Hosted by Duncan O’Rourke, CEO Accor Northern Europe, the new industry podcast will tell the stories of moments and lives in hospitality. Interviewees in the first series will include global leaders of hospitality as well as future leaders at the start of their careers.
In the first episode, Duncan is joined by long-time friend, collaborator and a world-renowned leader in hospitality, MPS Puri, to talk about the art of gastronomy and the glamour of hospitality. Puri, an inspirational figure in the sector, shares stories from five decades as a world-renowned F&B consultant in a sector he calls “the sexiest part of the hotel business”.
The two leading figures in hospitality talk about Puri’s career with some of the best hotels and hoteliers in the world, their favourite street food hawkers and what they would say to someone who had never considered a career in hospitality.
“I would say to them that it is possibly the most glamorous job in the world. And I sincerely believe that,” said Puri.
“It's an incredibly meaningful profession where you're able to enrich other people's lives and contribute to the happiness of other people,” he continued. “It's a privilege and an honour to be able to serve people. And that's the point to be able to understand what a great industry it is, and why we do what we do.”
The pair tackle the recruitment crisis facing the sector and discuss whether hospitality has a legacy reputational issue. Puri thinks not. “If you go back and listen to listen to Lao Tzu, he says; ‘choose a profession that you like, and you'll never work a day in your life’. And so if the people that join our industry and come and come to our profession, if they do it because they really love it, and they're passionate about it, they'll have a lot of fun.”
He added: “So we have every possibility to be able to show them how wonderful this industry is. And it's just a matter of re-educating people to say, here's a profession that is noble, that is sexy, that is creative, that is fun, and is full of passion.”
The industry leaders shared their advice for those at the start of their career, recalling the power of the words “Yes Chef” from the start of their careers, they acknowledge the new generation of talent wants to know why, a question Puri encourages them to ask. “Inform yourself about what you're doing by all means, but do remember that this is not something that will come in a day.” He adds: “I would certainly say to them, complete dedication, complete commitment, and commitment to hard work, and the fruit will be there because you will enjoy it, you will see it. And you'll always have fun in this industry more than any other industry that I know of.”
In fact, asked to sum up the sector in one word, Puri says “Glamour”.
“It's a glamorous industry. You know, the A-listers come to us, the celebrities come to us, the whole world comes to us, heads of state come to us, everybody comes to our hotels because that's where everything happens. We’re the centre; we’re the social centre of each community.”
Listen to the full episode on https://heart-of-hospitality.com/podcast/
For more information and more stories from hospitality, visit https://heart-of-hospitality.com/