This story begins when I moved to Melbourne to work for the Radisson Flagstaff Gardens Hotel, a four and half star Hotel locate adjacent to the Queen Victoria Markets. I was working for a General Manager I had worked for previously in Adelaide. Not long into the contract the GM told me of an opportunity of an opening at the Radisson Resort Denarau in Fiji a five star hotel located on Denarau Island near Nadi as the Executive Chef. I learnt something from this; you need to be thinking of the future for your staff as well as yourself and since that day succession planning has always featured heavily in my strategic plans

I arrived in what I thought was sunny Fiji; little did I know it rained for 6 months of the year. The hotel was just beginning to be built when I arrived so had the opportunity to be involved in the design and layout of the kitchen and restaurant. It was an amazing time watching the rubble turn into a brilliant 5 star property and being involved in the process.

From the beginning I was hooked, there is something amazing seeing things go from being just a design plan through all of the stages of development to finally see a hotel full of life with guests relaxing and enjoying themselves and staff beginning their new career paths. It is actually my goal to work my way up through the different levels of the business, Director of Food and Beverage, EAM or Hotel Manager and to one day get the opportunity of being at a General Managers level and doing an opening, but I digress.

One day during the pre opening period I was in the kitchen conducting training when one of my senior chefs came in and said “you have to come out and see this” so I stopped what I was doing and went out to the pool to see what was happening. When I got there I was witness to a contender for the Darwin awards as one of the trades men was in the swimming pool with a grinder, working away on the edge of the swim up bar while his assistant held up the power cord to keep it out of the water, not quite sure what happened to him.

A few weeks later once I had opened the hotel I got a call from the food and beverage manager, same again “you have to come and see this” I went out to the front desk of what was our takeout pizza are and he showed me an ordinary looking small sized pizza box. Inside the box though was a large pizza which had been carefully folded up to fit inside the box. It turns out that the chef couldn’t find a large box and didn’t want to disappoint the customer so was simply trying to deliver exactly what they were after.

I have gone on to open four hotels now in Fiji, China and Malaysia so far and had many other unique (and scary experiences) and made some great friends and had some great times. There is something different about the friendship that develops with people who are put together to build something, it’s like planting a seed and watching it grow.

Before

After

Doing what needs to be done

The friends you make

Me now

- Contributed by Darren Vincent Hilditch, Hard Rock Hotels - hardrockhotels.net
as part of the YoungHotelier.com Great Grand Famous Competition – WINNER

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