Chief Executive of Baxter Storey
BaxterStorey

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William Baxter and Alastair S

00:02 William Baxter: My name’s William Baxter I’m deputy chief executive of Baxter Storey.

00:06 Alastair S: And I’m Alastair S the chief executive of Baxter Storey.

00:10 William: Well we used to work in the same company quite a long time ago about 25 years ago now. And our careers were pretty similar for about 5 years then I left that particular company and formed my own business and Alastair stayed on to grow and develop his career with that organisation. We remained friends during that period of time and got our businesses together in 2000.

00:35 Alastair: People told me school’s best days of your life, every day since I have left school has been a better day.

00:42 William: I’d go with that. I couldn’t wait to leave school in some respects yeah cos, I always felt a little bit of a failure compared to my brothers and sisters if I’m totally honest. Because I never achieved the, the grades and the academic accolades that they did I mean they were, they went on to become lawyers and doctors and were very confident about their academic ability but I wasn’t. I was always easily distracted, and could always think of a thousand other things to do than putting my head into a book and studying for an exam.

01:09 William: My father well he was at Cambridge university, there, in civil engineering, and became chairman of the largest firm of civil engineers, consultant civil engineers in the UK. So an academic but a very practical man at the same token.

01:22 William: Well I think he was glad that I got a job to be quite frank you know, he was very supportive all the way along.

01:28 Alastair: There’s some people have got a magnificent ability to study and I applaud that because we need it, but I think I’m one of life’s tell me what roughly I need to do and I might just go out and try and do it.

01:40 William: I was very relieved when I went to work that two things, firstly I thoroughly enjoyed it, and secondly I became very good at it.

01:49 Alastair: To be absolutely honest I really wanted to go to art school, but I think I concluded that A, I probably wasn’t talented enough, and B, it probably wasn’t going to be a great way of making a lot of money.

02:01 William: My first job was an assistant catering manager at Blue Circle Industries in, in Victoria. I was only there for 11 months before I was given an area role looking after about 12 locations with about 200 staff to run and I was only 23 years of age then, so and I found that fantastic in one respect and terrifying in another. Because there are, you know I had quite a lot of people working for me, majority of them were older than me, more experienced and to some extent you know they, they wondered who this young upstart was coming in to tell them what to do and how to do it.

02:33 Alastair: When I left I, I graduated I joined the company as William said, Sutcliffe catering and I stayed with them for 25 years, I joined them as a trainee and ended up as chief exec, and then ultimately at the turn of the millennium which seemed like a good idea to changes things, I decided I ought to set up on my own an use the skills I’d gained in, in at somebody else’s expense.

02:56 William: You get fantastic food in staff restaurants these days, the hospitality side of business, looking after senior executives off the very large companies, the quality of cuisine and the quality of cooking and the quality of care that goes into the service is exemplary.

03:10 Alastair: If you set aside the glamour bit of it because I think hotels and restaurants are the, have a feeling of glamour and are glamorous for the customer, but less glam, glamorous perhaps for the people who, who are working in it. The contract catering I think is a far more exciting industry for the person who’s working in it.

03:27 Williams: Employees have a far better deal, they’ve got a better life work balance, the career paths are fantastic within our sector.

03:35 Alastair: I didn’t really sort of get into this industry 100% knowing this is really what I want to do.

03:43 William: We tend to look for people who are doers, who are enthusiastic and enjoy the hospitality sector, and they can do very well.

03:51 END

Alastair S is the chief executive of Baxter Storey, the UK’s fifth largest contract caterer. After graduating he joined a catering company as trainee and worked his way up to Chief Exec before forming his own company with William Baxter.

More information about Chief executives and senior officials

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£104,000

average salary

The UK average salary is £29,813

average weekly hours

There are 37.5 hours in the average working week

77% male

23% female

The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male

Future employment

Future employment?

Description

? This unit group includes those who head large enterprises and organisations. They plan, direct and co-ordinate, with directors and managers, the resources necessary for the various functions and specialist activities of these enterprises and organisations. The chief executives of hospitals will be classified in this unit group. Senior officials in national government direct the operations of government departments. Senior officials in local government participate in the implementation of local government policies and ensure that legal, statutory and other provisions concerning the running of a local authority are observed. Senior officials of special interest organisations ensure that legal, statutory and other regulations concerning the running of trade associations, employers’ associations, learned societies, trades unions, charitable organisations and similar bodies are observed. Chief executives and senior officials also act as representatives of the organisations concerned for the purposes of high level consultation and negotiation.

Qualifications

Entry may be by appointment or internal promotion, as appropriate, and is usually based on relevant experience although candidates may also require academic qualifications for some posts.

Tasks

Analyses economic, social, legal and other data, and plans, formulates and directs at strategic level the operation of a company or organisation;
Consults with subordinates to formulate, implement and review company/organisation policy, authorises funding for policy implementation programmes and institutes reporting, auditing and control systems;
Prepares, or arranges for the preparation of, reports, budgets, forecasts or other information;
Plans and controls the allocation of resources and the selection of senior staff;
Evaluates government/local authority departmental activities, discusses problems with government/local authority officials and administrators and formulates departmental policy;
Negotiates and monitors contracted out services provided to the local authority by the private sector;
Studies and acts upon any legislation that may affect the local authority;
Stimulates public interest by providing publicity, giving lectures and interviews and organising appeals for a variety of causes;
Directs or undertakes the preparation, publication and dissemination of reports and other information of interest to members and other interested parties.
Analyses economic, social, legal and other data, and plans, formulates and directs at strategic level the operation of a company or organisation;
Consults with subordinates to formulate, implement and review company/organisation policy, authorises funding for policy implementation programmes and institutes reporting, auditing and control systems;
Prepares, or arranges for the preparation of, reports, budgets, forecasts or other information;
Plans and controls the allocation of resources and the selection of senior staff;
Evaluates government/local authority departmental activities, discusses problems with government/local authority officials and administrators and formulates departmental policy;
Negotiates and monitors contracted out services provided to the local authority by the private sector;
Studies and acts upon any legislation that may affect the local authority;
Stimulates public interest by providing publicity, giving lectures and interviews and organising appeals for a variety of causes;
Directs or undertakes the preparation, publication and dissemination of reports and other information of interest to members and other interested parties.
Analyses economic, social, legal and other data, and plans, formulates and directs at strategic level the operation of a company or organisation;
Consults with subordinates to formulate, implement and review company/organisation policy, authorises funding for policy implementation programmes and institutes reporting, auditing and control systems;
Prepares, or arranges for the preparation of, reports, budgets, forecasts or other information;
Plans and controls the allocation of resources and the selection of senior staff;
Evaluates government/local authority departmental activities, discusses problems with government/local authority officials and administrators and formulates departmental policy;
Negotiates and monitors contracted out services provided to the local authority by the private sector;
Studies and acts upon any legislation that may affect the local authority;
Stimulates public interest by providing publicity, giving lectures and interviews and organising appeals for a variety of causes;
Directs or undertakes the preparation, publication and dissemination of reports and other information of interest to members and other interested parties.