Monday marked the start of a new chapter for me. I joined LEON in the role of Chief Marketing Officer and what a week it’s been! As each day went on, I got to unravel a little bit more of LEON.
The week started with ‘Hello LEON’, a full day immersion for all new starters, where I was with a team who were joining the restaurants; from those new-to-industry, to experienced general managers and everything in between. These people were about to spend the whole week together in intensive training; I got to join them for just a day. Some (like me) were nervous, many didn’t speak English as a first language, all of them had little idea what the week held, but showed up with energy, positivity and trust.
Full health and food safety training was a key part of the day, where I learned important hygiene procedures, such as the strict handwash procedure every-20-minutes in restaurants (which served me well on Thursday). I finished just in time to join my first management meeting, where I met my peers on the leadership team and watched the dynamic as ideas and projects were discussed.
Tuesday and Wednesday saw me start the day with a delicious halloumi and mushroom poached egg pot at LEON Bankside, overlooking the beautiful Tate Modern. On these days I totally immersed myself with the team, spending 30 minutes with each team member (or as many as I could get around) to learn what’s on their plate, what’s going well, what’s going not so well… I joined a mammoth food tasting and felt grateful for just how wonderful it is to be back in food. I missed it in the 6 years I’ve been out of it. I listened, I asked questions, I wrote notes, I processed… my head started to fill. Hypotheses started to build…
Thursday saw me spend the day back of house (in the kitchen) in LEON Birmingham New Street. My alarm went off at 4.30am and I made the journey to Birmingham, joined on the M6 by the early risers who were heading to do similar jobs or schlepping across the country for a lunchtime meeting and a 7-hour drive. I have never worked in a kitchen (apart from my own), and it’s about 18 years since I did a bar job as a student in a wine bar. I was nervous.
I arrived around 6.45am, met Agi, the general manager, who gave me my hair net, hat, chefs trousers and t-shirt. I changed and started to feel the pressure of working in a small, hot kitchen which was about to serve a busy breakfast crowd. I worked mostly with Emilio, a Spanish trained chef, who helped me get to grips with the food prep that was needed for the day ahead. I graduated from scooping sides like humous into pots, to making the brand new (it was menu launch day) salads and then ultimately ended up serving lunch with Simon, making up the hot meals like Brazilian black beans.
At 2pm, the afternoon shift started and an influx of 4 new colleagues joined to changeover, every single one of whom greeted me with open arms, a hug and a huge smile. We talk about a ‘big warm welcome’ for our customers. I definitely benefited from that too! As far as they were concerned, I was a new starter in their restaurant. They hadn’t yet been given the context that I am a marketing person, trying to gain a deep understanding of their world in order to better serve them. I’m back this week for two more restaurant days and I feel like I’ll be going back to join friends… well, family even.
Friday saw me start the day with a walk around some restaurants in the busy City of London, with Russ, one of the operations managers. I visited Cannon St, Watling St, Cheapside and Ludgate – in each restaurant I was welcomed like a long-lost friend and invited in to understand more about the day to day and opportunities ahead of me to collaborate from a marketing standpoint. Friday lunchtime included the cliched marketing perk of a beautiful lunch with our PR agency, who I’m looking forward to getting to know. It was boxed off by a private PT session with my new PT, Marc. Each LEON employee gets access to the LEON gym, where Marc, the resident PT resides. Everyone can access as much PT as they want for free, and Friday saw me have my first ‘assessment’ session with the expert. An hour of chatting, lifting, squatting and stretching left Marc and I clear on my goals and next steps. I’ve booked in for two more sessions next week.
Mid press-up, during the PT session, I noticed the group I’d met on Monday morning were wrapping their week up in front of me. The previously quieter or nervous ones from the group were unrecognisable. As they walked out, a strong week of training behind them they embraced each other, laughed together and joked like they’d known each other all their lives. They were confident and optimistic. They had flourished! Before I left, I popped upstairs to wash my cup and noticed there was a food giveaway in the kitchen, and I met Chantal, who suggested I should take ownership of the lovely shiny aubergine that was going spare. ‘Oh yes’, I thought – I can cook for my veggie mum on Sunday. Chantal went on to gift me a LEON Vegan recipe book, and passionately suggested I cook a dish from there. She humbly pointed out that the book was co-written by her, so she could vouch for the recipe being great.
I left the office near Borough to see the glistening glass of the Shard, aubergine and recipe book in hand, legs aching from the squats, smile on my face, exhausted but excited, head buzzing and looking forward to Monday.