Personal Statement

Hello, thank you for taking a look at my CV today,

I have served food in the African Bush, to Presidents, African Chiefs and even a King and I have been part of the Michelin Star experience at the Northcote Hotel near Blackburn and so many other exciting places.

I am a well rounded hospitality manager and have a strong aptitude for all aspects of hospitality business management, always willing to use my initiative and give of my very best at all times, getting the most from my teams.

My combined skills; gathered over some 30 years make me a suitable candidate for an array of roles both within the Hospitality & Food Service Sectors and in other roles where my administrative, training & development as well as management experience can be put to good use.

My work history enables me to offer specific skills like food preparation and kitchen and restaurant management. I'm comfortable in most hospitality environments.

Non specific skills that I've acquired through my career are: spreadsheet development and use, systems deployment and management, administration and communication, making use of resources to interact with both written and spoken word to the workforce, clients and line management.

I am proud of my work ethic. Making good use of resources, time and tools at my disposal; I always endeavour to do my best to meet required objectives in a given situation. The most important resource being the teams I've had privilege to build and develop around me. I have good leadership skills and enjoy building individuals and teams. I am self-motivated and able; for the most part, to manage myself. I am the kind of manager who "sticks in" till the job is done and like to show my staff a "Team-Player" approach to my work.

I have worked in catering management in a wide variety of industrial contracts including: Schools & Universities, The Army (Base and Ops), Factories, Hospitals, Retirement Communities , Youth Organisations and a Food Production Unit. I have also operated my own Pub & Restaurant business.

I have run and worked in a diverse assortment of restaurant genres and 3 small hotels. I understand FOH and the importance of managing the ambiance and the vibe, depending on the service style. I believe in creating a good relationship between FOH and the BOH. This results in a smooth-running, harmonious environment, advantageous to both the business and the customer experience. Stock-Control and managing waste levels play a key role in managing the long-term profitability of the business as does an easily understood sales strategy.

As an Army Chef, a solid platform for my roles in Commercial Catering; especially Hands-On, High Volume food preparation was laid. It also had a positive impact on development of my personal endurance and discipline under pressure. And in difficult circumstances.

Commercial Catering and Restaurants have provided the development of a plethora of management skills which include: HR, Organizing & Logistics, PR, Computer use & Support (especially the development & use of spreadsheets) , Systems-design & implementation.

In my Hotel experiences; I have used much of the insight acquired over the years; although gaining new perspective of the Hospitality & Food Service sectors within this sector. This has certainly added value to my overall knowledge, skills and abilities.

I'm a very competent computer user; my roles in hospitality management have given me much experience in carrying out administrative tasks. I find importance in being systematic in getting work done on-time, whether it be in the office or the kitchen. My programmer's diploma has contributed greatly, not only in terms of my IT ability specifically: my system design and flowchart training enables me to analyse, understand and streamline workflow. In my efforts to improve workflow and profitability in most of my roles; system and process design and their implementation have been a favourite aspect of my work experience to date.

Using my knowledge and use of computer systems, I have played a major role in the setting up and maintenance of POS retail systems. With most of my initial experience making me able to do this coming from my work experience at SPAR South Africa as a junior programmer and having earned a diploma in Cobol programming in Systems design and Electronic Data Processing.

Thank You again for taking time to get to know a bit about me

Kind Regards Paul Dodkins

+44 7858005270

Key Skills

• All skills related to Hospitality Best Practices
• Menu and recipe development with strong understanding of costing
• Team Building and development
• Very Advanced Computer using ability
• Certified Food handler
• Holder of personal Licence
• Exposure to wide variety of hospitality genre and environments
• Experience dealing with difficult logistical situations

Stanley House - Hotel & Spa

Night Porter

August 2021 – March 2022

I was responsible for the hotel during the night. Although we often worked in pairs there were quite a number of shifts where I worked alone. We monitored the CCTV, did 2 security patrols a night. We supported the day team in making final preparations and cleaning of the function rooms and all other public areas in the main building. We were responsible for the room service requests and late bar service during our shifts.

Northcote Hotel, Northcote Leisure Group

Kitchen Manager

May 2016 – February 2017

• My Role was mainly centred on the profitability of the unit, doing most of the ordering looking for best price and premium quality through designated suppliers.
• I processed invoices and carried out monthly stock-counts with chefs then compiling the Monthly Profit n Loss (PnL) Report for the accounts department.
• I Also saw to Repairs and Maintenance and ordering of equipment and monitored general kitchen hygiene, overseeing the activities of the kitchen porters.

Night Manager

August 2012 – April 2014

• I assisted with the end of the evening service and locked up the hotel for the night. Other general responsibilities included providing "midnight" room service, attending to minor issues in the rooms such as faulty globes, remote controls and the like.
• I usually cleaned and reset three fireplaces in the public rooms.
• I carried out set–ups for the morning and lunch services (sometimes setting 100+ covers) for the following day.
• I helped with processing of invoices from kitchen purchases of previous day if there was a backlog. Entering details onto the spreadsheet that was used.
• I restocked two bar fridges and sometimes made the fresh orange juice.
• This was a suitable role to familiarize myself with some of the day to day business practices in the UK hospitality sector.

Northcote Group

Travel Inn Hotel, Botswana

Food & Beverage Manager / Hotel Manager

April 2014 – June 14

3rd time here 2nd time in this role

Food & Beverage Manager / Hotel Manager

August 2008 – June 2009

2nd time here

Kitchen / Restaurant Manager

October 2005 – February 2006

• Kitchen: Recipe Development & Costing, Training
• Events and Functions: Menus, Develop, Cost & Quote.
• Monitor: Hygiene, Health and Safety.
• FOH: Service, planning and Training
• Bar: Stock control, service
• Rooms: Bookings, Housekeeping, Laundry

Blue Haze Country Lodge

Food & Beverage Manager, General Management support

March 2010 – May 2012

• This was a very memorable role and one I will forever cherish. I left as I had a chance to meet my long lost siblings in the UK.
• The operation comprised 24 Rooms; F & B included a small restaurant (60PAX) with outside area for about 40 and bar (30PAX) with a conference facility and dedicated outside areas for Wedding Marquees where we could cater for up to 400 guests.
• I managed the hotels food and beverage department and supported the other departments. Managed, installed and updated computer systems One of those implementations included creation of an automated payroll system in EXCEL and setup of PILOT POS. Setup and implementation of 2 menus including costing, menu artwork and setup of ePOS.
• I developed a new team, training and developing the entire team. I was often responsible for the whole operation as the owners liked to travel. I was left to get on with the job only sitting with the owners once a week for a business meeting, looking at forecasts, reporting on performance and exploring new ideas.

Blue Haze Country Lodge

K F C

Team Leader KFC Euro Garages, Barthomley, Crewe

August 2018 – Jan 2019

2nd role with the company

• I rejoined KFC Euro Garages after pulling out of my pub business with a promotion from cook to team leader and I went through all the training so that I could be signed off.
• It was a new opening so my cook skills were called on initially so as to get the new cooks up to speed.
• I enjoyed this role however due to transport costs and constraints I was forced to give up the job.

Cook KFC Euro Garages, Clitheroe, Blackburn

April 2017 – December 2017

• I successfully went through all the required training and became 1 of the leading cooks on the team.
• Upon taking up this role I had made the management aware that I was currently looking at options in an endeavour to open my own pub and eventually I was given an opportunity with Punch Taverns and went on to run the Hazel Pear.

Publican Hazel Pear Acton Bridge, Northwich, Self Employed

December 2017 – August 2018

• This being my first real go at having my own business it was a challenging and enlightening experience.
• put to good use all of my work experience and learnt a lot of new skills, especially with regards to the cellar and I now consider myself a confident publican.
• Sadly although I was able to raise the average sales to double what they were when I took over the pub I felt that it was never going to be a sustainable or viable business given certain business restraints and the market trends I was experiencing at the location.

THE HAZEL PEAR

The Spur Corporation

The Spur Corporation, is a well established Franchise organization that has dominated the family dining sector of the fast food market in Africa for most of it's of 50 + years of operation.

Senior Manager Indiana Spur, Gaborone Botswana.

May 2014 – November 2015

2nd Role with Spur Group

• A busy Steakhouse with a 60 / 40 food led offering, having very busy weekend trade and busy week-nights.
• As a senior manager and mostly responsible for Back Of House and Production / Service. I was also involved in the Front Of House Activities of the store.
• Often left in charge of the store as the owners would take frequent trips down into South Africa, I would run the store responsible for the entire operation.
• This fast paced environment required a well rounded Restaurant Manager's Skill-Set as an Extremely High Standard is expected at all times.
• Daily checks and measures are routine and none negotiable in SPUR. I was responsible to develop staff and train the required standards throughout the store.
• After being with them for just over a year the owners offered me a small share in the business, however due to the challenges of securing work /residence permits in Botswana I decided after nearly 2 years to return to the UK.

Manager, Elderado Spur, Hillcrest Durban South Africa

May 1991 – October 1991

• This was my first introduction to the Franchise / Fast Food trade, I was exposed to every aspect of restaurant management, production, front of house & customer service, stock control, purchasing, meat prep, baking, cashing up and security.
• In reference to the above description of Indiana Spur, this was the same, just the Old Fashioned way. All the controls were done on manual stock-sheets and cash-up sheets, using a till slip printout to balance the meat and bar sheets.
• Most production done on site, we did all the desserts in-house and cut all the steaks and pressed all the burgers. All fresh produce was processed for salads and vegetable dishes too. This was a really good grounding for my career going forward.
• Had I not had a serious bike crash and my wife not lost our first child a couple of months later I would probably have stayed much longer as we had a good team and the owners were very involved.

SPUR HOME

Manager, Brickcellar Restaurant

November 2006 – May 2007

Umhlanga Rocks North of Central Durban is a popular tourist destination and is host to a thriving, mostly corporate business hub.

Brickcellar was a very busy ala carte and buffet restaurant with capacity for some 200 covers.

Back of house had a large section dedicated to preparation and production, making almost all the menu items on site from scratch. We made all our desserts, sauces etc. We also prepared all our own seafood's, meat cuts and curries. Our meat fridge was stocked with whole Rump, Fillet and Sirloins, this was wet aged in vacuum seal bags . For the carvery we kept whole uncooked Hind Quarters that we butchered and roasted in-house for the carvery.

I worked with our production chef and the carvery chef working to our PAR stock requirements we planned the requirements for the day and the week ahead

The restaurant usually ran a queue during weekend's holidays and other peek periods running with all 4 full–time managers and 2 part time managers. The Christmas period was manic even requiring us to rent a Refrigerated Van to carry our extra inventory.

I was mainly responsible for the BOH operation , doing the bulk orders twice a week, while fresh produce was ordered daily once closing balance sheets were completed. I was also responsible for conducting the weekly stock-counts.

A couple of us coordinated the pass depending on how the rotas were set. During my time here I integrated my purchasing system in EXCEL with QuickBooks, the spreadsheets I had designed were linked to recipes so menu costing became live. Highlighting when a menu item cost went above the desired food cost. This was a really lovely restaurant attracting sports personalities and musicians as well as families from all over the local Durban area and the suburbs.

Anthony Sterne (GM) ZA ref

On +27-837920115 In Gateway Theatre of Shopping

The Compass Group Southern Africa with Eurest & KKS

Originally Supervision Food Services - sadly it seems Compass has ceased operations in South Africa

Food Production Unit Botswana

Senior Catering Manager & Project Manager

January 2000 - August 2000 & April 1998 - May 1999

By being able to carry out all of the usual Catering Management skills and by being able to demonstrate my ability to organize a unit with an extensive logistical planning requirement. This coupled with my strong IT systems management and administration skills I was offered the position of Project Manager here

Site Services Manager Basil Read Bush Camp

May 1999 - December 1999

This was a very remote role that I was asked to take on. It again required quite a lot of logistical planning as it was off major supply chain routes making it important to co-ordinate trips to buy local commodities with truck deliveries from Gaborone 700km to the south and dealing with a Foot and Mouth control cordon.

Administration Hub Operator

November 1997 - April 1998

Processing invoices and stock reports for 6 catering units onto a system called Cuisine F&B and reporting results to the Area Manager responsible for the units.

Technical Assistant IT. Department

May 1997 - November 1997

Coordinating IT acquisitions against departmental budgets, managing the IT training program and running the user help desk was the main focus of my role here.

Catering Manager Northgate Pick n' Pay

May 1996 - May 1997

This was a busy industrial unit, Early breakfast session, Fries, sandwiches, porridge eggs, fish. Lunch was a western and African type meal as options most popular was African.

My Client contacts were the GM and the Senior buyer, I did a special breakfast for the senior managers in GM's boardroom on Saturdays and catered for the GM Secretary's ladies club dinner once a month.

Kearsney College - Assistant Catering Manager

May 1990 - April 1991

One of the top private schools in South Africa, this was a high profile role and a good platform for my future roles, VIP functions, feeding the schoolboys running the school bakery. My Main Role was to manage the units administration, doing the stock-takes and producing the weekly P&L report.

KEARSNEY HOME

(H)ospitality (I)ncorpotated , Compass Catering & Sodexo South Africa

Compass (Catering) food Services, was not part of the Compass Group.

I was part of the HI-Hospitality Team just as Sodexo was looking to buy the company, I left shortly after this and later I was invited by the Operations Director, Rob, of Compass Catering to work with them

The Senior Partner of Compass Catering had been the Regional Director of HI-Hospitality and Rob had been an Operations Manager

Compass Catering Services

Operations Support Manager

Employed as the Operations Support Manager for 6 industrial catering units. These included 2 hospitals, a retirement village with a frail care unit and 2 Government Headquarters and a welfare centre for the blind

• KZN Health Head Office, Pietermaritzburg
• KZN Education Head Office, Pietermaritzburg
• Enduduzweni Centre for the blind, uMlazi, Durban
• Amberfield Retirement Village, Howick KZN
• Church of Scotland Hospital, Tugela Ferry KZN
• McCord Hospital, Berea, Durban

I was responsible for trouble shooting operational issues in the units as well as training and carrying out of audits of company standards, providing feedback and corrective actions.

I developed and implemented changes to the admin systems on Excel and taught unit managers how to use it.

I also took responsibility for almost ZAR 250,000.00 debts due by the KZN Government that was "lost" in the system. I recovered more than 90% of this debt simply through systematic communication and relationship building.

Working for Compass Catering was not only a job but an adventure too, it took me to and through some of the most interesting and arguably dangerous areas in the KZN province. The team was culturally diverse, I loved the experience. It will have to be in my book.

HI-Hospitality

Unit / Catering Manager Zululand & Durban Area

February 1992 & July 1993

Based at Ulundi Police Academy

• Timely completion of company administration including the weekly Profit and Loss Report
• Health and Hygiene
• Customer Satisfaction
• Compilation of new menus
• Profitability strategies
• Recruiting, training and development of team members

In the unit we provided meals to approximately 180 police personnel three times a day. I also planned and prepared functions for the Chief of Police and the Chief Minister of KwaZulu and other dignitaries. I also arranged and prepared functions on the fly for the police officials.

We were often mobilised to carry out events held by or in honour of the Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithtini. This often meant loading up trucks and heading off to amazing rural locations as we did on the occasion of his wedding in July 1992

I opened the kitchen at Eshowe Commando Unit and at another Army Camp in Richards Bay called Bizane Park, as the only manager on site, catering in total for about 600 people.

The highlight of my time with Hospitality were the experiences I had outside of my appointed unit. I'd go onto a site that had not been run well for some time and get everything back on track. This was often as part of a mobilised management team as was the the case at the Durban and Zululand Universities.

Newly contracted units taken over from other operators were most often the targets of the management interventions as a result there was an incredible team spirit in this company and although Apartheid was still enforced our teams were culturally balanced.

SODEXO SA

Catering to Young People

PGL (Vagnas-France, Swindon-UK) on seasonal contract

April 2019 – November 2019

Chef, Catering Manager

• I took over the role as catering manager in April 2019, at the start of the 2019 season.
• Responsible for the stocks, orders, HACCP daily diary
• Supported the Chefs as we were 1 chef short for most of the season
• Catering for 360 PAX on average.
• In Swindon I was a lead chef catering for 1000 – 1300

PGL FRANCE : PGL LIDDINGTON

Youth for Christ Training & Conference Centre

August 1993 & May 1996

Caterer

This was a busy Conference / Youth Centre where as a result of regular visits by some groups making regular menu changes was important. This being a Church Based and low budget environment meant constant hands on food production for up to 900 people for as long as a week sometimes longer.

I personally cooked much of the food at this contract. Especially the meat dishes and the baked desserts. When there was no catering to be done I was involved with housekeeping supervision training and purchasing.

We worked on mainly manual bookkeeping where we kept a bin-card type stock system in a file to manage our incoming and outgoing stock the updated pricing kept in these files was used to cost every meal catered and a full set of costings was submitted to the camp director at the end of each groups stay.

I later started doing the costing on an old Apple IIe and once I bought my own PC was using Lotus123 to do the costing.

As usual, Health and Hygiene, Customer Satisfaction were at the top of the list of priorities, Compilation of new menus was strict and we could only serve dishes approved by the camp Director, Profitability strategies were important as we kept charges as low as possible.

Y F C HOME

View Table of Employment Records

Education

Besides the specific studies mentioned below I have numerous certifications earned during on Job training, most recently I completed the "Leading a Team" training and was signed off as a Team Leader at KFC

Kearsney College and Kloof High School

(January 1980 – December 1984)

Matric Certificate – Standard Pass

• Maths
• English
• Geography
• Science (Physical and Chemistry)
• History
• Biology
• French - Basic

Uniskills

(June – December 1987)

Programmers Diploma

• Electronic Data Processing
• Flowcharting and System Design
• Cobol Programming

Certifications

• Fully trained in KFC (Front, Middle, Cook) and signed of as a Team Leader Achieved this with EG (Euro Garages)2017 / 18
• Have completed Level 2 Food Handler Certification with KFC and Punch Taverns 2018
• Personal Licence - Innpacked 2017
• Have a “Perfect Pour” Certificate while associated with Punch Taverns 2018
• Menu Costing - Compass Group RSA Late 90s
• Have been certified as an Excel Super User Mid 90s
• Advanced Dietetics, Conflict Resolution - Sodexo RSA Early 90s
• Fire Marshall Course
• First Aid Course
• Use of a Defibrillator
• Health & Safety Course

Hobbies & Interests

I enjoy following world news, I listen to a wide spectrum of musical genres, I enjoy Backgammon and Scrabble as well as other classic board games.

I follow transport groups on social media, with a particular interest in planes, trains, ships and automobiles.

I have an interest in War History and enjoy reading period novels by authors like Ken Follett and Wilbur Smith and Leon Uris to name a few.

I usually read novels based around crime and espionage.

As far as personal development and business is concerned I have read books by John Maxwell, Gordon Macdonald, Ricardo Semler, Michael E. Gerber, James F. Moore and Eliyahu M. Goldratt. These writers have, among others inspired and given me a good platform for work and social development processes.

My TV preference usually finds me watching series like NCIS, CSI, Law and Order, Chicago PD and others. My UK favourites are DCI Banks, Inspector Morse and Luther.

I also take an interest in web-design and have taught myself most of the leading web-design applications based on the Linux, open-source development platform and community and have my own website.