Part-time front-of-house to pub manager

Lindsey walked through the doors at the Pant yr Ochain in 1996, looking for a part-time waitressing job to fit in around her two boy's school days. She had run her own business previously, so plainly had organisational and entrepreneurial skills, and the get-up-and-go to get things done, so it wasn't long before she was being asked to take on more responsibility.

Within a year she became assistant manager, and two years after that she was promoted to deputy manager. By 2000, she was joint manager with previous head chef Graham Arathoon, so from a casual part-timer with no previous experience to manager took her just four years.

Lindsey assumed sole command of the ship in 2003.

Head chef to pub manager

Graham had trained as a chef and first joined B&P as a 2nd chef at the Grosvenor Arms in 1994. His kitchen management and cooking skills were plainly evident and by the next year he was promoted to head chef at the Pant.

Graham made the move to front of house in 2000, joining Lindsey as joint manager of the pub, and in 2003 he was appointed manager of Pen y Bryn, where he has built a strong business with high standards and a loyal following.

Part-time kitchen porter to pub manager

Ian took the long way round...

He first made an appearance in the kitchen as a young lad while still at school, and got stuck in at the washing-up sink. Even in those days he had a real interest in food and drink, and would discuss recipes endlessly. It was clear that this was going to be Ian's career, and he duly enrolled at Birmingham to take a Hospitality degree.

He re-joined the crew after graduating as a full-time bar/waiting person. Within a year he had become an assistant manager, before being appointed deputy manager at Pen y Bryn in 2005. In 2006 Ian returned to the Pant as deputy manager, before being promoted to manager of the Cross Foxes in 2008.

A fairly typical career path of a talented chef

Jez, as he is known, joined the Pant in 1999 as a junior chef de partie. Within 18 months he was promoted to senior chef de partie, and a year later was promoted to junior sous. It's not enough, of course, to be a skilled chef – to become a head chef you also have to be a skilled manager, and it was apparent that Jez had the talent so in 2004 he became senior sous, and in 2005 he was appointed head chef at Harkers. So that's junior chef to head chef in six years.

Front-of-house to operations director (via personnel)

Jo has followed a career path that has taken some interesting turns. When Jo was a student studying Retail Management she became a regular at the Pant, where Duncan quietly but persistently suggested she would do very well in the pub world if she was so interested.

To cut a long story short, by 1998 she was made assistant manager at the Pant, followed by a promotion to deputy manager at Glasfryn when it opened in 1999. Jo is a natural people person, and switched to personnel manager in head office in the following year. Pubs and pub companies are all about people, and so it was in 2006 that Jo was appointed operations director.