Where it all started: a Honda, a Christmas pudding and Fota Island

Written on 24 September 2026, the first of three looks back before the move. The move has since come forward, from late November to the end of October.

I've been looking back this week at where it all started.

At fifteen I was saving every cent from a few hours' work a week, wherever I could find it, and I bought my first motorbike: a Honda XL Varadero 125. I was on the road on it at sixteen.

Then came my first waiter job, at the Ambassador Hotel in Cork, working weddings and functions. At one Christmas wedding the chef handed me a Christmas pudding. I'd never tasted one. I've loved them since.

Fota Island, at eighteen

At eighteen I joined Fota Island Resort and began learning how a five-star operation really works: attention to detail, consistency, and standards that have to hold when the pressure is on, not only when the room is quiet.

Over the next few years I worked across restaurant, bar and pass, including the flagship winter events, where service ran to 3,000 covers a day. I went from waiter to food and beverage supervisor inside two years.

Two people from those years stand out. Dan Leahy, the head chef: patient, very funny, and someone I still respect. And Sid Datta, who managed the clubhouse where I worked; his professionalism and work ethic left a mark on me that hasn't faded.

Cork, Dublin, Killarney

Since then I've moved through food and beverage supervision and management in Cork and Dublin, with responsibility for teams, service standards, stock, suppliers, cash, labour and the commercial numbers.

This year I went back to five-star, at Aghadoe Heights above the lakes in Killarney, working across restaurant, bar, pass and in-room dining.

Full circle

Outside work I've come full circle with the motorbikes. I'm starting advanced training on a Harley-Davidson Nightster 975 with Andy at Harley-Davidson Dublin, quite a step from the Varadero 125.

The next chapter is Scotland, ideally the Highlands. The second part of this look back is the drinks, the people and the places; the third is why the Highlands.

What was your first job on a floor, and who taught you the most in it? Tell me in the comments on LinkedIn, or hit reply if this came to you by email.

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