More Than a Glorified Plate Carrier

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A reflection on the people, lessons, and lifelong friendships that make hospitality so much more than just carrying plates.

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I’ve spent 24 years in hospitality: long shifts, late nights, early mornings, laughter, and lessons in patience. In that time, I’ve worked with hundreds of people. Some were just passing through, others became lifelong friends, and a few genuinely changed the way I see the world. That’s the thing about hospitality; it’s full of extraordinary individuals who often get underestimated because they happen to be serving you a drink or carrying a plate.

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Too often, the trade is written off as “just” customer service. But hospitality is a craft built entirely around people. It’s rhythm, timing, and intuition. It’s reading people, solving problems, and keeping calm when things get busy. It’s empathy in action: a small gesture that changes someone’s day, or the ability to make a stranger feel like a regular.

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I still remember being 19 years old, managing a restaurant, and getting called a “glorified plate carrier” in a heated discussion with a breakfast chef. Even though they were also in hospitality, that comment stuck with me. It summed up how some people, even within the trade, can undervalue what we do. Over the years, I’ve had guests speak down to me or to my team, and I’ve had to keep my cool or, at times, ask people to leave when they’ve crossed the line. I’ve also seen team members deflated after being spoken to unfairly, and had to lift them back up again.
But on the flip side, there’s nothing like the joy when someone truly gets it. The compliments, the smiles, the moments when you can see you’ve made someone’s day, that’s why I’m still in this industry. Will Guidara calls it the endorphins we get from those moments, that rush when hospitality truly lands. It’s our drug, our drive.

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I’m not naïve enough to think hospitality can’t be picked up quickly, it’s a job many can step into without much thought. But when it’s done right, it’s something else entirely. It becomes meaningful, for the person giving and the person receiving. I’ve always tried to pass on as much knowledge as I can to the teams I’ve led, so they can grow, share it, and build confidence from it. And I’ve always wanted guests to understand how much goes into each plate of food, every cup of coffee, and every glass of wine. There’s thought, skill, and care behind it all, even if it looks effortless.

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I’ve worked alongside people from every walk of life: a guy who was training to be a neurosurgeon before managing a Michelin-starred restaurant and now running a hugely successful outside catering business; West End performers who can light up a room before they’ve even spoken; translators who speak seven languages; DJs, photographers, and countless others who have gone on to build or lead brilliant businesses of their own. It’s also where I met my wife, Nic, while we were both working in the restaurants at The Angel in Bury. She was studying musical theatre at the time and, like so many brilliant people in hospitality, she took the empathy, creativity, and communication skills she honed there and built something wonderful from them. She’s now an amazing teacher, proof that this industry gives you tools you carry for life.

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Most importantly for Blend is my business partner, Kristina. Before entering hospitality, she earned her degree and went on to serve as an RAF paramedic, a career built on precision, composure, and responsibility at the highest level. She’s saved lives, led teams, and made critical decisions in moments most of us couldn’t imagine. When the NHS couldn’t offer the flexibility she needed after having her two boys, she took all of that experience and focus and channelled it into something new.

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That same sharp eye for detail and calm under pressure now shape everything we do at Blend. She drives the business forward with quiet confidence and an incredible ability to balance standards with empathy. Kristina’s background shows that the skills of her previous world, discipline, care, and focus, translate perfectly into hospitality, and Blend is better every day because of it.

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Hospitality doesn’t always get the credit it deserves, yet it’s one of the UK’s biggest industries and arguably its most human. Tourism fuels towns like Bury St Edmunds, and behind it are countless people pouring their energy, humour, and care into every interaction.

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I’ve always believed that working in hospitality gives you a toolkit for life. You learn how to communicate, lead, multitask, solve problems, and most importantly, how to empathise. You learn how to handle pressure and still find time for a smile. You develop an emotional intelligence that’s hard to teach anywhere else.

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For students, it’s often a first job, but it’s also an education. You learn to connect with guests of all ages and backgrounds, to take pride in teamwork, and to find meaning in doing things properly, even when no one’s watching.

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At Blend, that’s exactly what we try to celebrate. We’ve built a small, close-knit team who care deeply about what they do. They’re not just serving coffee or pouring wine, they’re creating moments, shaping memories, and adding their own spark to what Blend is. Everyone brings something different: Sara, an equine photographer with an incredible eye for detail; Anna, whose physics background gives her a calm, methodical edge; and the rest of the team, each adding their own creativity, humour, and heart to what makes Blend feel like Blend.

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We’re also lucky to be surrounded by so many brilliant hospitality people here in Bury St Edmunds, people I’ve worked with or learned from over the years. Charlie and Tanya at Number 5, I spent many years learning from Charlie and still wish I had at least half his personality. Brad at The Wine Cellar, he’s always had an incredible drive (for work, but also, I hear, on the golf course). James at Lark, I still say it’s the best meal I’ve had outside London, and I’ll never forget his generosity when we opened, lending us crockery without hesitation. And my best mate Stuart at Midgar, an amazing coffee house run by someone I genuinely admire. Stuart was diagnosed with MS nearly twenty years ago and has never let it slow him down. He’s raised tens of thousands of pounds for MS, dragged me on more than one cycling fundraiser, and built a thriving business that inspires me every day.

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That’s what makes hospitality special. The people. The stories. The laughter behind the counter and the quiet pride in getting it right.

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Blend has never just been about coffee or wine, it’s about connection. About good people doing good work, together.

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Good coffee, good wine, good people, on both sides of the counter.