Wayback Burgers is an American hamburger franchise concept that is established in 38 countries, has approximately 200 open locations and 500 locations in development. I have been working with them since April 2019 in my work at First Mate. I brought in Wayback Burgers as a new client at First Mate and have completed many assignments for them, such as financial feasibility studies, writing an investment memorandum, assessments of entrepreneurs and location studies. In mid-June 2020, they asked to join them and take responsibility for opening new franchise branches in The Netherlands. At that time, they had 1 store open. My responsibility lies in the acquisition of franchisees, financing and real estate.

First Mate works for companies, organizations and institutions that are active in or connected to the hospitality industry, food service or leisure industry. We research, advise, develop concepts and guide these parties on a strategic, tactical and operational level. We do this through the deployment of our expert advisers, experienced interim & project managers and by making use of our large relevant network of entrepreneurs and suppliers. Acquisition for new assignments was a continuous activity within the set commercial framework. I did this through cold acquisition, network meetings and webinars.

As Coordinator Tactical Buyers, I was responsible for an international team of 5 employees as part of the 'Manx Project'. This project entailed reducing the tail spend of the indirect cost for 4 categories: maintenance, utilities, services and VIC. It was my responsibility to educate and lead the team and to ensure the data was collected in an orderly manner. After data collection, the Project Manager and I analysed the data and advised the Global Procurement department on how to optimize their procurement processes. As the Project Manager was located in Chicago, I was the first point of contact for Kraft Heinz Global Procurement and was therefore closely involved in their daily processes and the optimisation of it. I created value for the company by improving their efficiency and creating new documents and operational processes.

Grand Hotel Karel V is a 5* property in the city center of Utrecht. It boasts 13 meeting rooms, 121 hotel rooms, a bistro and a gastronomical restaurant. In this job, I was responsible for the (inter)national corporate accounts with a strong focus on the MICE industry. I proactively maintained the hotel’s key accounts and looked for new business opportunities on international forums, such as the IMEX, M&I and Private Luxury Forum (Leisure & MICE), by means of acquisition and waking up sleeping accounts. I have brought more structure to the sales department by setting goals and creating a strategic sales path for the proper nurturing of key accounts. Additionally, I was involved in the development of a new marketing strategy for the rebranding of the hotel’s F&B outlets (Karel 5), organised a press lunch and a client event for the introduction of the new F&B's brand and developed the sales strategy and corresponding budget for 2017.

As assistant supply chain manager, I was responsible for all export documentation for the Asian, Nigerian and European market. Besides its 11 billion liters of milk obtained from member farmers, FrieslandCampina purchases 2 billion on the global dairy market. The department responsible for acquisition is called ‘Milk Valorisation & Allocation - Dairy Sourcing & Trading’, which is the department I worked in. I was the first point of contact for the markets I was responsble for. As the job was relatively new, I contributed to the completion of the job by developing new processes and writing introduction manuals and working instructions.

While working at BMW Group Nederland for the brand MINI, I was responsible for conducting research in the corporate market in The Netherlands. My goal was to determine which inudstries prevail in the current corporate segment, which opportunities MINI should make use of, and how they, together with the 26 MINI-dealers, should approach those markets and opportunities. The set-up and related relevant questions where developed by me and outsourced to a research company. After I received the results, I analysed the data and drew conclusions, which were presented to the director of MINI The Netherlands and were incorporated in the ‘MINI Means Business’ strategy for 2015. I was also responsible for the selection of events in which MINI could participate by distributing 10 promotional cars available for events and prepare the with the client according to mutal agreements.

As my thesis at Hotelschool The Hague, I wrote a business plan, and conducted the necessary research, for a conceptual company that merges the food retail and food service industry.

This internship was part of my education at Hotelschool The Hague. As a Quality Manager of the F&B Department at 5* Hotel Pulitzer A Luxury Collection Hotel in Amsterdam, I was responsible for the quality of both products and services in the entire department and report points of improvements (POIs) and initiate plans to improve POIs. I was the first point of contact of guests and ensured guest satisfaction. As quality management is a team effort, it is of highest importance to involve all employees and understand how agreements and processes are developing amoung various levels, which requires a helicopter view. I was the extension of all managers within the F&B department and assisted them in improving the quality, by, for example, organising tasting meetings for the new menu and perfectioning SOPs.

n September 2011, I was responsible for operating the personnel restaurant for 600 employees during the KLM Open 2011 in Hilversum for two weeks. I was my job to ensure a ‘home away from home’ and organise all meals, which I directly ordered at the caterer, beverages, and mid-day snacks and distribute them amoung multiple locations. Together with a friend, we were operating the restaurant from 04.00 till 22.00 for 14 days in a row. At the same time, I was a trouble shooter for the event management and solved unforseen circumstances immediately. This required quick thinking and a helicopter view.

Driver during KLM Open 2009 & Van Lanschot Senior Open 2010

Operational employee golf department

Hostess at banquets and à la carte restaurant