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PAUL MONTEGUT FCSI CONSULTANT FRANCE


“Foodservice is life, at least a good part of it,” says Paul Montegut, owner of consultancy Restauration Conseil and an active board member of FCSI EAME. “It means food, taste, exploration, friendship, family.” After 28 years as a foodservice consultant, working on prestigious projects in his home country France and beyond, Montegut was stopped in his tracks. In July 2016 heart problems meant that he had to reconsider his life and work, making changes that would allow him to stay in the profession that had given him so much pleasure.


Before his health forced him to make


changes to his life, he says his work was all stress.


“I was always late to my appointments, taking too meetings many per day and running from one to another,” he says. “I wanted to sign up all business even if the


price was not worth it. Not signing was a kind of defeat for me. My goal was the turnover, so I was selling price not quality or know-how and all clients were good for me.” Today, his life is very different. First, he


decided to stop growing the business and in fact went the opposite way and reduced business in a restructure. “Taking less business is no more a failure and I have enough clients to run the company. I sell a quality service, at a quality price,” he says. Aside from scaling back the business,


the most significant change he made was the approach to his staff. “I decided to take care of the people working with me if the people you work with in the office are themselves stressed, you take the impact of that situation for yourself, so I want them to be happy at work,” he says. He insists on a work/life balance for everyone. “I push them to work during the working time, no more; I do not accept work on Saturdays, even if they want to. I am mindful of their personal problems, and try to help them when possible, and I cover them if they make mistakes. “When the company is successful, they have their share of the gains, which is the case almost every year.” Above all, he says, he trusts them, trains them (Revit for example) and pushes them


to learn. “If they come to me with a problem, they must also bring at least one solution. We are a team, a good team,” he says. Mentoring the next generation of foodservice consultants is central to his work now. “In France we no longer have a school to


learn our job, so it is very important to train people because we need people to do the work,” he says.” I did it all my working life, and some of my former employees now have their own company, or have good positions in other consultancy offices. This generation must now train the younger ones.” Ultimately, the plan is to start a school for foodservice consultants, he says. “With our union, we are trying to build this. Maybe in two years it will be running. I am part of that project.”


And, of course, he is never late these


days. “I take fewer appointments and I try to arrive early so I can have a coffee or a drink before meeting my clients. It doesn’t sound like much, but try it,” he urges. He did consider not returning to foodservice after his recovery. “I talked to my partner about the possibility of quitting. He said, ‘yes, I understand’. But this is a fantastic job, and I like it. I have been a foodservice consultant since 1988, it is my working life,” he says.


“If the people you work with in the office are stressed, you take the impact of that for yourself so I want them to be happy at work”


For more go to fcsi.org 63


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