Bar Supervisor

Key responsibilities: opening and closing the establishment, supervising staff, training new hires, inventory management, cash reconciliation, tending the bar and serving customers.

I began working for Kernowine in October 2022, before joining in a more permanent capacity in June 2023. As bar supervisor, my responsibilities include overseeing day-to-day bar operations, ensuring customers receive the best service possible, upholding staff productivity, and dealing with any issues which may arise.

To effectively perform my supervisory duties, I am required to demonstrate proficient interpersonal communication skills to articulate goals and expectations clearly and respectfully to other staff members, and further foster a psychologically safe workspace that promotes mutual growth and collaboration. Employing these skills also allows to appropriately communicate with customers from diverse backgrounds to deliver personal interactions and thoughtful service, which is essential when working in inherently customer-facing environments.

Furthermore, working as a supervisor has instilled in me the confidence and skills necessary to resolve any potential conflicts that may arise in a calm and professional manner. For instance, dealing with intoxicated patrons or guests that exhibit hostility toward staff, as well as handling various customer disputes.

During my time at Kernowine I have also had the opportunity to attend supplier wine tasting events in Bristol with Graft Wine, The Modest Merchant, Wanderlust Wine and Thorman Hunt, affording me the chance to explore a wide range delicious wine and network with those working in the trade.

Food and Beverage Assistant

Key responsibilities: serving food and beverages, taking orders, tending the bar, setting up and maintaining dining areas, assisting with inventory management and restocking of supplies.

I started working at The Salthouse Harbour Hotel in May of 2021 in a full-time position until June of 2022. I continue to work with The Salthouse during non-term times when I return to Ipswich.

As a long-serving and trusted member of the team, in addition to my primary responsibilities, I also trained new hires and assumed the responsibility of overseeing restaurant operations in the absence of a manager.

Working in a hotel restaurant requires significant resilience and dedication — working long weekly hours and irregular shift patterns, in a fast-paced and high-pressure environment. Having this experience has taught me the importance displaying a calm and composed demeanour even when under pressure, in order to deliver consistently exceptional and friendly service to guests. Working in a fast-paced setting also necessitated me to effectively manage multiple tasks simultaneously and show meticulous observational awareness to ensure that nothing was overlooked, thus avoiding any potential missteps that could hinder our ability to deliver quality and timely service.

Being a red star hotel, outstanding hospitality is expected, to which I strive to deliver. During my time at the Salthouse, I have demonstrated ongoing enthusiasm to further my professional development — seeking out additional responsibilities and showing a keen passion for food and wine.

Being involved in creating memorable experiences for guests and working within a close-net team has been incredibly rewarding and fostered my love for the profession.

Over the course of my studies at Falmouth University I have had the chance to work on various real-world projects enabling me to get an authentic sense of the tourism industry landscape whilst also developing successful commercial and communication strategies.

One such project involved working on a consultancy proposal in partnership with the visionary and pioneering Eden Project. The project entailed designing an innovative tourism enhancement offering for the renowned visitor attraction and delivering a ten-minute pitch to a board of Eden representatives and industry partners.

The process of crafting a compelling pitch allowed me to enhance my written and verbal communication skills. Including: how to write clearly and concisely to effectively convey my ideas and communicate a consistently strong message to the audience, as well as learning how to deliver an engaging pitch through employing persuasive speaking techniques, confident body language and utilisation of visual cues to reiterate my message. The ability to create and deliver an effective pitch is an indispensable skill for tourism professionals and is applicable in various capacities, from driving customer sales to networking with professional connections. Skilled pitching also demonstrates a wider adeptness at tailoring communication strategies to diverse audiences and ability to successfully build rapport.

A more recent University project required me to prepare and execute a major incident response to a live (table-top) crisis simulation, carrying out team responses to a sequence of consecutive injects for a given crisis scenario.

Prior to the formative assessment, my crisis team and I researched and tailored a major incident response plan to anticipate and effectively address potential crises that may arise at a major tourism attraction, in this case The Eden Project, for a timely and appropriate response. The document comprised of principle legislation and guidance for event organisers; crisis team roles and responsibilities; emergency on-site procedures for incident scenarios arising from natural hazards (e.g. extreme weather, flooding, wildfire etc.) and, opposingly, human-caused incidents (e.g. civil disorder, security threats etc.); and crisis communication strategies — during and after a major incident. Producing a major incident response plan provided me with a comprehensive understanding of the key principles and strategies of event crises management, which is critically important when organising successful events and safeguarding the safety and welfare of attendees and employees.

During the live simulation I adopted a leading role in coordinating team-members, delegating responsibilities and defining clear expectations for the formative assessment. Since the simulated crisis scenario was being assessed under timed conditions, it was essential that team members were well-informed on their individual roles and responsibilities prior to the simulation to minimise confusion and enhance overall team productivity, for optimal use of our given time. Furthermore, effective collaboration was also a valuable asset during this process as it enabled our team to come up with innovative ways for approaching issues, from leveraging individual strengths. I made efforts to facilitate collaboration within my crisis team through the solicitation of ideas from individual members and encouragement of open-discussion and debates to challenge these ideas in a respectful and constructive way. The ability to coordinate group activities and effectively collaborate in a team setting are useful transferable skills that can apply to any job.

Another assignment I have undertaken during my studies at Falmouth is the curation of an online blog platform, that discusses the sizeable emissivity of the wine industry and current sustainable movements helping to decarbonise the sector. Writing this blog was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and allowed me to pursue an area I am personally passionate about. Throughout the process I exercised strong research skills to provide me with relevant and factual sources, for the creation of high-quality blog content that is not only interesting to read but also informative. Further, being able to write in a professional, analytical tone for academic papers and, contrastingly, a more colloquial tone for this project, exhibits strong adaptability skills which is a valuable attribute in any work setting.