” We just give them a gentle nudge.
What positives do they bring to the dynamics of the workforce?
Oddly enough, the thing I have just criticised women for is actually also one of their greatest strengths. Because they are so empathetic, they think about the knock-on effect of deci- sions. If you can team up a confident or brash man who is happy to break the mould and challenge things with a women who can think about the potential outcomes, you’ve got the most successful team ever. Women are very adaptable and men can be more rigid. Women are very intuitive and intuition in the restaurant world is very impor- tant – we need to anticipate what our staff and customers’ needs are.
Clearly you are inspired massively by Chris and Jeremy, but who else do you look up to? Karen Jones, who set up the Café Rouge empire, is so smart and such a tough businesswoman, but she does it with such gentle persuasion and bags of emotional intelligence – she is an enor- mous advocate of women in business. I really admire Carrie Wicks at Firmdale, who seems to have boundless energy, an unbe- lievable eye for detail and her teams are hugely engaged and inspired by her. I also admire Sebastian Fogg at Hix Restau-
28 | The Caterer | 20 March 2015
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“I wake up every day and I pinch myself at how lucky I have been that I had two gentlemen who believed in me 100% and gave me the opportunities they did”
rants for his empowering leadership style and charisma. His people will go up and over the trenches for him, every service, every day. Gillian Thomson is someone that I have only got to know well in the past year. When I look at where she has come from and the diversity of the things she has done, with some of the toughest bosses ever known and in some of the most male-dominated arenas, all of which she seems to have sailed through with such good grace and humour, I have so much respect. She is very humble and I see her in our organisation in her current role with ACT Clean and she’s just phenomenal.
How do you feel the launch of the Beaumont has gone for the business?
The hotel world was a completely new domain for the company, but it was a long-held dream for Chris and Jeremy to enter that world. We already had a number of people in the organisation with considerable experience in the world of hotels, including myself, and we recruited a strong team to supplement it, led by Paul Brackley.
While we were inevitably a little nervous at
times, and obviously wondered how the entry of these two restaurateurs into the hotel world would be perceived, I feel the launch has gone incredibly well and am immensely proud. The vision for what the Beaumont should
be was so strong and defined and was well- delivered and executed. The positive feedback we had has been extremely gratifying.
Finally, what’s on the horizon for the group? Corbin & King has a new restaurant project due to launch on Islington Green this sum- mer, and while there are no more specific plans for expansion, it is no secret that they like to establish restaurants in neighbour- hoods that have invited them or encouraged them to go there. The hotel world remains hugely enticing to
them and is a division that may well expand over the coming years but, as always, expan- sion, whether in hotels or restaurants, is always led by finding the elusive right property in the right location.
Chris Corbin and Jeremy King will be among the industry
luminaries to be inducted into the 2015 British Travel
& Hospitality Hall of Fame at a dinner at London’s Dorchester hotel on 13 April. For more details, visit www.
britishtravelandhospitalityhalloffame.com
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