Meet Nixon!
Oct 05, 2021
Tell us a bit about yourself – how did you get into hospitality?
I am Nixon and I am originally from Nepal. Hospitality has always been a thing for me since my childhood, the reason I say this is because my family runs a Restaurant back home for nearly 35 years now, so I grew up seeing my dad and mom hustle every day and helped them from an early age and this is how everything started and now I am here.
How did you find yourself in this role?
I came to New Zealand in 2014 and started working at Cirus Circus and worked my way through the ranks over the years and now I work as a GM running 3 venues for last 2 years and I have been with the company for 7 years now.
What’s your favourite meal?
Dumpling all day long
What’s your favourite TV show?
Currently I am into Money Heist in Netflix & I am loving It.
What’s your favourite function you’ve ever worked?
Sarah's Function back in 2018, can't forget the way it ended. Secret haha
What’s your favourite thing to make?
I love making Dumplings
What do you love most about working for the group?
Flexibility and Freedom to implement Ideas.
What do you love most about working in your current venue?
I don't work on the floor anymore, but I have enjoyed working in all the venues I run. I have been Restaurant Managers in all the venues back in the day.
What do you love about hospitality?
Hospitality for me is all about experiences and I get to create that experience every day. Moreover, I like taking to people and knowing their life and experiences. I also get to meet people from all around the world every day which is what I love.
What’s your most memorable hospitality experience?
It is not recent, but it was indeed a great experience, it was in a restaurant down at Wellington called Mr Go's. Great food and great people.
Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever served? What did they order?
Jacinda Arden. A Flat white and a cookie for her daughter.
What’s your favourite type of event to work?
I used to love doing Candy floss and popcorn event for schools back in the day
COVID-19 had a huge impact on the hospitality industry. What have been the main challenges for you during the past year? How have you learned to overcome them?
Covid has really taught me one thing for sure that sometimes being a leader, you must take hard decisions. For me, I had to let go few of my senior managers and team members in the first lockdown last year which was hard for me. We have reduced our opening hours because of the labour shortage in the market. Dealing with team's mental health and wellbeing was one of the biggest challenges to deal with.
What do you think will be the biggest game changer in hospitality over the next 5 years?
I think, we will head more into sustainability of products, more into local produce and suppliers, team retention and engagement will be a big thing as we have seen with Covid 19 that employers are going above and beyond to keep their team and I don't think it will get better any time soon, It will be also what Community thinks of your brand as a whole and Technology will play a big part into Hospitality.
How can hospitality be made better?
Being receptive to any new technology and how can we make it user friendly. We need to have a big mindset shift of taking Hospitality as a Career than just a part time fill in job when you are in Uni. I have seen it in Europe or in the US that people do take Hospo as a Career but in NZ, we are far behind. I take myself as an example and being in Hospo for such a long time, I love what I do and it is a career for me.
