Blenheim Palace Event - News - rhubarb Hospitality
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VACANCIES
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Richard Prosser, Chairman
Richard has spent the vast majority of his Executive career in the global leisure, travel and tourism industry. He was on the Boards of the FTSE listed companies; First Choice Holidays Plc. and TUI Travel Plc. for 14 years. At TUI, he was CEO of the highly profitable Specialist Division, which comprised a portfolio of 35 premium travel companies in diverse international sectors, ranging from luxury bespoke and experiential holidays, to complex and adventurous ’round-the-world’ expeditions in customised private jets.
Over the past six years Richard has Chaired several successful high quality, private equity backed businesses including Audley Travel, CarTrawler and Tusker.
Richard has always been passionate about different styles of food and loves working with companies who have a strong culture, centred around delivering world class customer service in a creative environment.
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P.B. Jacobse, Chief Executive Officer
P.B. has over 20 years’ experience in the food and beverage industry and is a respected figure in the community. After completing a Bachelor Degree of Business Administration at Maastricht Hotel Management School in the Netherlands, P.B. left for the US where he completed the Hospitality Summer Program at Cornell University. Upon graduation P.B. worked at the world-renowned Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York for 5 years. In 2005 P.B. was appointed as the first Managing Director and board member of RHC.
In his tenure at RHC P.B. has been instrumental in developing and implementing RHC’s business strategy, driving the portfolio development from a single channel events business to a multi-channel business incorporating events and locations, significantly increasing the group’s revenue.
As CEO, P.B. has an unwavering commitment to driving the company vision.
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Helen Bowey, Chief Development Officer
Helen has over 20 years’ experience in the food and beverage industry. Since joining RHC in 1998, she has overseen a number of different departments, accumulating a wealth of experience in all fields including Operations, Human Resources, Finance, Marketing, Health and Safety, Purchasing and IT. Helen was appointed as a board member in 2003 and was instrumental in the development of Sky Garden and Pilots at Terminal 5.
In her role as Chief Development Officer Helen is responsible for growth within the current portfolio of locations, and new acquisitions both in the UK and Internationally.
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Laraine Beament, Chief Financial Officer
After qualifying as a chartered accountant, Laraine Beament embarked on her financial career in the music industry, starting as a management accountant working for a record label, thereafter moving into media and film.
In 2003 Laraine was approached to join RHC and in her first six years, Laraine strategically facilitated RHC’s financial development and was instrumental in the company’s impressive revenue growth. In 2009 Laraine was appointed to the board.
As Chief Financial Officer Laraine is responsible for establishing major corporate financial strategies, objectives and policies for the Group.
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Coen Van Niersen, Chief Operating Officer
Coen has spent the vast majority of his career in the hospitality industry, having worked in Food and Beverage and Hotel Management roles in a variety of 4 and 5 star hotels in Europe.
Most recently Coen was General Manager of the renowned W Hotel in Leicester Square, after which he joined Californian aviation start-up Surf Air and launched their European chapter.
Coen joined RHC in 2017 and oversees the company’s day to day operations on all fronts. He holds a Bachelor from Hotel School The Hague and an Executive MBA from INSEAD.
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Katie Harel, Global Marketing Director
Katie has over 15 years’ marketing experience gained within luxury hotels; including The Lanesborough and The Dorchester, where her team won the much-coveted Cateys award for “marketing campaign of the year”.
Prior to RHC Katie was based in Hong Kong for 6 years where she held senior marketing positions at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and The Langham.
Katie joined the RHC team in 2014 and leads marketing, communications PR and creative for the business. Katie also supports the acquisition team on new business tenders and pitches.
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Chris Rettie, Director of rhubarb at the Royal Albert Hall
With a degree from Oxford Brookes University, Chris has worked in several of London’s finest hotels. Most notably spending nine years holding various Events and Food & Beverage Management positions at The Savoy and The Lanesborough Hotel.
Having joined RHC, Chris was challenged with the newly won prestigious Royal Albert Hall contract, where through focusing on the customer journey, core product and growing the breath of the offer Chris led the team to double the turnover in the first term.
Chris continues to strategically drive the business forwards to identify new opportunities as well as being charged with the responsibility of mobilising Mamma Mia! The Party and working on other new business.
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Patrick Donaldson, Director of London Event Sales
Patrick joined RHC as an event planner in 2007 and quickly became an integral part of the events team. Within his first few years at RHC, Patrick was made a senior planner and was involved in planning Simon Cowell’s 50th birthday party at Wrotham Park, as well as a state visit by Nicolas Sarkozy to Gabon. Patrick is now Director of London Events Sales and manages the complex quoting and conversion system we have put in place as well as the excellent CRM database.
Patrick loves the personal and professional triumph of delivering large, complex and creatively driven events and is proud to work directly with such top-class London and international venues.
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Sarah Hammond, Director
Sarah has lived and breathed the catering industry from a young age. After training as a chef, Sarah travelled the globe extending her culinary knowledge. On her return to the UK she worked as a chef for several prestigious companies, including Leslie and Godwin, Golladetz and the Hay’s Group. At the same time, Sarah was busy building up the family business, and after her first daughter was born, she started working full-time for Cottage Caterers, now rhubarb Cranleigh.
Since then, Sarah has worked tirelessly to grow the company and has been instrumental in building a business that is known for its dedication to quality and taste. Sarah has catered for a diverse range of events, from intimate dinners for ten to spectacular galas and royal occasions for over 1,000 guests. Her wonderful charm and extensive experience make her every bride’s caterer of choice.
Today Sarah is director of rhubarb Cranleigh and oversees all aspects of operations, cooking and planning.
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Chris Hammond, Director
Chris heads up service, logistics and finance at rhubarb Cranleigh. After meeting Sarah at catering college, he became instrumental to the Cottage Caterers team, managing contracts, perfecting logistics, and just about everything else vital to a seamless service.
Today Chris still manages many ground-up aspects of rhubarb Cranleigh events and more recently has taken on much of the administration and strategy involved in developing business at rhubarb Cranleigh.
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COVID-19 Update
Friends of rhubarb,
These are unprecedented times we find ourselves in and the hospitality business has already been deeply affected. This is a message to our wonderful partners, venue teams, clients and suppliers – we are all in this together!
We have implemented a number of measures to ensure the safety of our guests and staff and where appropriate, we are still supporting smaller, private events. We have no doubt there will be more changes to come and we are continually reviewing the business and our operations on a ‘day by day’ basis.
This is such a difficult time for our industry but we can navigate this storm together to come out stronger.
We look forward arranging your events and seeing you in our restaurants and bars in the very near future.
Stay in touch with us and reach out if you have any questions: hello@rhubarb.co.uk
Most importantly, look after yourselves and one another.
Team rhubarb
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David Edwards, Vice President RHC US
David oversees the entire RHC US portfolio defining and implementing operations strategy, structure and processes.
With over 35 years’ experience in the hospitality industry and 20 years spent in the US, David has held various senior positions within hotels, resorts and restaurants, most recently as Regional Director at Starr Catering, New York and would be able to draw on his extensive experience when managing the wider RHC team.
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Diego Cardoso, Global Culinary Director
Diego has over 20 years of experience working in Europe and the USA. During this time he has gained a wealth of culinary and operational knowledge working in both Michelin star and high-volume restaurants whilst also working across a breadth of events, including the 2012 UK Olympics.
Diego worked with iconic chef Angela Hartnett for over 12 years growing the business from one restaurant to three UK based sites, managing the USA restaurant opening and co-writing several renowned cookery books. Diego also spent time with Gordon Ramsay managing several openings in UK as well as the renowned Versailles in France.
Fluent in three languages Diego has cooked and led teams in the UK, USA, France, Russia, Dubai, Argentina, Germany and Austria.
Diego joined RHC in 2020, as Global Culinary Director, Diego oversees all culinary aspects of RHC and is a hands on member of the senior team.
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Alex Metz, Executive Director of Events RHC US
Alex has over 20 years of experience in the luxury event space in New York, working with the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, CxRA and Constellation Culinary Group, where she was responsible for sales, marketing and communication as well as catering programs for all NY Business & Industry accounts including: Macquarie, Ogilvy, Cornell Tech, Nike, Disney and Group M.
Alex leads various tasks relating to all RHC operations in New York such as financial planning, competitor analysis, development of vendor relations as well as catering sales, menu planning, coordination and execution of events; from small exclusive dinners to large scale celebrations.
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Chris Cryer, Corporate Chef RHC US
Chris Cryer joined the Peak team in 2019 and has developed a stand-out menu led by seasonal ingredients with provenance. Chris has held culinary positions within reputable catering organisations; namely Rigor Hill, Starr Restaurants and Neumans Kitchen, all in New York.
Chris is a passionate advocate of Health & Wellness, and has been named a national leader/ambassador for the James Beard Smart Catch program 3 years in a row and has proudly cooked at the James Beard House twice as a result of his national presence in the sustainable seafood community.
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Chris Nelson, Peak General Manager
Chris Nelson joined RHC as General Manager for Peak restaurant in December 2019. Nelson leads the management team at Peak restaurant and bar on the 101st Floor. He is an award-winning hospitality professional devoted to presenting a dining experience that pairs the highest level of service and stellar cuisine.
Prior to Peak, Nelson held the role of General Manager for restaurateur Danny Meyer’s iconic Union Square Cafe in New York City. Under his leadership, the return of the flagship restaurant Union Square Cafe was awarded three stars from The New York Times. He honed his unparalleled management and hospitality skills at Union Square Hospitality Group restaurants in front of the house roles as Wine Director and Assistant General Manager, rising through the ranks to General Manager.
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Ross Gailer, Director of Sky Garden
Ross joined the RHC team in 2018 as Deputy Director of Sky Garden and was promoted to Director in 2021.
Ross has over 15 years’ experience in hospitality, having started his career in Cornwall before heading to Australia and Whistler where he managed several renowned bars and restaurants.
A commercially-focused director with exceptional attention to detail, Ross drives team engagement and maintains a high-level of customer satisfaction. He is a valued member of the RHC team.