THE FCSI INTERVIEW
five-year contract. But when I came back to China, having spent Christmas in Canada, I was laid off. Te project had been put on hold.”
IN AWE AT CKP
So Gregoire reached out to college classmate Paul Barnard, who had gone to work for CKP Hospitality Consultants on his internship. Te CKP Shanghai office were looking for people who understood operations and spoke Chinese – and so Gregoire was hired. “I was in awe,” he says. “I’d
been looking at this company’s website for years. Tey worked on multiple groundbreaking projects with Shangri-La, Hyatt, casinos in Macau... It would have been a dream job just to work in these hotels, but these guys were designing the kitchens. I was brought in as a consultant, but really I was just the guy who sat down with the operator to understand the concepts they wanted, and then turn that into foodservice plans and layouts. It took a lot of training. I had to learn how to read kitchen drawings. I didn’t know how to sketch or read an architectural plan. Tere was a lot of handholding at first but the guidance was great.”
“You only grow when you’re uncomfortable. I can hold my own now... But I carry that fear of failure still”
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Gregoire also worked in
CKP’s KL office for six weeks, where he was mentored by Prakash Alagu FCSI, Vant Tan FCSI, and Alburn William FCSI. “Tey are legends in the industry and they put me through the wringer. I always kept their construction guidelines in my bag, just so I didn’t sound like an idiot with the client. I was thrown into the fire but that is the best way to learn. I also got a lot of exposure to suppliers, who were obviously more than willing to spend time with somebody from CKP and explain how their products worked. Soon, I could explain what flow rates were, or why we need three-phase electricity, or recessed areas in kitchens. I learned a lot from interior designers, MEP consultants, owners and operators too.” In less than a year, Gregoire
was CKP Shanghai regional manager. “I think you only grow when you’re uncomfortable,” he says. “I can hold my own now public speaking or going to meetings with superstar architects or Michelin-starred chefs. But I carry that fear of failure still.” Gregoire became a VP of
CKP in 2017. “Alburn taught me how to manage the accounts, about forecasting and cash flow, and how to price yourself in the market – that entrepreneur mindset,” he says. “During my time in China, we went from being a little office to opening a space for 20 people. But then a lot of design and build contractors came in and undercut the prices, so he decided to franchise the office in Shanghai and transfer me to KL.”
Ben Gregoire FCSI’s LEVELS consultancy focuses on providing strategy concepts and branding solutions for hospitality operators across Asia, Africa and the Middle East
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