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An interview with an aspirational steward
Last week saw me sampling Triple S's new bartending and barista course at the Cap d'Antibes Beach Hotel in Antibes. Here I met Rob Preston, who is an ambitious interior crewmember, keen on strengthening his skill-set. I found out more about why he was taking the course and his future plans.
TCR: Can you tell me what you want to get out of this bartending course?
RP: I want to confidently be able to put on a show behind the bar and entertain, so it's more than just being a barman. It's about being confident in making the same cocktails again and again where the measuring is very important. I want to be able to make the classics off by heart.
TCR: How do you see the course strengthening your career?
RP: I think it will strengthen my all round butler skills. Although I've made a lot of cocktails in the past they weren't measured and I didn't know about the classics, the history and the stories behind the bar. I could always make [the guest] feel comfortable but if they asked me a question about anything to do with the history of the drink I would have to change the show and divert them.
TCR: Was this the first bartending course that you looked at and why did you choose it?
RP: I particularly liked Triple S's philosophy. They want to uplift the service and I'd done butler training back in Australia, specifically to do with superyachts. I was lucky to be a guest on a superyacht so that got me thinking about high-end hospitality. I was doing things that set me aside from everyone else. To be a butler, personal service, that's where it's all going. So I did the butler training then came over [to Antibes]. I've done a lot of working with wine and cocktails so [the course] is just going to give me confidence. I've already done the Triple S wine course and I'm doing a top up next week.
TCR: Do you find that you have to revise everything that you have learnt before you join a yacht?
RP: A lot of the butler training I did in Australia was about philosophy; about service and caring for people and you retain that.
TCR: Why do you feel passionate about high-end service?
PR: I like to call it intuitive service, so the idea is to be working with your team to instinctively know what the guest wants even before they themselves know. It becomes six-star service. You know that they've just had their lunch and that they're going to want something in 15-20 minutes, you provide them with a gorgeous ice tea or something and they think "that's fantastic". They're at ease and you're managing them but they don't know it.
TCR: What's your ultimate goal for the future? Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years time?
RP: Working within the industry I want to be head of interior on a yacht that does wow-factor events and entertainment. Because we've got all these components; the budgets can be endless and you've got these fantastic locations.
TCR: So there's a lot of imagination involved.
RP: That's it, because you're only limited by your imagination if you've got the right team around you.
TCR: Which yachts have you worked on?
RP: This is only my third season on superyachts. My first yacht was Sea Jewel, a 57-metre based in Cannes and the second was Rising Sun. I was a butler-steward on the first yacht and head steward on Rising Sun.
TCR: When you first came over from Australia did you struggle to find employment?
RP: Definitely, because it was just the turn in the economy and I had, like a lot of people, the romance of coming to work in the South of France and it all worked out by chance. I was working in high-end catering in Sydney in a magnificent house in Sydney Harbour. It was the Sydney to Hobart race and I saw a butler looking after the house and I thought that seems like a good gig, looking after someone's beautiful home, so I researched on the internet about butlers, house-managers, estate managers and that's when I found out about the course. Then I found out about the STCW95 and came over, but I did the qualification back in Australia before I left. Then what I found was that it was like ten deep in the agencies. It was really busy because it was the beginning of the down-turn but no-one really knew about it. What set me apart from everyone else was the butler training because it opened the door and got people to look at me in a different way because I didn't have any yachting experience.
TCR: So would you say that butler training sets you apart from other interior crew?
RP: It definitely got me interviews with the agencies. People noticed but it was a tough season. I had to walk the docks.
TCR: Did you do a lot of day work before you got on Sea Jewel?
RP: No, I did a couple of days exterior work but not really because it was a tough season and there is an age limit even for day work. [Most Yachting professionals] think that if you're a guy you work on the exterior for day work but that's changing a bit now. What was great about this season was that a lot of people were taking jobs early and then half way through the season they ran out of stewardesses for day work so then I was presenting myself as interior day work and once you get that connection with a yacht they see what you can do because the detail that we achieve as butlers is different and I'm experienced.
TCR: How long does it take for you to become familiar with the interior layout of each new yacht?
RP: It's in a different layout but it's basically the same; they've got day heads, they've got cabins. You're still looking at detail in the same way, working with sections. All the boats that I've worked on for day work I got a call back from and then you build a relationship with that boat and it rolls on; so it works out really well and this [course] is another good opportunity because now I'm going to be working at the Monaco Yacht Show.
We wish Rob the best of luck with his future endeavours before sending him back to the bar to learn how to make an espresso martini.
 Rob Preston
 Rob in action behind the bar
Juliet Benning
Related links
Triple S Consultancy - company profile | company website
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