As general manager of the wonderful Drake Hotel, I’ve got 175 people working for me at every level of the organization. There are probably 20 different job classifications here.
A hotel manager should have a good business sense and exceptional people skills, but also panache. You’ve got to genuinely show you love what you do. And to survive as long as I have in the restaurant business, you’ve got to be pretty humble.
I don’t have a formal education in the hospitality biz. I have my Wine & Spirit Education Trust certificate and studied various aspects of economics pertaining to restaurant finance and accounting. I have a BA in sociology from U of T, where I graduated in 1976.
Ryerson uses a great restaurant simulation game as a training tool. I still refer to parts of it when I’m mentoring other managers. The course taught me about the demands of the workplace and the social structures that form in a restaurant or hotel. What I do is almost like managing a cultural and social ecosystem.
When I was at U of T, I got a job at a great steak house called the Hayloft. It was a large, American-style chain restaurant that was licensed for 500 people. It was an exciting, busy place. My experience there and what I was learning at school – especially the relationship between managers and staff – turned me on to the vitality of the restaurant business.
I got into management training with the Hayloft and spent six months in its butcher shop. I can still cut meat pretty adeptly.
