Hospitality is a family. And when members of your family are struggling, you do what you can to help them.
That’s been the attitude of veteran hospitality educator and charity campaigner, Gordon McIntyre MBE, who was last month named winner of the SLTN Industry Achievement Award.
Growing up with both parents and grandparents in hospitality, it’s safe to say that Gordon has the industry in his blood. And though he briefly considered a career elsewhere, a summer job at Inveraray’s legendary George Hotel sparked what would become a life-long love of hospitality.
In those days staff at the hotel had a couple of hours off in the afternoons. They’d sail across Loch Fyne for beers and barbecue and then come back for the evening shift. Good food, good beer, good company, in one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Who wouldn’t want to do that for a living?
After studying Catering and Hotel Management in Glasgow, he embarked on a graduate recruitment programme with Stakis, later working in hospitality venues around Glasgow as well as putting his skills to use on cruise ships.
He went on to spend 35 years nurturing the hospitality stars of the future as a college lecturer, retiring as associate dean for hospitality and tourism at City of Glasgow College.
It was towards the end of his time in education that Gordon came to realise just how much some of the people in the hospitality industry are struggling. This was brought home to him in the worst way, when a friend of his in the industry took his own life.
At what was a heartbreaking time, he decided to take action. He gathered a team and founded industry charity Hospitality Health.
Free training is provided to hospitality workers to help them become mental health ‘first aiders’, helping them to identify signs that co-workers might be struggling with addiction, depression or other issues, while the charity’s ‘wellness charter’ encourages employers to meet a number of criteria to improve the mental wellbeing of their staff.
So far, hundreds of hospitality workers have gone through the first aider training, with companies across Scotland having signed up to the charter. Last year he was awarded an MBE for services to tourism and hospitality in Scotland.
At the SLTN Awards, Gordon said he was accepting the accolade on behalf of everyone he has ever worked with.
“I have to say I have been very lucky to have worked with some incredible people on my hospitality journey. It is a team game, you all know that, and I have been privileged to work as part of many successful teams over the years in my career. I wouldn’t change it, ever.”
And he encouraged those in the industry to check on friends and colleagues that may be having a difficult time.
“We all know someone – perhaps more than one person – who is experiencing a tough time. Please make this promise to yourselves just now: contact them, send them a text, make a visit, just to check in on them and tell them that you are thinking about them.”
