A JOURNEY IN HOSPITALITY.
Each of us of course, is a product of the people we've been with, and the experiences we've had. This Blog post explains some of the thinking that's gone into Balbirnie House over the last 3 decades.
We're adding new info to our 'Meet The Team' page on our website.
This blog post is an extended version for company MD Nicholas Russell.
Kilt via Howie Nicholsby of Edinburgh's 21st Century Kilts.
Nicholas grew up in Scotland’s Hospitality business, his parents Alan and Elizabeth owned Chapeltoun House hotel in Ayrshire, one of the UK’s very first country house hotels. He started work as a young lad, on the cold starter section in the kitchens, and until the age of 17 spent school holidays earning pocket money by working in kitchens, front-of-house and gardens. ‘Working as my father’s assistant in the kitchens, upon reflection, it was surreal. My dad had basically made the move from being one of Scotland’s most accomplished Executive Chefs, into personally owning a country house hotel, an unheard of circumstance for a chef, and he was absolutely driven to succeed. I can recall the night where everything in kitchen service ‘clicked’ for myself, for the first time. I was able to predict my father’s next move, and be ahead of him, to help him. If I knew he would need a particular knife in 15 seconds, it would be there cleaned and waiting for him. And so on. How my father laughed, when he realised his young lad had learnt, simply by doing and watching’.
Nicholas attended Loretto school in Edinburgh, and from there was put forward by the headmaster for The Reeves-Smith scholarship, within The Savoy Group of hotels, London. This application process delivered one of 12 annual places as a Savoy Hotel management trainee. Initial experience was gained as a Savoy hotel butcher, and Covent Garden fruit and vegetable procurement. He started at the age of 17, and the pay was £24 per week.
5 years would be spent in London, with one single objective. Gaining as much experience as possible.
Time was spent working in the global hotel icon that is Claridge’s Hotel, Mayfair (Savoy Group) as a waiter, under Restaurant Manager Peter Mand in The Causerie. ‘Global royals and A list celebs as guests, left, right and centre. There wasn’t much room for the making of errors. When I started as a commis waiter, the journey from the kitchen pass was heading for 100 yards, and up flights of stairs, carrying trays with dishes topped with silver cloches'.
In tandem, a cocktail bartending course, and then into the kitchens of Claridge’s.
'For the first two months, I was the potato guy, it's all I did. Peel them, slice them, dice them. One day I was peeling away at the spuds and Maitre Chef de Cuisine Slovenian Marjan Lesnik took great exception to me leaning against the sink as I peeled. 'Young man!!! You think you can relax, then think again!!! You are not here to learn how to peel potatoes, you are here to learn patience, and manual dexterity!' ... 'Yes chef!!!'
Nicholas was the first management trainee in history (usually somewhat frowned upon by chefs!), to physically be the fishmonger of Claridge’s, and similarly then first to be in charge of running shifts on a full section within the kitchen, - in this case, the fish section.
‘This was a kitchen brigade of 80 individuals, so traditional that there wasn’t even a microwave in sight! I absolutely loved my time working in those kitchens, fortunate in the extreme that in sous chef John Williams (now Executive Chef at The Ritz), I had a boss who was willing to give time to encouraging an aspiring management trainee’.
Thereafter, Nicholas was one of 9 chefs in the brand new opening kitchen brigade at what very quickly became the legend, Sir Terence Conran’s Bibendum restaurant, under chef Simon Hopkinson, whose French provincial cooking philosophy was of well-judged simple cooking which he garnered from his influences Richard Olney, Jane Grigson and Elizabeth David.
'This was a kitchen in which, you could not remove concentration, for a single second. On a couple of occasions I accidentally over-seasoned vegetables, there wasn't a third repeat'.
Simon’s subsequent book, ‘Roast Chicken and Other Stories’ went on to receive the accolade of “the most useful cookbook of all time” by the readers of Waitrose Food Illustrated, and by just about anyone else who has had the pleasure of reading and cooking from it.
'When I first started at Bibendum, I had virtually zero understanding of French provincial cooking. It was a very steep learning curve, I was the only Scotsman in the kitchen, most of the other chefs had worked together in Simon Hopkinson's previous restaurant Hilaire'.
'The restaurant manager was John Davey, who has just completed 10 years working for Freddy Giradet's 3 Michelin Star restaurant in Prissier, near Lausanne. An absolutely charming man, who remained utterly cool in all circumstances'.
Bibendum? That's the Michelin Tyre Man, the official mascot of the Michelin tyre company.
‘The working hours were basically 8am to 11pm, six days per week, we were absolutely committed. The only way I could physically enable the hours and the travelling back and forth, was to ditch public transport and buy a motorcycle!’
Bibendum took the London restaurant scene by storm, and was to be the launchpad for the ensuing Conran restaurant empire.
A first London management role followed, as Assistant Manager of Sherman and Waterman’s South Side Café, a new opening 1950’s style rock’n’roll diner. During that time, Nicholas learnt from a truly great Hospitality boss. ‘Ernesto Zucchi, such an inspirational and kind man, with Italian-based management strategies designed to simplify life, and bring ease to the actual management of chaos’.
South Side was in the first floor of Covent Garden's Jubilee market.
Thereafter Nicholas became the opening Restaurant Manager at the age of only 21, of London’s brand new groundbreaking The Pelham Hotel, invigoratingly warm, elegant, vintage-contemporary interior design and colour. Owned by Tim and Kit Kemp’s Firmdale Hotels, a hotel company which has gone on to deliver a truly remarkable collection of boutique hotels.
‘Yes, Blakes existed and so did Dorset Square, but The Pelham Hotel was the first ever hotel in London, to define the combination of a ‘37 bedroom country house’, and service at 5 stars, and the rest. My hotel GM Jonathon Orr-Ewing, was the very epitome of an English gentleman, and his operational standards were certainly the most precise I have ever been asked to work with’.
Then one day, whilst on a London tube train Nicholas was listening to Dougie Maclean’s Caledonia on headphones.
Oh Let me tell you that I love you
that I think about you all the time
Caledonia you're calling me
now I'm going home
and if I should become a stranger
no it would make me more than sad
that I think about you all the time
Caledonia you're calling me
now I'm going home
and if I should become a stranger
no it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had
Scotland was calling. Nicholas returned to Edinburgh and became House Manager of Edinburgh’s Prestonfield House hotel.
Then started at Balbirnie House at the age of 25, as a company director and GM on 31st October 1992, becoming company Managing Director in 2005.
Nicholas especially loves personally meeting as many of Balbirnie’s prospective new wedding clients, as is possible. ‘This is always the most special part of my working week’.
In-house record, from late 2011 to autumn 2012, a quite incredible 89 prospective wedding clients in a row, placed their wedding day bookings into Balbirnie’s future diaries, after having met Nicholas to discuss their special occasion. This is denoted on our steak knives.
Nicholas and his wife, fellow company director Gaynor, jointly became Scotland’s Hoteliers of the Year in 2011.
In 2014 Nicholas was the recipient of The Fellowship, the highest individual award ever bestowed annually, by The Judges of The Scottish Hotel Awards. Presented by Lord and Lady Macdonald of Skye.
Nicholas plays golf at St Andrews, and has previously held an official handicap of 5 at Balbirnie Park Golf Club.
Nicholas took up running in 2014 at the age of 46, and then joined Glenrothes Triathlon Club, successfully completing the 2018 Edinburgh Half IronMan 70.3 – and then following 5 years and 15,000 kilometres of combined swimming, cycling and running training, completed the full IronMan 140.6 in Austria July 2019.
'A moment of contemplation, thinking of everyone who helped on the 5 year training journey, whilst tolling the legendary Austrian IronMan bell'
Subsequently therefore becoming Scotland’s only IronMan hotelier, and the very first Scotland hotelier to be congratulated on becoming an IronMan, by Scotland’s Parliament.
Nicholas and Gaynor have 3 daughters, Anastasia, Isobel and Ruby.
Oldest daughter Anastasia is studying medicine at UCL.
In his spare time, Nicholas enjoys family walks with Balfour the hotel Cocker Spaniel, reading about future-forecasting in Hospitality, yoga, and he has somehow developed some expertise in relation to Chinese cooking, focussed on the Sichuan province of southwestern China.
Since 2015 Nicholas has been Scotland's features writer on the ultra niche subject of the interface between #DLT distributed ledger technology, and democracy. When you are eventually able to vote for the future on your smartphones, this is where it started.
In spring 2019 Nicholas became the first man in world history, to deliver the wording for wiring #DLT into a developmental prototype of a written constitution for a country. More on that, another day!
'Our hotel brigade do not work for me. I work for our hotel brigade. In turn, we all work doing our absolute best for our local community. I have absolutely Loved our first 3 decades of evolution at Balbirnie House, and today in 2019 we are focussed as never before, on the entire future'.
'Working in Scotland's Hospitality sector is simply incredible. Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life'.
Pleased to meet you!
