By Miliswa Sitshwele

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“Awesome, phenomenal, strict and diligent”, are some of the ways that Patrick Mutavhatsindi’s peers use to describe Maropeng’s food and beverage manager.

Patrick, a father of two, has been in the hospitality industry since 1998 and in his present job at Maropeng for the past year. He says he loves working in the hospitality industry because it entails liaising with different people from different cultures and religions.

Patrick says there have been many memorable moments for him while working at Maropeng, but the best was when the senior staff served the junior staff.

“It was funny seeing our managing director wearing an apron serving us. I thoroughly enjoyed that.”

Patrick’s day starts early in the morning – he checks the conference venue, the restaurants, and the hotel and makes sure that all food and beverage supplies are in order. He then orders stock if needs be.

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Food and Beverage Manager Patrick Mutavhatsindi

Asked what he does when confronted with a conflict situation, Patricks says he remains calm, looks the person straight in the eye and takes notes. “I take notes because I want the person to see that I am eager to help and those notes will help me when I have to make a report to my supervisor,” he explains.

Marketing Manager Erica Saunders says “I find Patrick’s no-nonsense approach to everything he does very refreshing and our guests have noticed this as well, as we have a number of them raving about him”.

“Our conference organisers feel quite relaxed if they know Patrick is looking after their guests.”

To Patrick, success means achieving the goals he has set for himself.

“I have achieved some of those goals and I am still working on achieving the rest,” says Patrick. These personal goals include opening a safe house for orphans and people without homes within the next five years.

“I don’t want to see anyone sleep hungry or homeless,” he says. “The aim of the home will be to help orphans and it will have a sports centre so that all the kids can participate in sports.”

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