Mick says his career in hospitality probably began at age 15, washing dishes as a part time kitchen hand. Now assistant manager of The Grand Pacific, it is clear much has happened in between.
He grew up and went to school in Melbourne. His first job was in an Essendon restaurant; the next was at The Hard Rock Café when it opened in 1995. Three months later he commenced a hospitality traineeship, with the ALH Pub Group. Management jobs at various venues followed until he moved to The Tooheys Group; a few years later he was employed as bar manager at a city nightclub and then with that company’s new wholesale liquor business.
Mick’s next move was to Queensland. At first he managed pubs in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, then transferred to Surfers Paradise to be close to the surf. Before long, he returned to Melbourne and worked for a construction company as a labourer and tradies’ assistant for three years.
In the summer of 2009, responding to a Lorne friend’s call for help, he worked at B-Bar and Grill (now known as the ‘Lorne Beach Pavilion’). After the summer, Mick decided ‘to pack up his life’ and booked a ticket to London. Not one to stand still, Mick used the six months before his planned departure, to take up an offer in Perth to run a backpackers’ hostel. When he finally arrived in the U.K., he found a great job with a team who had the contract to lay the athletics track for the 2012 London Olympics.
However, a visit home for Christmas in 2011 ended with a major change to his plans, when once again he agreed to help out as bartender at The Pavilion. Mick has been in Lorne ever since.
His interests include music, playing the guitar and sharing good wine and food with friends. He likes to stay active and enjoys surfing and a hit of golf. His parents are Alpaca breeders and he helps them on their farm when he can. He is just back from Sri Lanka so I suspect he likes to travel as well.
