Jim Walker, the son of an RAF pilot, was born in Hong Kong and spent his youth constantly on the move. His parents eventually bought a hotel in Lyndhurst in the New Forest, which they then turned into a nightclub that became popular with officers from P&O vessels. Walker was attracted by their flash appearance. Straight out of school, he trained as a chef at Gravesend sea training college.
His maiden voyage was on a BP tanker to Tripoli - not the Libyan port but the one near Beirut. He thought the trip would last one month but he ended up being at sea for more than a year, sailing to Sudan, South Africa, and back via Finland. It was "fun, traumatic, strange".
With BP, he had trained as a baker and, on his return to Britain, worked for Trust House Forte. However, he soon got tired of the night shifts.
A training position with Gardner Merchant beckoned, and Walker moved through the ranks to become district manager for the North-west. He remembers turning around the loss-making catering at a large Manchester printing business, for which he developed a fixed-price, commercial approach.
Today, Walker reflects that the move from cost-plus operations to fixed-price has gathered pace as clients, fed up with not achieving budgets, limit their risk.
He also believes that US-style franchise deals, where caterers pay a concession fee to operate staff restaurants in large business-and-industry sites, will find their way over here.
Moving to CCG in London, he worked with a young, entrepreneurial team. A memorable contract was catering at the Stock Exchange, which supplied free packed lunches to 2,500 staff in 10 buildings.
Walker was headhunted to set up Initial Catering Services, which is 75% owned by Rentokil and 25% owned by Rezyat, a Middle East-based facilities management company.
Early on, the new company was approached by Berkshire County Council to take over its school meals contract. "None of us had any experience of school catering. It had a low-rent image and little appeal," Walker remembers. "But then we realised, if we took it on, overnight we'd have an infrastructure - personnel, marketing, accounts - 1,500 employees at 320 schools, and a turnover of £10m from day one."
The council wanted a return of £250,000 a year. Walker says Initial gave back £300,000 as well as making £500,000 profit for itself in the first year. How? By increasing the number of pupils eating.
Initial has since become one of the largest suppliers of catering services to the state education sector, operating in 2,600 schools in 15 local authorities, with a turnover of nearly £40m.
To those who accuse Walker of profiteering from children, he replies: "If it's costing the local authority less and the kids are getting a nutritious meal, why shouldn't I make a profit? The majority of our marketing is educating the kids about nutrition."
In his drive to achieve 20% year-on-year growth, Walker is concerned that many public-sector organisations have not adhered to Best Value, and that only five out of 150 local authority contracts are coming to tender each year. But he's determined that such obstacles are not going to deflect Initial's proactive approach to gaining new contracts.
How I got there
1967-1971 British Petroleum; apprenticeship in catering, serving in the Merchant Navy
1971-1982 Gardner Merchant (now Sodexho); sales consultant, district manager, training manager
1982-1985 ARA Catering Services (now Aramark); regional sales manager, North
1985-1988 CCG (now Castleview Services); sales director based in the City of London
1988-1991 Eurest, Compass; sales director and design and planning director, South
1991-2003 Initial Catering Services; chief executive
Up close and personal
Married, one son aged 18 at Bournemouth University
Home: Bourne End, Buckinghamshire
Hobbies: Golf
Favourite film: Silence of the Lambs
Favourite TV programme: The West Wing
People who have inspired me: Garry Hawkes, previously chief executive of Gardner Merchant