Business Book extract Meals, Deals and Quangos
Garry Hawkes, past chairman of Gardner Merchant, looks at how dealing with disaster became a significant part of his 40-year career in catering
G
arry Hawkes enjoyed a career in foodservice that spanned more than
four decades and took him to every corner of the world. His book about his experiences, Meals, Deals and Quan- gos, explores his early days in the world of contract catering and his role at food- service company Gardner Merchant, through its management buyout and onward sale to Sodexo in 1994. This extract from the
book looks at the challenge Hawkes faced during the Piper Alpha disaster, the explosion and sinking of the Piper Alpha oil plat- form in the North Sea on 6 July 1988. The disaster
killed 167 people, with 226 people working on the platform. Hawkes described dealing with the families of staff who as a defining moment in his life and career.
Chapter 9: Piper Alpha Disaster On July 6th, 1988, [my wife] Peggy and I were staying at Gleneagles to attend the Scottish Open Golf Championship. The first night dinner was excellent. We went to bed around midnight and slept well. In the morning, I switched on the TV for the morning news and heard that the Piper Alpha oil platform was on fire after an explosion. Piper Alpha was one of many contracts oper-
ated by Kelvin Catering, part of Gardner Mer- chant. We had a catering crew on board of 29. I contacted John Wares, the managing direc-
tor of Kelvin, and we agreed to go to Aberdeen straight away. On arriving in Aberdeen, it was clear that the office staff were very distressed. They knew the Piper Alpha crew personally, one of whom was an 18-year-old from a local village north of Aberdeen on his first job offshore. Efforts to find out what had happened and
if anyone had survived proved fruitless. The rig owner and operator would disclose no information. As the day progressed, several ad hoc meet-
ings were called, and it became apparent that the rig had exploded and set on fire. Given that it was the middle of the night, all our staff would have been in their sleeping quarters, where most people had died. Ian Hall arrived in the afternoon, and we
decided that the Aberdeen staff were too trau- matised to cope. Ian put together a new team of personnel professionals from around the company and engaged grief counsellors to assist. He placed himself in charge of this team for the duration of the crisis. Subsequent days were very stressful. Deal-
A memorial to the Piper Alpha disaster in Hazlehead Park in Aberdeen
32 | The Caterer | 22 March 2024
ing with bereaved families proved difficult and complicated. The subsequent memorial ser- vice was attended by Rocco Forte and myself along with the local management team. We organised a reception for relatives and friends to whom we spoke individually. In addition
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