Beyond the white jacket: What today’s food industry really needs

By Trevor Boyd, Operations General Manager: Food & Beverage, City Lodge Hotels and Hostex ambassador

When people think about chefs, the picture is often incomplete. There’s the white jacket, the apron, the intensity, and sometimes the ego. What’s far less visible is the human reality behind that façade: people operating under pressure, balancing creativity with operational systems, and carrying responsibility for food as well as staff.

Trevor Boyd, Operations General Manager: Food and Beverage at City Lodge Hotels and Hostex 2026 ambassador, notes that misunderstanding often sits at the heart of how the food industry is misjudged.

“Behind that hard exterior is someone trying to deliver standards: standards of food, consistency, and leadership, all while managing daily pressure,” he explains. “Kitchens demand precision, pace, and resilience, and sometimes that means firmness – what often gets labelled as ego is, in reality, accountability.”

Trevor is cautious about using the word “passion”: “Passion comes and goes; it doesn’t sustain you. What keeps chefs in the industry, especially through its toughest moments, is respect: respect for your craft, your team, and the responsibility that comes with feeding others. This distinction matters in an industry increasingly challenged by burnout, skills shortages, and shifting expectations.”

Like many chefs, Trevor entered the profession with a romanticised view of what it would be. Reality arrived quickly. Early roles didn’t align with his aspirations, and a decisive shift into the hotel environment forced him to rethink his trajectory.

“Once I made the decision, I planned the journey,” he explains. “Hotels are both rewarding and unforgiving. It’s a bit like golf – you can have an awful round, but one perfect shot brings you back. Kitchens are the same. A brutal day can be redeemed by a flawless service, when the team moves in sync, guests are happy, and the chaos briefly turns into beautiful harmony.”

That understanding of pressure and payoff shaped Trevor’s leadership philosophy when he took on the challenge of transforming the food and beverage offering and experience at City Lodge Hotels.

Scaling food without losing its soul

When Trevor stepped into his role, there was no playbook. Food and beverage made up a small fraction of the business, and capability varied widely across the group’s then 59 hotels. The mandate was simple but daunting: improve the offering, without disrupting the business or inflating costs.

Instead of imposing a final vision, Trevor focused on progression. Menus started out simple and teams learned the fundamentals first. Early use of convenience products created consistency, which built confidence, and only once the foundation was solid did complexity follow.

Crucially, Trevor didn’t lead from head office, he led from the floor. He explains, “I packed fridges, prepped mise en place, cooked services. If you only tell people what to do, you gain nothing, but if you show them, you gain trust.”

That hands-on approach allowed him to identify natural leaders within the teams, tailor staff development, and support those who needed more time without leaving anyone behind.

The results have been tangible. The food and beverage department now contributes roughly 20% of the business. Revenue growth became a measure of maturity and menus continued to expand.

“If the food wasn’t better, the numbers wouldn’t move,” Trevor explains. Social media told the same story, tracking the visible evolution of dishes, confidence, and pride across the group’s properties.

As hotels have been refurbished and footfall increased, food offerings have evolved organically. Courtyard Hotels feature the Club Lounge restaurant, City Lodge Hotels have #Café restaurants, and Town Lodges and Road Lodges offer Eat-in restaurants, with menus tailormade to each brand’s guests.

Some properties have developed their own restaurant identities and menus, including:

• Courtyard Hotel Waterfall City opened in 2021 featuring The Protea restaurant with a sophisticated, contemporary menu serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, and The Highline gourmet lounge on the 9^th floor specialising in delicious light meals for lunch and dinner.
• City Lodge Hotel V&A Waterfront has recently refurbished, launching the new Atlantic Lounge bar that champions local wines and spirits paired with a small plates menu, and Atlantic Social restaurant offering relaxed dining that stretches outside onto the deck overlooking the canal, plus a second bar for casual enjoyment
• City Lodge Hotel Umhlanga Ridge has also been revamped and now features Umoya restaurant and Umoya @ The Deck, also offering alfresco dining on the deck outside the front of hotel.

Trevor is clear that independence must follow readiness: “You crawl before you walk, walk before you run. It’s not fair to give people or businesses responsibility before they’re ready to manage it.”

What the modern food industry must get right

Trevor’s journey highlights several hard truths about food leadership today:

• Leadership is earned on the floor, not declared in head office. Credibility comes from shared effort, not just instruction manuals.
• Consistency builds confidence before creativity can flourish. Teams need stability before innovation becomes sustainable.
• Data informs decisions, but guests define success. Sales mix, feedback, and repeat visits matter more than trends.
• Comfort food wins because it connects emotionally. Dishes that “hit the spot” outperform complexity every time.
• Progression beats perfection. Sustainable growth happens in stages, not in leaps and bounds.
• People don’t resist change, they fear failing. Psychological safety is as important as technical training.
• Food is never just food, it’s trust, memory, and care served on a plate.

Ironically, when Trevor steps out of his professional role and heads to his favourite restaurants, his tastes are unapologetically simple: curry, pizza, steak on the braai. Years in the industry haven’t necessarily made him adventurous – although he has eaten some extraordinary food on his international travels – rather, they’ve made him decisive. He knows what works, what comforts, and why people come back.

This clarity is perhaps the most important lesson for the food industry today. Authenticity, not complexity, equals progress. Leadership is not about control, but about trust. And great food – whether in a flagship hotel or a local neighbourhood joint – exists for one reason only, and that is to make people feel looked after.

In an industry defined by pressure, Trevor reminds us that lasting success is built slowly, led visibly, and sustained by respect. That’s not just good leadership, that’s good hospitality.

As Trevor returns as a Hostex ambassador for the second time, he brings these insights and the hard-earned experience behind them directly to the industry conversation. From 8 to 10 March at the Sandton Convention Centre, visitors will be able to meet him in person and explore what it really takes to grow food and beverage operations in a way that is both commercially sound and people-led. In its 40th year, Hostex 2026 continues to create the space where leaders like Trevor share practical wisdom, challenge assumptions, and help shape what comes next for hospitality.

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ABOUT TREVOR BOYD, OPERATIONS GENERAL MANAGER: FOOD & BEVERAGE, CITY LODGE HOTELS

Trevor Boyd has served as Operations General Manager: Food & Beverage at City Lodge Hotels since April 2021 and is regarded as one of South Africa’s leading chefs and culinary professionals. With more than 30 years’ experience, he has expanded the group’s F&B department so that all hotels now serve breakfast, lunch and dinner from in-house restaurants, with regularly refreshed menus, extensive staff training and revitalised events and banqueting. His senior culinary roles include the Mount Nelson, Sheraton Pretoria, InterContinental OR Tambo and The Michelangelo. Internationally, Trevor represented South Africa with Culinary Team SA, earning medals at the IKA Culinary Olympics, and served as Team Manager in 2020. In 2019 he was inducted into the Academy of Chefs for his leadership and contribution to the profession.