Special RepoRt : Leadership
Crazy for f & B
Ivan SuardI , group vIce preSIdent – food and beverage , roSewood Hotel group
It doesn ’ t exactly come as a shock that Ivan Suardi chose hotel food and beverage as his dream job . Maybe other kids were busy dreaming about growing up to be cowboys or firefighters , but Suardi was getting an enticing first glimpse of a world most of his friends probably didn ’ t know existed . “ My dad was an executive chef for some of the grand hotels in Rome and a high-end catering company in France ,” he says . “ He was chef for the Italian Olympics team in 1976 . I was always following after him . The glamour of the hotel world got in my blood and stayed there .”
But even Suardi couldn ’ t avoid some soul-searching before signing on . Not many hotel F & B directors list “ flight attendant ” as a line item on their resume . Suardi did . He spent 19 months in the air in response to an identity crisis , questioning whether following a childhood dream was the right path — or maybe just trying to process his dad ’ s injunction not to do so . “ He always told me F & B professionals would be working while everyone else partied ,” Suardi says .
The grounding realization that helped him overcome those doubts ? Suardi ’ s response , typically , is equal parts
www . hotelsmag . com April 2015 HOTELS 51