Tim West would make a great ambassador for Anglo-French relations. "French businesspeople are far more open-minded than we give them credit for," he says. On trips to parent company Elior, West is greeted like the prodigal son. Perhaps they are flattered that Avenance UK, the company West heads, is modelled on the French company of the same name. All those stereotypes about the French being arrogant, insular, and rude are simply not true. He pauses, then adds: "They're actually quite Anglo-Saxon in many ways." Oh dear... it was going so well.
West thinks back to his first job as a kitchen porter at cadet camps for youngsters thinking of joining the Army, located in Folkestone and Northumberland. Washing dishes and simple food prep didn't put him off hospitality, because after abandoning a banking career, he took an HND in hotel and catering administration.
After graduating, West chose the NHS out of three job offers, and at the age of 22 he managed 40 staff with 800 patients to feed at the London Hospital in Whitechapel. Moving to Guy's Hospital, he managed an even larger operation, including 900 patients, three enormous staff restaurants, bakeries, three full-time butchers and a large volume of function work.
Dealing with a cosmopolitan, heavily unionised workforce gave him a solid grounding in management skills. He also oversaw the installation of the cook-chill system. "We had to negotiate changes to working patterns. There were never easy victories, but there was progress," he says.
After he had spent five years in the NHS, Grand Metropolitan Catering (now Compass) beckoned with a role as operations manager in the City of London. "The culture shock was enormous. Initially, with only five sites to manage, there were fewer than 20 staff in total and these people called clients who all seemed to be experts in catering."
One memorable contract was at the Hurlingham Club, a historic 40-acre sports club where the rules of polo were invented. With annual sales of £4.5m, it was run by a committee, and its finances and kitchens were in a dreadful state. He employed all the management team at Hurlingham again when he joined High Table, a small, privately owned company in the City.
Elior bought High Table in 1992 and throughout the 1990s the business expanded out of its South-east stronghold. Steered by West, it has evolved into Avenance UK, with 650 contracts, 6,500 employees and annual sales of £180m.
What drives him? "Seeing people progress, seeing the business progress, being recognised as a quality company, and achieving sustainable growth and improving profit," he says.
Business and industry contracts account for 90% of Avenance's business, but West's current goal is to win healthcare, defence and education contracts to make up 40% of sales. He is putting in bids for universities and independent secondary schools, but not state schools. "They want you to cater down to a price which is not sufficient to provide good standards," he says. "Compared with France, where much more is spent on school meals, we're light years behind."
Standing outside his Clerkenwell offices, we spot a group of tourists under St John's medieval gateway. The headquarters of Avenance UK may not be on the tourist trail yet, but save the odd unintentional insult, West's Anglo-French love affair is a long-term thing.
Up close and personal
Married, one daughter aged 18
Home: Kent
Leisure interests: Golf, boating
Favourite films: Deliverance, Forrest Gump
Favourite TV: The River Cottage with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Favourite music: Bob Marley, Rory Gallagher
People who have inspired me: Lee Soden, my boss at Guy's Hospital, now at Brighton Health Trust. Paul Stevens, my boss at Compass, now head of MoD contracts
How I Got There
1974-77 Oxford Brookes University HND in hotel and catering administration.
1977-82 With the NHS: London Hospital, Whitechapel, assistant catering manager; Guy's Hospital, London, deputy manager; New Cross Hospital, catering manager; Guy's District, district catering manager at three hospitals.
1982-1987 Grand Metropolitan Catering (now Compass), operations manager in the City of London. Clients included the Hurlingham Club, Institute of Chartered Accountants, and the Confederation of British Industry.
1987 High Table, a small privately owned caterer in the City of London, director.
1992 French catering giant Elior buys High Table.
1999 Elior buys a further four companies throughout the 1990s (Hallmark Executive Catering, Catering & Allied, Brian Smith, Nelson Hind), which merge to form Avenance UK, with West appointed chief executive.