Trekker update: Stewart Smallwood

Smallwood will be taking on the "experience of a lifetime" from 25 March to 3 April along with 23 other people within the hospitality sector. Springboard is a charity which helps young, unemployed and disadvantaged people to find careers in the hospitality industry. Smallwood gives us a snapshot into his world. Background of the company Elior UK is owned by the Groupe Elior, a European leader in contracted foodservice with over €3.1bn in annual sales. Elior is one of the major players in France and also has a strong presence in the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Portugal and in the Netherlands. The Group was founded in 1991, when the company's co-founders, Francis Markus and Robert Zolade, along with 300 managers, acquired a 35% stake in Generale de Restauration, a subsidiary of the Accor group. In 1994, Accor's remaining stake in Generale de Restauration was bought out. Elior is a privately owned company. Elior applies its foodservice expertise for the benefit of its clients and guests in the worlds of business & industry, education and healthcare, as well as in the sports, travel (airports, railway stations, motorways), leisure and culture (museums, exhibition centres) sectors. Each day, our 69,000 employees serve 2.9 million guests at some 14,500 restaurants and outlets in 15 countries. A further sector in which Elior UK operates is in the integrated services sector, where EIS operates in the defence and FM sectors; Mocha Plus, Elior UK's vending specialist, is also part of this sector. Your background I have worked for Elior for the last eight years, and am currently regional director for B&I Contracts in the North, West & Scotland. I started my career as a chef in the UK in 1975, I then moved to Bonn in West Germany where I was chef de partie at the renowned Ambassador Restaurant in the five star Steigenberger Hotel. In 1979 I returned to the UK, where I joined Gardner Merchant as a chef/manager in the B&I division. In 1983 I was head chef at the Titchwell Manor Country House Hotel on the North Norfolk coast, where I stayed for two years before joining Grand Met / Compass Group in 1985. I spent 16 years with Compass in various roles, including site manager, area support manager, operations manager and operations director, covering B&I, education, events, retail, leisure and government services contracts. From 1994 to 2001, I focused on the defence sector as a senior director on the Global FM Team, working in both sales and operations initially in UK, then overseas from 1995, covering 38 countries in just six years. On leaving Compass, I joined Rentokil Initial (Autograph) running sales and operations in the North, before joining Elior in June 2003. What does your day to day job involve? I am regional director responsible for over 80 staff restaurants in the North & West of England and Scotland. My direct reports include operations directors, operations managers and other support personnel. I spend most of my time visiting sites and meeting with clients. Sum yourself up in one sentence I love a challenge! And what are your hobbies? I love watching rugby, having played the sport many years ago. I am also a keen hill walker and skier, and try to play golf! How did it come about you taking on this kind of challenge? Elior asked for a volunteer to take on the Great Wall challenge for Springboard. I was selected on the basis of my fundraising history and ideas to reach the £7,000 target, which predominantly involve some form of CR benefit. What does The Springboard Charity mean to you? I recently qualified as an Ambassador for Springboard, after seeing the result of young people being given a career opportunity at some of our sites in Scotland. How is your training for The Great Wall going? I formed the Elior Hillwalking Club in September 2010, with the intention of attracting both novice and experienced hikers to join me in training for a sponsored challenge at the beginning of March 2011. The cl