This month we take a look at some women in the trade who have impressed us over the last year. Obviously there are lots more, but sometimes some fly under the radar. All of the women we are featuring are making a real contribution to the Scottish licensed trade and to businesses they work in. there are a few women who would appear in this list year after year, and they are mentioned at the end of the page.
Josie Binnie
Proprietor, Town House Restaurants
Josie Binnie has been the sole Proprietor of the Town House Restaurant Group for more than a year now. It’s her passion, drive and ambition that is now driving the business forward. She leads the team at The Wheelhouse Restaurant in Falkirk and at The Boathouse at Auchinstarry Marina and was delighted when The Wheelhouse won Best Small Business 2014 and Outstanding Achievement Award 2014 at the Falkirk Business Awards. Josie started out in the hospitality business at the tender age of 16 at the Oxgang Hotel in Grangement and after helping to open the 1st of three Brewer’s Fayres in Scotland she went onto to be one of Whitbread’s leading hotel managers. Latterly looking after the Pirnhall Inn in Stirling, before setting up Town House Restaurants in 2008 with former husband Malcolm. Says Josie, “The strengths of the business are reflective of the team I have developed over the past 9 years who are passionate about the continued journey of customer excellence.”
She continue, “My focus this year is to further develop my team especially in the kitchen and management. I am also determined to get “out of the business” more with my managers and visit other restaurants to see what is trending and what would work for Townhouse Restaurants”.
Stephanie Wade
Director, The Tennent’s Training Academy & Visitor Centre
Stephanie has now been in this role for eighteen months, although prior to this she was Sales and Operations Manager for the business. Her team are responsible for ensuring that Scottish employees in the licensed trade, that sign up at the Academy, get the very best hospitality training. The Academy is dedicated to the Hospitality Industry and offers a fresh approach to learning new skills with exciting cookery classes, legislative hospitality trade courses and inspirational teaching in a unique environment. Stephanie says she is passionate about the UK Hospitality & Tourism Industry, and is inspired by the fantastic stories of career development in our fast moving industry. In 2013 she was included in the UK’s Top 30 under 30 Acorn Awards, which acknowledge young people who are making their mark on the industry.
Stephanie says, “2015 was a fantastic year for the Tennent’s Training Academy. We delivered a vast amount of courses and events for our diverse client base, and we look forward to more of the same in 2016. We know it’s a challenging time for the industry as a whole but we’re greatly encouraged by the volume of talented and committed individuals of all ages that have passed through our various accredited courses.
“We’re passionate about hospitality and tourism and are proud to work with people from across Scotland to develop the skills they need to either enter into work or to expand their skills, help boost the sector, and be part of an exciting industry that is hugely valuable to the Scottish economy.”
Lynne Parker
General Manager, West on the Corner
Lynne Parker took on the role of General Manager at West on the Corner at the end of last year, after occupying the same role at Cafe Gandolfi for nearly 10 years. At the time she said, “After almost a decade at Gandolfi, it seemed like the right time to switch from one Glasgow dining institution to another. I’ve always been impressed by Petra’s ideas and WEST on the Corner offered a rare opportunity to help establish an exciting new dining venture in the West End almost from the outset.”
Cara Mikolic
Co-owner Riverbank, La Barca & Cattle & Creel, Helensburgh
Cara is now putting as much enthusiasm, drive and passion into running her own restaurant businesses with husband Milan, as she did when she was working as a journalist for Scotland’s biggest selling daily newspaper, The Daily Record. She may have followed her mother into journalism, but having met hubby Milan in Greece, it was he that followed her back to Glasgow. He continued working in hospitality, but it was not until Cara had her two children that she decided, in 2010, to take redundancy from the Record and go into business for themselves with the opening of The Riverbank in Helensburgh. This was followed by a Spanish tapas restaurant La Barca in 2012, with the latest restaurant Cattle & Creel opening at the end of last year. Cara recently told DRAM, “It’s not meant to be easy, it’s meant to be challenging, but we thrive on that.”
Karen McCormick
Operations Manager, Attraction Inns
Karen started working for boss Rob Orr in 1997 as a student and after graduating from Napier University, she continued to work her way up through the company. Today she is responsible for all the training in the company with Supervisors and Management teams. Helps build the business by focussing on increasing profitability, year on year, in all outlets as well as having a hands on role when it comes to refurbishing and re-launching venues, an area of the job that she just loves. She also deals with the trade reps and likes sourcing up and coming products in the industry. And if that was not enough she also works in the head office a couple of days a week – running the company payroll, invoicing and dealing accounts. She told DRAM, “We have just had all four venues in Edinburgh awarded Gold in the Best bar none Awards and Silk got Best in the Nightclub category. Dusk in Stirling also was recently awarded a Silver. She continues, “Producing all policies and implementing and training all staff is a very rewarding part of my job – made more so by the awards we got at the end of last year.”
Beverly Payne
Chief operating officer, Carlowrie Castle Limited
Beverly has a wealth of experience in the hotel industry and although now COO of Carlowrie her past experience includes acting as a consultant for various hoteliers and working as Interim MD for various companies including Q-Hotels and Saltire Taverns.
Beverly first came to Scotland to work with Gleneagles Hotel that first attracted her to Scotland and then helped Ken McCulloch establish One Devonshire Gardens, before creating Malmaison Hotels. She loves to help build hospitality brands renowned for total quality and also believes in developing talent in the industry as such she is a trustee of HIT Scotland and Chair of the scholarship committee. She is now giving Carlowrie Castle her full attention to help establish it globally as a true modern luxury Scottish Castle.
Suzanne McLaughlin
Co-owner Yesbar, Glasgow
Suzanne used to be as much at home tending to the needs of passengers at 35,000 feet as an air hostess, as she was serving customers on ground level in Yesbar, formerly Vespar, the Glasgow bar she runs with husband Jim McLaughlin (aka DJ Jim Da Best). However now she is now combining running the bar with a political career. In fact she and husband Jim changed the name of their bar during the referendum to Yesbar. She was a supporter of the Radical Independence Campaign during the referendum and is on the Board of Women for Independence. Now she is officially a nominee for Glasgow Regional list candidacy in the Holyrood 2016 elections. Currently she is Women’s and Equalities Officer at the party. Suzanne told DRAM, “If I am elected I think not only will I be a voice for women, but business owners, and of course I will be able to voice my concerns over issues concerning the licensed trade.”
Dale MacPhee
General Manager, Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh -The Caledonian
Originally from Nova Scotia Dale now holds British citizenship. She joined the Hilton Halifax as Front Desk Receptionist for the summer, which was 23 years ago! Since then she has worked with Hilton Worldwide joining the luxury division, Waldorf Astoria almost 6 years ago. Dale has worked in Europe for around 17 years, arriving in the UK in 2004 and in Scotland in 2013.
Dale has pioneered new ground for women in the hospitality business as the first female General Manager within the division and of the only Waldorf Astoria in the UK. She said: ‘‘The Caley’ is one of the most iconic buildings in Edinburgh and Edinburgh is now one of my favourite cities. Having arrived in Scotland knowing no-one I was thrilled with the welcome I received. As a result, one of my favourite aspects of the job is to welcome guests from around the world alongside those from the city. Each has a different reason for visiting and we love helping to create a memorable stay.’
Fallon Cowley
Operations Director, Manorview
Fallon Cowley is a force to be reckoned with at Manorview. She is boss Steve Graham’s righthand woman, but she is also his niece, and keeping it in the family, she is also married to the Group’s Development Director, Anthony. The two acquired their shares in the company in 2009. Together they make a formidable team, and Fallon with her attention to detail and focus on all the operational aspects of the business, has been key to Manorview’s success. The company portfolio includes The Busby Hotel, the Lynnhurst Hotel in Johnstone, and the Bowfield Hotel in Howwood, as well as The Torrance in East Kilbride with its latest acquisition Boclair House, in Bearsden due to open shortly.
Her role includes handling all HR and Recruitment, Marketing, Procurement and Sales and Revenue Management. She also focusses on ensuring high standards of customer service are observed at all times.
Louise Ralston
General Manager, The Trading House
Louise makes a return to our ‘Women we Love’ featuring having just returned to Glasgow as General Manager of the new Trading House on St Vincent Place. The new bar and restaurant, which opened last year is part of The New World Trading Company, which is an offshoot of Living Ventures, and Louise, who has worked for the company in one role or other since 2009. First as GM at The Grill on the Corner, part of their Blackhouse arm, which saw her takes sales from 600 covers per week to 3,000, before moving to Manchester. She has moved back to Glasgow to take on the challenge of establishing the Trading House. She seems to be doing a good job.
Lisa Wishart of Lisini and Lynn Mortimer of Lynnet are two of the most social licensed trade Managing Directors and entrepreneurs I know. Work hard, play hard, comes to mind! Both are hands on, forward thinking, and have managed to work with their respective fathers (Harry Hood and James Mortimer) over the years admirably. Both live and breathe the businesses they run. They have inherited their parents work ethic and have brought their own expertise to the business. They are certainly not to be underestimated and continue to drive their family businesses forward.
Laurie Nicol, Regional Operations Director – Scotland at Principal Hayley/Starwood Capital Group, who I wrote about last year, continues to bring her own special magic to the business she runs for Principal Hayley, which now includes The Blythswood Hotel and The Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow, The George Hotel, The Bonham and The Roxburgh in Edinburgh. She presided over the revamp and launch of The Printing Press late last year and her team was tasked with looking after George Clooney when he stayed in Edinburgh.
Maroulla Nicholas, Managing Director of The Glynhill picked up the DRAM Lifetime Achievement Award last year. She has been boss at the Renfrew hotel, which she owns with her two brothers, for too many years to mention! She is currently putting the finishing touches to a revamp of the hotel’s bedrooms. While she has fresh plans for the hotel’s bar areas too. Last year saw the ongoing refurbishment of the hotel which she tells me is always ongoing.
Angela Vickers, Chief Executive of Apex Hotels saw the first Glasgow hotel for the group open at the tail-end of last year. Angela, who is an accountant to trade, keeps abreast of all the issues that could affect the hotel industry not only now, but in the future too. Last time I spoke to her she was concerned about the ‘Cyber’ risk, and her predictions were not far off the mark, no sooner than she mentioned it than Talktalk suffered its Cyber hack. Definitely a hotelier to keep an eye on.