Craig Brady

Experience

• 

  The White Hart, Flitton - Gastro Pub

  May 2005 - Jan 2010

  Assistant Manager

  Started working initially as a part time kitchen porter and worked my way through the kitchen and front of house before becoming assist at manager of this wonderful, successful, family run gastro pub in the heart of bedfordshire

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  The Purple Goose - Fine Dining

  Jan 2010 - Sept 2011

  General Manager

  Ranked the number one restaurant in Milton Keynes on ‘Trip Advisor’ during my time there. This was a small 55 cover fine dining restaurant with an annual turnover circa £800,000.

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  The Chester Arms - Gastro Pub

  Sept 2011 - Aug 2012

  Sous Chef

  I opened this restaurant with the Chef Patron who was starting his first business. I used my skills and knowledge to help both kitchen and front of house operations to succeed in their first year. I was highly involved in menu development and food costing at this time.

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  Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group

  Aug 2012 - Jan 2016

  As general manager of Jamie’s Italian I was responsible for all business operations, budgeting and forecasting, team development, stock control, payroll, recruitment and HR. I was involved with many new restaurant openings in addition to running a 200-cover restaurant with over 80 team members and an annual turnover of £2.6 million.My greatest achievements whilst here were managing to turn the restaurant around from loss making to profitable in my first year as general manager & winning the ‘Champions of Culture’ award for our restaurant. I was also personally recognized during the annual JORG awards for having the highest staff retention rate across the country. Show less

  • General Manager

    Jan 2014 - Jan 2016

  • Restaurant Manager

    Aug 2012 - Jan 2014
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  The Cheesecake Factory

  Jan 2016 - Apr 2020

  Assistant General Manager - Alshaya Group

  Fully accountable for day to day operations of 500+ cover restaurant offering a complete freshly made food menu. Annual turnover in excess of £17 million and responsible for 320 team members. I worked in 8 sites across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Bahrain. My main goals here were to coach and develop our management team to the highest possible level, ensuring we could deliver world class hospitality consistently. During my time I was personally accountable for bar and bakery sales in my restaurant, this includes validating par levels, ordering, inventory and scheduling for sales around £6 million per annum. I worked closely with the bakery and beverages operations manager on recipe development and served as a ‘test kitchen’ for our GCC restaurants. I opened 4 new restaurants including the most lucrative in the history of the company when we opened our flagship restaurant in Doha, Qatar. My restaurant was awarded ‘Most Profitable’ restaurant award in the Alshaya Group 2018 & 2019. Show less

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  Freelance

  Jul 2020 - now

  Freelance Consultant
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  JA Resorts & Hotels

  Dec 2020 - Sept 2021

  Multi Outlet Manager

  Overseeing ‘Eighty One’ all day dining restaurant (400 covers), lobby lounge and in room dining departments, with a total combined revenue of £4.5 million per annum. Reporting directly to the F&B Director I planned an executed the post-covid re-opening of Lake View Hotel (348 rooms / 800 guests) within the resort. I was fully accountable for the P&L for all 3 outlets, all hiring, training and development of team members and supervisors.

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  Expo 2020 Dubai

  Sept 2021 - Apr 2022

  Multi Venue Manager
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  Majid Al Futtaim

  Apr 2022 - Dec 2022

  Multi Restaurant Manager
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  Voco Bonnington Dubai

  Nov 2022 - now

  Food and Beverage Manager