Richard Robinson of The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman
Anyone who has had the pleasure of visiting or staying at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman knows that when it comes to service and quality, this property is second-to-none. It is safe to say that staff is carefully selected based on experience and personality, and Richard Robinson certainly makes the grade.
Richard was born in Cape Town, South Africa. His first job was selling ice cream on the beach when he was 15. He didn’t particularly enjoy being bound to a building in a shape of a mammoth ice cream tub. Strangely he would have preferred cavorting amongst the waves with everyone else.
Richard’s second attempt at joining the business world also had its drawbacks. He was 16 and getting up at 4am each day to help deliver bread and milk to houses.
It was a radical new enterprise – taking mere milk delivery to the next level, as it were. All might have been fine, had the driver not been as slow as molasses. Richard wasn’t old enough to have a driver’s license, and so he was at the mercy of his workmate as they crawled through neighbourhoods. Unable to take it anymore he quit, leaving a life of 2 per cent and muffins behind.
For a while Richard wondered if he would ever find his path, but then he got a part-time bartending position at a small restaurant, serving uncomplicated fare like wine and beer. It was a good introduction to the service industry without being thrown in at the deep end, and Richard took to it quickly.
He worked his way up to more involved bars. The Cuban restaurant that next employed him had a varied cocktail list including the revered Mojito. Richard started gathering recipes, becoming more and more proficient in the two years he spent there.
By the time he moved on to Sobeit, a Russian-themed restaurant and club with multiple bars, he was confident and comfortable in his role, and ended up managing it with a friend of his before changing venues yet again.
His last job before making the decision to travel elsewhere was at the Harbour House restaurant and it was at this time that he reckoned it was time to take his skills on the road. The original plan was to move to London and work between there and the Greek islands. That changed when he saw an advertisement for jobs in the Cayman Islands at a new resort – The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman.
He had a face-to-face interview with the recruiter and within a month of being offered the position he was here. He started in 2005 and worked at every bar on the property before settling in at the Silver Palm Lounge. He really likes a job that keeps him on his toes. He also meets an incredibly interesting range of guests and residents where he is guaranteed a different conversation every day. WH