Foodservice Cateys 2018: Regional Manager of the Year – Greg Bramwell, BaxterStorey
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One might imagine it would be hard to stand out in a company with more than 8,500 employees across 700 sites. But speak to anyone at BaxterStorey about its star performers and one particular name comes up more often than not.
It's clear from Bramwell's award entry that he's popular for his people skills, passion for excellent service, humour and creativity. But the facts about his business acumen speak for themselves: he was responsible for £5m of new business in the past year and doubled the turnover of his department to £25m in two years - more than any other BaxterStorey operations director. And over the past two years he has not lost a single contract, while his territory with its 686 employees has had the lowest staff turnover in the company.
It is all largely down to Bramwell's people development skills. A dedicated trainer, he has hired 13 managers from the company's graduate programme in the past six years and put six chefs through BaxterStorey's Chef Academy in three years. He currently has a further eight chefs going through the academy, the most across the whole of BaxterStorey.
His people skills are particularly evident when dovetailed with his passion for coffee. His patch has produced four UK Barista Championship finalists, including Don Altiz, whom Bramwell took from a Costa Coffee barista to one of the UK's best in a few years.
He gives up his own time to mentor his team, and also acts as a mentor for hospitality charity Springboard and for the talent programme of BaxterStorey customer PwC, which helps get the long-term unemployed back into full-time work. As an ambassador to the Edge Hotel School in Colchester, he also helps promote hospitality as a great place to work and brings future talent into the industry.
He is described as a "positive disruptor", who challenges teams and customers alike to be the pioneers in new trends, new suppliers, new technology and innovation generally.
A great example is the development of dining brand Social Bee, which was rolled out across Amazon's Shoreditch and Holborn sites, two of seven new sites he mobilised last year. Social Bee caters for in-house dining and all-day grazing, and brings in local street food traders, helping meet Amazon's goal of integrating into the community.
Bramwell is the type of manager that the judges all wanted in their businesses. He is an extremely worthy winner of the Regional Manager of the Year award.
What the judges said
"Greg deals with a high volume of business, has a proven track record and tangible examples of developing teams and driving sales through innovation."
Francois Gautreaux, managing director, Bartlett Mitchell
"A first-class application. I liked reading about how he developed and supported his team. A worthy winner."
Patrick Harbour, director, Harbour & Jones
"Greg is one of those people you would love to have in your team. Great people skills, true innovation, strong financial results and, above all, great client relationships."
Phil Roker, commercial director, Vacherin
Shortlist
Greg Bramwell BaxterStorey
Holly Brown BaxterStorey
Phil Clerkin Compass Group
Rachel Narayan Aramark Defence Services
Past winners
2017 Marie Arthur Sodexo
2016 Catharine Barras BaxterStorey
2015 Matt Wood Restaurant Associates
2014 Michele Ribaudo BaxterStorey
2013 Chloe Green Lexington Catering
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