This is Hospitality: The globetrotter’s golden passport

Caribbean island-hopping: Kathryn Haskins, GM and owner, Alexandra Hotel

 Kathryn Haskins worked in hotels in the Caribbean and Africa before settling down as GM and owner of the Alexandra Hotel in Lyme Regis, Dorset.

“My parents owned hotels when I was born, but I was never going to follow them into the industry,” she recalls with a smile. Then, while staying with friends in London as a teenager, she walked past the Pelham Hotel, owned at that time by Firmdale. “I was drawn in and ended up getting a job there as front of house the next day.”

She was promoted to project coordinator for Firmdale’s Covent Garden Hotel, before a phone call came from an ex-colleague who had moved to the Caribbean to run F&B for a resort on the British Virgin Islands. “He said, ‘Fancy coming over? I need some help.’ That’s what it’s like in hospitality. Your colleagues move all over the world and global opportunities are never far off.”

Haskins stayed in the Caribbean for six months. “It gave me my taste for work overseas: long hours, but days off would be spent island-hopping on boats, and late at nights we’d meet up on an island that was a pub and a jetty, nothing else.”

She briefly returned to a Firmdale role in London, “but it made me realise that I wanted more – that I’d stumbled into an industry where I could do what I love while travelling. In hospitality, you really get involved in society. It’s not like being a lawyer abroad stuck in your office. The other hotel workers would invite me to the local church and meals with family – you’re part of a country, not seeing it as a tourist.”

So Haskins took her next job in South Africa as lodge operations manager for CCA (now &Beyond) at its Relais & Châteaux property in the Londolozi game reserve. “I’d go back to my room and find an elephant blocking my way. I’d spend time sleeping in the bush on a platform treehouse, hearing the animals moving below at night. Every day, I couldn’t believe as I woke up that I was being paid to do something so amazing.”

She then moved to the Kalahari, followed by Tanzania. “I was working in the western corridor of the Serengeti, and within two weeks of arriving we faced huge rains. Land Rovers were being washed away, the tents each had two metres of water inside them. But we rebuilt!”

After two doses of malaria, she decided to return to the UK, and later bought boutique hotel the Alexandra. “Every day I use some of the things I learnt abroad. In Africa, the emphasis on the care of the land, people and wildlife was far ahead of what hospitality was talking about over here. I came back with that ethos imprinted in my brain.

“I’ve got a great team at the Alexandra and would hate to lose anyone, but if they had the opportunity to go abroad, I’d say go for it. How many other jobs can you fly in, be greeted with a home, uniform, lodging and a wage? Travel is an amazing part of hospitality.”

Down Under with Heston: Evan Moore, head chef, Labombe by Trivet

Evan Moore is head chef at Labombe by Trivet, a restaurant and wine bar in Mayfair, London, after stints in Australia and Spain.

Born in Canada, Moore was earning pocket money as a dishwasher aged 15, “and I haven’t had a job outside a kitchen since,” he laughs. He embarked on culinary school in Toronto, but quit before finishing “because I was obsessed with the Fat Duck – which was the number one restaurant then”. After emailing Heston Blumenthal’s team, he was offered a two-month stage at the restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, and flew to the UK.

After the Fat Duck, he moved to London, working in a range of restaurants before joining the founding team of Dinner by Heston in 2011, in London. “I started as demi chef de partie, and spent 10 years working my way up to sous chef in London, before I was asked to go to Melbourne.”

That was to be head chef at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in Australia – the first restaurant of the group to open outside the UK. “It was a huge adventure. I was there for five years. It was intense at the beginning as most openings are, but the chance to get to know Australian suppliers, travel all over the country to find the best produce, and get involved in the Australian culinary scene and food festivals including the famous one at Margaret River, with unbelievable wineries and international chefs flying over, was remarkable.”

During Covid, Moore moved to Catalonia, Spain, where he spent three years working as a consultant on restaurant projects including boutique cycling hotels. Now he’s back in England, after being recruited to be head chef of Jonny Lake and Isa Bal’s follow-up to Trivet, Labombe.

“I’ve seen so many different parts of the world through work,” Moore says. “One of the best parts of cheffing is being one of a very small minority of people who can take their trade anywhere. As long as you’ve got your knives and can learn the language, you’ve got the world at your fingertips.”

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