Fairmont Hamilton Princess director of Food and Beverage, Norman Gardener, readily admits he's not a sit-down kind of guy.

"I believe in 'inspect what you expect'," said Mr. Gardener who has been with the Fairmont Hamilton Princess for three years.

He can always be found bustling about the hotel, not just inspecting the food and beverage side of things, but also making sure that the hotel guests are happy.

Mr. Gardener is one of a rare breed, a Bermudian working in management in a Bermudian hotel.

"I would say there are not many other Bermudians at my level in the hotel industry in Bermuda," said Mr. Gardener.

"Most of them would be here at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess. This hotel tends to have more Bermudians than other hotels on the island."

And many of the other Bermudians in management at the hotel graduated from the hotel programme at the Bermuda College around the same time that Mr. Gardener did, 1984.

He originally wanted to be a biochemist, but the Bermuda College didn't offer a high level of science when he was there.

"They suggested I try the hotel," said Mr. Gardener. "So I signed up. I went through the general catering programme."

At that point Mr. Gardener had his sights set on becoming a chef, but sometimes life can turn on something as small as a scallop.

"The chef programme was going well, until one day the instructor asked me to try a scallop dish," said Mr. Gardener. "I wouldn't eat it."

Mr. Gardener does not eat seafood for religious reasons.

"It was a mishap," said Mr. Gardener. "He said if I couldn't eat scallops, I couldn't be a chef. He threw me out of the kitchen."

So Mr. Gardener switched to the restaurant side of the programme, and never looked back.

"I found some good mentors working in the restaurant including Joey Hayward, Andre Weeks, Frankie Ming, and others," he said. "All those guys had different skills. I said I wanted to get a piece of all of these guys. I learned a lot from them."

They encouraged him to strive to do his best.

After the Bermuda College he went to work for the Marriott Castle Harbour Hotel.

He again encountered some setbacks, but rode right over them. "I wanted to go into the restaurant but the food and beverage manager wanted me to stay in room service," said Mr. Gardener.

"So I said okay, well then if I have to work in room service, I will strive here."

He worked the long way up from busboy to food and beverage manager. The hotel closed in 1999.

From there, Mr. Gardener went to work in Jamaica at the Renaissance Jamaica Grand in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This was a 900 room hotel with nine restaurants and 12 bars.

"That was a different experience," said Mr. Gardener. "It was a big hotel. What was shocking to me was that here in Bermuda guests had to pay for everything. But there it was all-inclusive. That was a new system I had to learn."

Over the next couple of years he hopped between various hotels on different islands in the Caribbean. He married Deborah and they have two young children, Norman Jr. and Felicia.

"I wanted to get my career out of the way when my children were little," he said. "I was working towards the directorship."

He finally realised this goal when he became food and beverage director at Sandals in Jamaica.

"That was another monster hotel," he said. "It was two hotels that were merged. It had around 11 restaurants and 17 bars. You had to drive between the two hotels."

From his experience with hotels, he recommended all-inclusive hotels for families.

"They have kids programmes," he said. "The adults can relax, and the kids can do age-appropriate things."

A few years ago, Mr. Gardener returned to Bermuda to work at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.

"The kids were getting a little bit older," he said. "It was time for them to come home. But they just slid right into life here. It was like we never left."

He said balancing family life with a hotel industry career can be a challenge.

"You need a dynamic equilibrium," he said. "You have to strive for balance. The family has to understand that daddy works. But you have to try and make time for them. I try my best to do that.

"When you've had a hard day at work, you have to come back down and have the patience to help them with their homework."

Mr. Gardener said he would like to see more Bermudians coming into the hotel industry. He said programmes should start in schools.

"When I went to the Bermuda College, there were kids that came from the secondary schools on day release," he said. "They would come in and work with us in the kitchen.

"Maybe there could be a course taught in schools, and then they come to work in hotel kitchens to get the hands-on experience," he said.

"We do need to focus on getting Bermudians," he said. "The dream is not far, you just have to believe in yourself. You just have to paralyse resistance with persistence. That is what I thrive on."

Mr. Gardener advised young people that if things don't work the way you want them to work, don't give up.

"The goals are obtainable," he said. "You can't just sit back and wait for it to come. It is not going to be handed to you on a silver platter.

"You have to work for the silver platter. You can get it, but you have to go for it. You just have to apply yourself. I learned that from my own experience."