LIFE AFTER PRIVATE SERVICE
Wayne Fitzharris, 1997 to 2000 Restauranteur
Le Pont De La Tour, Tower Bridge, London.
Sir Terrence Conran, Designer and Restauranteur
La Stampa Restaurant Dublin
Wapping Food, Wapping Hydraulic Power Station. London
NEVER BE AFRAID TO CHANGE DIRECTION IN YOUR CAREER.
One of the most exciting chapters of my hospitality career began when I stepped away from luxury hotels and Royal Palace life and discovered the extraordinary entrepreneurial spirit of London's restaurant scene.
The 1990s were an incredible time. Bibendum, Le Pont de la Tour, Quaglino's and Mezzo were transforming London's dining culture. Restaurants were becoming destinations in their own right, driven by creativity, design, personalities and ambitious restaurateurs.
I was hooked!
After my time at Grace Bay Club in the Caribbean, I declined the opportunity to become General Manager and returned to London to join Sir Terence Conran's restaurant empire.
As Deputy General Manager, I helped oversee the Gastrodome at Butler's Wharf, including Le Pont de la Tour, Butler's Wharf Chop House, Cantina del Ponte, the Blueprint Café, bars, shops and a bakery. The opportunity of working with Remy Lyse was too good a chance to miss, we were both hoteliers, both worked at the Dorchester in different eras and both worked in private service, Remy for President Mitterand and I worked for the Jordanian Royal Family.
What a wonderful change from hotels!
No bedrooms, no overnight guests, no room occupancy figures. Instead, I could concentrate on restaurant operations, business development, marketing, health and safety, creativity and, above all, the guest experience.
Then came China House on Piccadilly.
An extraordinary opportunity to help transform a former bank into an ambitious multi-concept restaurant, bar, retail and online shopping destination. We assembled teams, developed the operation, introduced systems and delivered opening training.
The building would later become home to the famous Wolseley restaurant.
From there, my journey continued into further restaurant development projects in London and Dublin, including Wapping Food at the remarkable Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, La Stampa, Tiger Becs and Sam Sara and a boutique hotel on Dawson Street, Dublin Ireland.
These projects brought another dimension to my career: working with entrepreneurs, developing concepts, managing creative professionals and turning ambitious ideas into operational businesses.
And, of course, dealing with owners whose enthusiasm sometimes far exceeded their understanding of budgets, costs and the practical realities of opening restaurants!
It was exhilarating, occasionally frustrating and an extraordinary education in entrepreneurship.
The Worsley Restaurant, London
China House on Piccadilly was once a Barclays Bank, the Pillars were painted red and the Oriental art work suited the restaurant theme. Remy Lyse took over the Restaurant to open the flagship destination for Corbin and King Restauranteurs.
Remy Lyse, Hotelier and Restauranteur and Former Butler to President Mitterand.
What did I learn?
That changing careers doesn't mean abandoning your experience. It means discovering entirely new ways to use it. Careers are long and we should choose jobs that bring us enormous pleasure.
Those years gave me the freedom to embrace creativity, understand commercial development and work alongside remarkable professionals focused entirely on their products, their teams and their customers.
They also helped shape the entrepreneurial foundations of Aspire Globally, which I established in 2000.
Never allow your job title, your industry or your previous success to define what you do next.
Sometimes the greatest opportunities come when you have the courage to walk away from what you already know.
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