Stephen Dawe began his career in hospitality aged just 15, doing part-time jobs in the kitchen. Roll on 21 years and Stephen is now the Multi-Site Manager for Inn Cornwall, an award-winning and progressive operator of three pubs and the Pub Grub home delivery service based in the South West of England.
Stephen Dawe describes working in hospitality as “highly addictive”. He says: “You get into it as a youngster, looking for a bit of money to pay for your phone or a night out, but you end up with an addiction for that rush that you get with service. I spent the first 8-9 years employed in the kitchen, where I worked my way up to become the Head Chef at the Victoria Inn in Roche, one of the two pubs that I manage today.”
Stephen describes his life as having gone full circle; growing up in Roche, he found his first ever job at the Victoria Inn. On leaving school at 16, he enrolled on a Public Services course at college, with hopes of going on to join the military or the fire brigade at 18. It was at college that he met his future wife, Louise, and she too as working part-time in hospitality. Later, they went on to get a job with St Austell Brewery as a management couple, with Stephen as Head Chef and Louise as the Assistant Manager.
“We’ve been very lucky in that we’ve worked with some of the best people in the industry, including Tanya and Alex Williams who run the Polgooth Inn and who won the BII Licensee of the Year Award in 2018. I was also lucky, that when I was employed as an enthusiastic KP, my then-boss, the Head Chef at the Victoria let me quickly progress from veg prep to desserts and over the next six years I worked my way up to becoming Head Chef.
Stephen describes how he took his career onto the next stage, moving out of the kitchen to become more involved in the business-side.
“There’s nowhere like hospitality for learning transferable skills. It’s powerful and people underestimate how much you learn from being a waitress or a KP in a busy kitchen. Communication and teamwork are key for all jobs and, within hospitality, you are doing it all.
“We joke that most people aged under 25 spend all of their time on their phones and really struggle to communicate verbally. You see it more and more each year with the school leavers. They are very shy and struggle to say how they are feeling.”
Managing a team of 70 people, Stephen spends much of his time coaching and supporting the team, adding: “I like to see how I can help the company grow. Mark and Justin [Directors] are the best people to work for. They are both motivated and driven.
“Hospitality is hard work and sometimes you have to make sacrifices, due to the hours, but we run our operation as a team. Everyone gets a chance to contribute – a great idea can come from someone part-time, full-time, KP or Head Chef.
Stephens says the qualities he looks for when interviewing for new people are honesty and the ability to work hard. “We can build on everything else. We have high staff retention and our management roles are filled from within the business – that comes down to great training and real investment in our teams.
“I hope people will look at me and see a 35-year-old who loves his job, living well and most of all, happily, managing two great businesses and a team of 70 people. We measure our success by the success of our people and we take pride when members of the team leave to set up their own businesses – it’s a natural progression for people to outgrow our business and move on to continue their success elsewhere.
