Interviews

Q: Does SSP retain a culture of career progression? A: It was lovely series of evolutionary steps, made very simple. I think one of the best things about this business is that our learning and development programme is as good as anyone’s out there. We have a lot of trainers and a very extensive portfolio of training courses. We have a programme of recruitment from within and every two weeks a vacancy lists goes out to every one of the 650 units in the UK. Q: Which achievement are you most proud of?

Tim Hammond took over as chief executive of Elior UK in January, appointed to succeed Mike Audis. He joined from Barchester Healthcare, which taken together with his trusteeship of the charity Age UK gives him a real insider’s understanding of Elior’s care homes business. Q. What job did you want to do when you were still at school?

Q: What sort of job did you hope to do when you were at school? A: I always thought I’d go into catering.   My grandparents had been chefs, as were my parents. In fact, they ran a tea shop in the West Midlands when I was growing up. Q. So what did you do when you left? A: At 16, I went to Cassio College in Watford and did my City & Guilds 706, 707, 717 – the traditional, two-year, craft-based catering course. Q: What was your first job?

Q: What did you want to do when you left school? A: I have always been fascinated by wildlife and, growing up in a rural environment, I thought I would become a vet. Q: What, in fact, did you do?