Blog. Spirit of Hospitality
May 31, 2023 | Author: Giuliana Vittiglio
In December 2023 Chris Mitchell and Robbie Laidlaw will face a challenge like no other, as they row across the Atlantic in aid of Hospitality Action. Known as “the world’s toughest row” the Atlantic Challenge is a 3,000-mile expedition from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. We caught up with the adventurous duo to learn more about the Spirit of Hospitality:
Tell us a little about yourselves.
We’re Chris & Robbie from Genuine Dining. We’ve both worked in hospitality for all our careers and are passionate about what we do.
I’m Chris, I’m from Southampton and I’ve been working in the hospitality industry since I was 16. I started at McDonalds, which gave me a great start to my career. I own Genuine Dining which does food for people at work. I live just outside London and in my spare time, apart from rowing I like to hang out with my family and friends. I love building things; I love my lawn and I have 3 kids that keep my generally very busy and grounded!
I’m Robbie and I’m from Edinburgh. I’ve worked at Genuine Dining for 5 years and before that in various hospitality roles in and around London and in Edinburgh. In my spare time of course, I row and I also love to play golf. I’m about to buy a house with my partner who is due have a baby 6 weeks before the row!
What inspired you to take on this epic challenge?
We needed a challenge during the first lockdown, to keep us focused and to try to engage the rest of our teams. Usually, we cycle from London to Paris each year with as many of our teams and clients who would like to come. We looked into organising that by perhaps rowing across the Channel. That wasn’t possible in Covid so we went down a strange scroll hole on Instagram and ended up researching ocean rowing boats. Then we found out about the Atlantic Challenge, which is called ‘The World’s Toughest Row’ and before we knew it, and with prolonged discussions with our families and getting in touch with the current world record holder, Mark Slats, and negotiating to buy his boat, we’d signed up. It kind of snow balled!
Why did you decide to fundraise for Hospitality Action?
Hospitality Action have always been there for us as a business. In 2017 our sushi restaurant got attached by terrorists in the London Bridge attacks. Our chefs and teams saved our customers from a knife wielding terrorist and luckily, they were all ok. But they needed some PTSD support. We contacted HA and they helped us within 48 hours. We’ve since signed all our employees up to the EAP and they have helped us so much. We’d be lost without them.
Tell us about your training programme.
It’s very strict and involves training 7 days a week. We leave the house at 5.30am to get to the gym at work for 6.30, we’re in the gym by 6.45 doing strength and mobility work. At the weekends we need to row in 1, 2 or 3 hour stints. We live about a mile away from each other and so sometimes we row together. Outside of that we need to do 125 hours on our boat Maria to qualify for the race, so it’s involved a lot of weekends attempting to row around the Isle of Wight – weather dependent. A few weeks ago, we rowed from Ramsgate to Rotterdam. Maria gets shipped in September so there’s not much longer with her. It’s starting to get real!
How can people get involved and show their support?
To get involved and show your support you can sponsor us or come to one of our fundraising events. Give us a follow on Instagram @Spirit_of_Hospitality to find out what we’re up to! Our entire industry even loads of our competitors have been so supportive with sponsorship and fundraising. It’s been very humbling to create an event that is bringing everyone together. The opportunity to give something back to a charity that does so much for so many people is our main focus and if anyone wanted to hold their own fund-raising event to raise money towards the row they’d be welcome to. Chris' daughters held a bake sale at their Brownies group which raised £50!
Click here to learn more about the Spirit of Hospitality and how to lend your support.