Food Technologist-Ms. Chetali Shah

Being from a kutchi-gujarati community, it was difficult for a girl to even think about working post-graduation as they were expected to marry guys who have family businesses and limit themselves to kitchens. This was about more than a decade ago, obviously the scenario has changed now but I am glad my parents thought differently. While bringing up all the three daughters and a son, they did not differentiate based on our gender; we were all treated equally and provided with equal opportunity to become independent. I was the lucky one to have two elder sisters who guided me on my career front. Learning from their experience, they advised me against taking the Commerce stream and opt for a professional course, which will help me develop a career.

Being good with studies and scoring well in SSC led me to choose the science stream. Like every other student, I was in dilemma what to choose post HSC, given the plethora of career options available. At that time, I had seen my neighbour work in a five star hotel as a hygiene manager and the kind of work she did in hygiene and food safety excited me a lot and I followed her footsteps of choosing food technology as a specialisation course to pursue my career in.

I remember being asked by one of the professors during my college days, “Where do you see yourself five years down the line?” and my answer was “working in a five star hotel as a hygiene manager”. The naïve answer that I gave at that time had become a dream without even having the  slightest idea on how I was going to turn it into reality. Since then I knew I belonged to the hospitality industry although in a different field altogether. I worked very hard throughout my college days and topped my college too as I wanted the best internship. Being the topper, in 2004, I was given an option to choose from Cadburys (the organisation which every topper would aspire to join) and Hyatt Hotels (the firm which was taking food technologists as interns for their in-house hygiene lab, for the very first time). My heart knew what I wanted and it led me to choose Hyatt Regency for my internship. I worked hard during the internship to prove my mettle and that resulted in an offer to join their their Management Trainee Program post my graduation.

At that time, the Hygiene Manager of the hotel was Ms. Rupali Saxena, who eventually became my mentor, giving me guidance and helping me develop the necessary skills to succeed in the field.

Just when I was feeling happy with the way my career and life were shaping up, a personal loss struck me hard, four months after joining Hyatt. My father passed away. This put the financial responsibility of the house coupled with the responsibility of taking care of my mother and younger brother (who was still studying) on my shoulders (Since my sisters were already married by then)

The hardships that I faced in my life only made me stronger and mature as an individual. I completed the Management Trainee Program and graduated to becoming the Hygiene Officer. I could not move out of Mumbai, as I had a family here to take care of. So, although moving to a different city would have accelerated my career growth within the industry, I had to choose the more difficult option. But my perseverance paid off and I went on to become Assistant Manager- Hygiene and to finally heading the Hygiene function of the hotel as the Hygiene Manager of the hotel. I spent close to 12 years with the same organisation, which shocked a lot of people, given the high attrition rate in the industry, But I really enjoyed what I did – every bit of it. And this passion for my work was instrumental in the success that I achieved in this organisation.

There was a time when I was told to be mentally prepared to quit the job in case I don’t get married in a family that would allow me to work post marriage. I am grateful to God that I got married into a family who, along with my husband, were modern in their thinking and were supportive of me continuing to work even after marriage.

But it was an uphill task, trying to strike the balance between my personal and professional life. And when I became a mother, I thought it was an end to my career. Again, my mother-in-law came forward to support me and I joined back work, struggling with the guilt of leaving my baby at home. Career growth was not a priority at that point in my life , but the flexibility which this organisation offered to me, in term of work timings, helped me immensely to sail through this challenging phase of my life.

By this time, the food safety and hygiene function had become my passion and I was craving to do something for the betterment of the society. As a part of ‘green team’ of the hotel, I worked for quite a few projects related to environment sustainability and was also awarded the Hyinnovators award for suggesting and implementing the green concept of converting used vegetable oil into an eco-friendly product – Biodiesel.

I also became a part of hotel’s Global Hand Washing Day celebrations along with ‘Sundara Project’(which recycles used soaps obtained from Hotels) where in I was given an opportunity to a conduct training session on Hand Washing and Hand Hygiene for the children living in  slum areas. I got a chance to conduct hygiene sessions for various other children’s home too. I was the one who lead the project of ISO 22000 certification for the hotel and our hard work of almost three years lead to the final certification of the hotel. Being a part of this project, I worked very closely with different teams of the hotel – be it engineering, housekeeping, culinary, service, purchasing etc and integrating the concept of ISO 22000 into the system was not only challenging but also a great learning experience for me.

Being a part of Human Resources Team (surprisingly as I reported to the Director of Human Resources), again for which I need to be thankful to God , gave me an exposure to training, recruitment, payroll, employee engagement activities too  apart from my core Hygiene related work. My thirst for learning was always there which led me take up projects on my own and I kept learning something new every time. I could have moved to HR or Training but my true passion was for Hygiene and Food Safety. I knew that this field will have a great potential for growth in the near future and hence it made me stick to the same career field. As of today, I work with the Reliance Industries Ltd. whose next venture is into hospitality sector with one of the largest convention centre coming up, helping them set up food safety management systems is quite exciting and I look forward to growing in this field.

With the launch of food safety regulations in India, the food safety culture is changing in the country and the scope of growth for professionals like me is very high. It gives you an opportunity in training, auditing, consulting, R& D, Analysis and lot more. I really believe in the adage “If you want to be successful in this world, follow your passion not your paycheck”.

For all the women out there, who are struggling to be a super – woman, I only have one piece of advice, “It’s okay to not be perfect sometimes. You are doing a great job. Don’t give up on your dreams. Who says it’s going to be easy! But you have to keep going! A positive attitude can really make your dreams come true – it did for me”

http://www.theiwh.com/the-journey-of-a-food-technologist-ms-chetali-shah/

Website:

http://www.theiwh.com

Hospitality Attitude

Hospitality is much more than a simple welcome or an offer of food or drink. It is an attitude that opens us to others and receives them on their own terms. In other words, what we know as anticipation of others needs, in this case the guest needs!

Attitude is evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people or events. Attitude generally has two components figuratively speaking. Affective component could be emotional or a feeling segment of an attitude whereas Behavioral component is an intention to behave in a certain way towards someone or something.

It is easy to train someone to do a job but it's extremely difficult to train someone with a poor attitude. One needs to work on the attitude first, if that's right anything can be done and achieved with great success.

The key  is to paying attention. We need to get out of ourselves and become interested in the expectations of others. I have been a part of the hospitality industry for over two decades and I feel its not just your physical assets such as the building and other tangibles that are important in the success of the organisation but its the attitude and qualities that the employees possess and display.

Lets look at what makes a great hospitality attitude. It is extremely simple, doing things from the heart and having certain basic qualities and personality traits.

Willingness to serve

The employees should possess and display readiness to serve others. Customers here are referred to as guests and guests need that special attention.

Physical Fitness

The job is demanding with long hours of work, working in shifts or involving a lot of physical work. If not that then it could be standing for long hours.
Grooming standards
A pleasing personality with well groomed appearance makes an employee the perfect hospitality professional.  

Guest is always right! ....A guest is a guest is a guest!

A guest is a guest, lets not look at whether he is right or not. Hotels place a very high priority to guest satisfaction. Now that has moved a notch higher to guest delight or creating that dazzle.

Personal  and  Professional ethics

Ethics are your sense of right and wrong. Morals and values that define how you are as a person are your personal ethics. How you behave and conform to the rules in a professional setting are  your  professional ethics. One must maintain the dignity of each domain.

Integrity

The employees should be honest and have strong moral principles as they deal with both hotel assets as well as guest valuables.

Diplomacy

The employees should be sensitive in dealing with others and they must achieve peaceful resolutions in guest interactions. If not a solution, it must at least facilitate discussions.

Communication Skills

The most successful in the hospitality business are those with excellent communication skills. They can communicate effectively both verbally and in writing also displaying positive body language always.

Computer knowledge

A great hospitality employee should have good computer skills and should be familiar with a wide range of technological applications that are used in the industry.

Knowledge of Safety and Hygiene 

Employees should be  familiar with rules of safety and hygiene as they apply to kitchens, restaurants and other places where guests spend time

Interpersonal skills

The very nature of the business is to provide immaculate customer service, the base for the same being one's interpersonal skills.
Leadership
The employees must have strong leadership quality and the ability to take charge that contributes to an organization's overall success.

Loyalty and Commitment

One must be loyal to the organisation and also do whatever it takes to keep customers happy. That's the key to creating repeat business and important for any industry not just hospitality.

Multi tasking
To stay focused , the employee should be organized and multitask with efficiency. They must be thorough in their work and realize that any oversight could result in customer dissatisfaction or loss of business.

Enthusiasm

Great employees are enthusiastic about their jobs and they strive to do their best at every interaction. They give their customers the best service available and create that WOW experience every time!

Teamwork 

Every employee needs be a team player. No one can succeed alone in a people dominated industry. Everyone's contribution counts. 

Anyone who wants to build a successful career in the hospitality industry, this could be your guide to what it takes to be there and all those who are already working as professionals can use this as their checklist!
I believe that education is the forming of impressions on the soul.

Picture courtesy: Apeejay Institute of Hospitlality

Hotels and the dotcoms

Last week, in fact on my last post there was a comment from one of the readers asking me whether I had stopped writing on the topic of hospitality. It certainly got me thinking and here comes the post, don't know how good, bad or ugly it is but I wish to dedicate this one to that reader. I belong to the old world of hospitality. Can call it Old world as I belong to the mid 90s when there were  a very few hotel schools and institutes in the country. There were also no foreign hotels or hotel chains operating in India, barring a few big hotels that had franchise or management contract of the Intercontinental, Penta or Kempenski to name a few. The big players being the Taj, The Oberoi, The Leela, ITC  Welcom Group, The Park hotels etc.

This was also the time when a few people flew, if someone travelled by flight within the country, there was a fear that probably something unpleasant had happened or there was an emergency. No wonder every movie made at that time, especially the ones made by the Bombay film industry had atleast one airport scene. The heroine of the movie was generally introduced coming home from vilayat!

Five star hotels were truly five star, an exclusive product that had the snob value to it. The guests were also fit to be there. A bit of ego massage always went a long way. A guest being recognised and addressed by his name. Guest histories maintained to delight and dazzle the guest on the next arrival. Customer satisfaction was not the buzz word anymore, everyone did that, something better was thought of every moment. There was competition among hotels to offer better products or services. Innovation always got appreciation and was also paid! They could charge premium for using things as simple as better toiletries and guest amenities.Hotels started moving from having soaps, shampoos, shower gels and moisturisers having the hotel name and logo on the wrapper or the label to them showing off some good brands. We have come a long way now the hotels showcase their amenities. 

There was a distinct divide between a 3 star hotel and a 5 star property. The rates were a clear indication. One knew what to expect and at what price point. Bookings were through the sales offices around the world, I believe it was quite personalised that way and some GDS (Global Distribution System like the Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, Worldspan etc) were used. GDS was used more by the airline industry since they already had a huge network across countries and continents, it became the next best thing to be used by the hotels for managing their reservations.  Utell was used by hotels for their reservations and there were others like the Leading hotels of the world or SRS hotels and similar others that managed reservations as well as publicity and promotions for the member hotels. The product that these organisations dealt with was purely hotels. They understood and valued the product. Understood their clients and also the operational aspects of a hotel. 

Then came the flood of dotcoms, handled and managed by software companies somewhere they became distributors for hotel rooms. Expedia, Makeytrip, Cleartrip, Trip advisor and many others. For them it became a business to manage the room rates, indirectly though. In fact they slowly and steadily got into the hotels, gave then guaranteed business and bought a good chunk of their rooms. Hotels didn't mind it, as they got a steady business.The dotcoms took almost all hotels in their wings. It became necessary for the hotels to be a part of these intersell agencies (selling more than one product line). The dotcoms started indirectly dictating terms to the hotels. Hotels had to list themselves not with one of these but almost everyone. Revenue management became a key expertise in the hotels. Now along with the sales and Front office, revenue management became a very important and crucial portfolio.

The dotcoms have made the business of hotel and hotel booking easier and transparent. But this level of transparency is not always that good for the business. The repercussions of this has affected the hotel industry greatly. The hotels don't make much profit so there isn't much left to be reinvested in to the business. Reinvestment is required to develop and refresh the product. Some hotels are badly hit, this has lead to the product deteriorating and downsizing of staff has led to poor service quality too. The measure can be as drastic as shutting down of the property itself. In fact there was report of a hotel owner committing suicide recently. Don't really know the reason but somewhere this thought came to my mind. I may not be correct, but its definitely something to be looked at.

Hospitality is all about personalised service, it certainly cannot be completely driven by technology. Guests and customers who value good service need to also bear in mind that asking for discounts and low rates are not sustainable measures. It's said that hospitality and good service never goes out of fashion!... it seems to have got mixed up somewhere but there is certainly a need to bring back the charm of old world hospitality.

Pictures are taken from Google, with due credits.