Former Chef/Restaurateur Paul Gilhooly Joins Carford Group

Former chef and restaurateur Paul Gilhooly has joined Carford Group as project sales manager. Paul, from Kettering, will work within the Midlands area and with national companies on template kitchen development. He joins Carford from the Food Service Solutions Group, where he was a national account manager. Paul, who is 36-years old, can boast a full 22 years' experience in the food and drink industry, having started helping in his father's pubs at age 14. He went on to learn every aspect of the trade through an apprenticeship in the family business. He trained inhouse as a chef and at 18 became one of the youngest licensees in the country.

Aged 23 he went into partnership with his father and they bought their first free house, the Axe and Compass at Ringstead, Northamptonshire, a "wonderful old pub (1745) in major need of repair". After two years Paul added a kitchen, conservatory restaurant and four guest rooms, and ran the pub for another six years. He said: "It was a phenomenal success; we concentrated on local produce, a short seasonal menu that changed regularly, and got the food up to AA Rosette standard. It was great, I really enjoyed it.

"It was one of the first gastro-pubs; with just 45 seats in the restaurant we went high end, but kept the traditional bar with table skittles, dominoes, darts and real ales." 'We then bought another free house and put a manager in, giving us three in the county." His change of career came after marrying Jo and starting a young family. "I was working 70 to 80 hours a week and I wanted to spend more time with my children while they were young. Paul says his background gives him understanding and empathy for his clients' roles and functions within the industry. He says: "I bring to sales the same ethos as when I ran my own restaurant: look after people, earn their trust and deliver on promises, which sits well with Carford's way of doing business." . "Carford is unique in that it can offer a true turnkey project; it has its own fabrication factory, its own service organisation and so it can provide a tighter control on the end result and added value for the customer."