Event caterer Compass MD Colin Bailey’s first career ambition, he says, was to play professional cricket.
“With a dad from Lancashire and a mum from Yorkshire, I had a dilemma, but it wasn’t really a problem at all as I simply wasn’t good enough,” he says.
Summer jobs as a butcher and in an accountancy practice meant face-to-face interaction with people, something that Bailey realised was an important ingredient at work.
Bailey became a qualified CIMA and the Financial Director of a 500-shop chain aged 27.
“I took over there from my mentor and guide throughout my career, Roger Stubbs, who went on to be Group FD for De Vere. “It was a baptism of fire, but I’m really thankful Roger was with me throughout.”
“While I didn’t know which specific career path I wanted to take, I always knew that I wanted to be involved in hospitality in some way,” Bailey adds. “I love working with good people and I get my biggest thrill seeing teams grow and people develop, especially those with visible hunger and drive to change things and make both personal and professional progress.”
From the highlights of those early years, Bailey picks out his time at The Greenalls Group (which later became De Vere Group).
“The culture in Greenalls was driven from the top, and I worked with some incredible industry leaders in pubs, restaurants, hotels and leisure clubs. They were great products and loyal and dedicated teams led by inspirational, like-minded people. I couldn’t have asked for a better start.”
A guiding philosophy for leadership for Bailey has been the belief that great leaders truly inspire and understand people naturally.
“You can spot the great leaders a mile off, just by watching them around people: they tell it straight and give honest opinions, while always leading from the front and getting involved at all levels.
“One divisional MD would join in midweek cricket matches with our warehouse team, or send a keg?sometimes both. If we then had a big urgent order at a weekend, he didn’t even need to ask teams to come in; they just did because we all understood each other. I have been fortunate to work with many different leaders. They were people who understood their teams at all levels and showed it.”
Prior to working for Compass, Bailey was recognised primarily as a hotelier. How did he think events catering differed?
“The principles are the same: keep it simple, but plan well, execute and put your people first in all that you do.”
Bailey is clear that second best will not do in terms of recruiting talent and believes in mentoring and developing talent once recruited.
His first role in event catering came with Jockey Club Catering (JCC).
“I was quite nervous, even though the Chairman was my old boss Lord Daresbury, as I wondered if my skills really transferred.
“I was lucky in that the leaders all wanted me to succeed. I think that there are some incredible event caterers; equally, I think there are some who would benefit from the training I received in the hotel world and vice-versa. The only real difference is the lack of bedrooms – the rest is all about leading and developing great people and putting the guest first.”
Bailey is proud that Compass has developed a range of joint ventures, including with Jockey Club Catering. The contract with JCC has been renewed even though there are six years left to run. Bailey reasons it “speaks volumes” of this particular partnership relationship.
And partners, he believes, “are becoming more demanding”.
“There is more and more exposure to food and drink across so many channels, and people are really interested in new food, new offers, new ways of doing things and that is really exciting,” he says.
“The next five years will see more entrants to the market and, as always, only the best at innovation and consistent delivery will prosper. Key again is the need to employ the right people.”
Bailey has no doubt that there will be a continuing shift to unusual venues and notes while the majority of events were still hosted in hotels in 2012 (about 60 per cent, he reckons), over 23 per cent are being held in unusual venues, up from 19 per cent in 2011.
For Bailey, key trends in the UK events industry include increasing pressure on some segments and although he perceives a ‘cautious optimism’ in the market, he does not foresee any ‘quick fixes’.
“With such an economic backdrop, we will continue to innovate and work with our partners and prosper together,” says Bailey.
The best piece of career advice Bailey ever received came from another ex-boss, Carl Leaver. “He told me that my greatest strength can be my greatest weakness, my competitive nature. I often recall those words.
“So many stories and tales make this industry so different and exciting,” he says and picks out his funniest moment at work as an episode from his time at The Belfry.
“Our Head of Golf, who will remain nameless (Simon Wordsworth), was playing in a major televised event. On the 12th hole there was a car to be won for a hole in one. I was over in the hotel when the message came back that Simon had ‘got’ the car. We were so thrilled until it was explained that he actually got the car in the sense that he hit it with his golf ball.”
Although Bailey has an eye for accounts, he is clearly aware that people are the most important part to a business.
He talks of a previous role where he had a team of over 50 people responsible for stock taking and reporting results for 500 wine shops and off licences. It was a very data-driven role requiring a fair deal of paper work and Bailey said the whole operation was reliant on the stores sending in their figures on time.
“Three successive poor stock takes and the unit’s accountant was in danger of losing his job,” he said. “The animosity between the central function and the individual stores was rife; despite this, the central function was very much a 9-5 operation. I decided to send the head office team on site to get a better understanding of the issues and to look for solutions rather than excuses. The results were amazing. Store numbers became real people; relationships were built and solutions found as the central function got a far better understanding of the front line operation.”
In terms of goals ahead, Bailey focuses in on a new apprentice scheme at Jockey Club Catering. “We took on about 20 new people who wanted to make a break-through in hospitality. Throughout the first year I watched them grow in terms of both skills and confidence. I love it when they run over and tell me what they have learned and done.”
His teams also recently took part in the Hotel Booking Agents Association Student Placement scheme.
“We think that a year in industry is an essential part of the education and allows the student to be much more prepared when starting out in the industry.”
Bailey points out that one placement, Amy Bowden, enjoyed a wealth of experiences including at Lime Venue Portfolio, the Special Events division, Payne and Gunter, The BRIT Awards, and also at the French House during the Olympics and the sales and events teams at the Ricoh Arena.
“The scheme has left us feeling optimistic about the quality of students coming into the industry. The right experiences and the right attitude proving a winning combination, so much so that we are also involved with the 2013-2014 scheme,” he adds.
This was first published in the November issue of CN. Any comments? Email conferencenews@mashmedia.net
