Acorns 2019: Tomáš Kubart, 26

Restaurant director, Kerridge's Bar & Grill, Corinthia Hotel London

Nominator Clare James, director of human resources, Corinthia Hotel London
Proudest moment "Opening the doors of Kerridge's Bar & Grill for the first time. Seeing the team that had worked so hard made me extremely proud."

Greatest inspiration "I've worked with some amazing mentors, such as Mark Hastings or Alan Dooley, and I have also always looked up to Danny Meyer as one of the most influential people in hospitality."

Why hospitality is a great career "It's rewarding. We get to make so many people happy every day and offer unique experiences."

Tomáš Kubart's hospitality journey started in 2009, at the Mandarin Oriental in Prague. His star quality was spotted and, within a year, he was selected for the prestigious F&B management programme at the group's London hotel. Here he worked at Bar Boulud, starting as a commis waiter and leaving in 2017 as maitre d', overseeing 250 covers a day and managing a team of 50.

More recently, his talents were spotted by Tom Kerridge, who was so impressed he asked Kubart to launch his first restaurant in the capital, Kerridge's Bar & Grill at the Corinthia Hotel London. As restaurant director, he recruited and trained 45 staff, purchased equipment, co-ordinated reservations, drew up standards and managed the project.

In short, this young restaurant director possesses all the skills a modern restaurant manager needs. His knowledge of people, profit and product means that he keeps the restaurant busy, the profit and loss controlled and his team happy. As a result, Kerridge's achieved strong revenue within the first four months of opening, which contributed to the Corinthia notching up a record year in overall F&B revenue in 2018.

No wonder he was recently named UK Restaurant Manager of the Year by the Institute of Hospitality. Among his other contributions, he has delivered presentations about hospitality opportunities in London to students in Birmingham and even the Czech Republic.