Recipe for learning with Hilton

Lazarus said he liked to give teams insight into other sectors of the service industry to enable best practice.

When recruiting F&B staff, what level of existing experience do you look for?
This entirely depends on the position and the job description. We hire based on defined competencies, service attitude and general attitude, but train the people the Hilton Worldwide way.

For senior positions, we look for relevant experience with the hospitality industry, but having said that, we do take managers from other industries if their attitude to service is exemplary. Skills can be taught and cultivated, but attitude is innate.

What in-house training do you offer your team?
Internal training is ongoing and rigorous in brand standards through our home grown programme “Mastering the Art of Service” (MAOS). On any given day, you will find our supervisors delivering 15-minute training huddles on the floor and all training sessions are recorded in the team members’ files.

Story continues below

Starting from induction, we offer an assortment of in-house and external training to put our team members through their paces. We train them thoroughly in our brand principles and promise, then progress them on to skills training.

Team members are then trained in their particular field for many days, shadowed by a colleague or a mentor, so that they have a complete understanding of their department before interacting with guests.

We also have great residential courses for junior and senior management members called the Leadership @ Hilton and Pro Active Leadership (PAL).

Many of our best F&B managers have gone on to become operations directors and general managers via the “SHINE” programme that develops department heads to become GMs.

We also rely on external trainers who are experts in a particular field to develop our in-house teams — for instance, we contracted a great master baker from Europe to train all our bakers and pastry chefs to provide the type of excellent bread and pastries that you would find in the best of European bakeries.

At the moment we are utilising the “Fling Group” bar trainers, training and refreshing our barmen to deliver the type of drink you get in, say a high-end New York or London pub. Also, we like to give our teams insight into other sectors of the service industry to incorporate best practices into their own operations.

For instance, during our upcoming F&B area conference to be held in Dubai in March, we are taking all of our chefs and F&B managers aboard one of the newest cruise ships on earth, where they will be given a tour and a seminar on cruise ship F&B operations — a great example of learning from a competitor industry.

Do you believe external F&B qualifications providers are necessary to operators in this region?
Absolutely — a degree in hotel management, a culinary diploma, or mixology certificate from a reputable institute is beneficial to any candidate and the employer, but service attitude and the hospitality spirit is not learned in an institution!

How much of a draw for new employees is training and career development, compared to, say, salary?
Salary is of course a key factor for employees. But that is not the only element that draws employees to a company. Training and a defined career path has always been what sets us apart as an attractive employer and this is an area we work hard to lead the field in.

How do you think the local interest in the industry could be increased?
We are addressing this issue by hosting roadshows in GCC hospitality schools, and we are seeing great interest in Saudi Arabia.

We have to sell a career in hospitality/F&B the way that industries like the military and banking do — in a very structured and transparent way and spread the word that F&B is one of the best industries in the world to have a long and exciting career.

How would you like to see F&B training in the region change in future?
We are working towards partnering with local governments to develop chef and waiter apprenticeship programmes, which would be a win-win proposition.

These are mainstays of the European and North American industries but are virtually non-existent in the region. Its industry-wide implementation will depend on a great deal of effort and cooperation between the industry and the local governments.