Parliamentarian Dale Butler has become so successful teaching foreigners the subtleties of Bermudian culture, his employers have hired him out to other companies.

The former headmaster has even joined some of them in the kitchen to teach chefs the correct way to make codfish cakes and other traditional Bermudian food.

Last November, upon his election to Parliament as the Progressive Labour Party representative for Warwick East, Mr. Butler faced a daunting change of career.

But the ebullient former headmaster bounced back by trailblazing a new career as troubleshooter for the Little Venice Group of Restaurants.

Mr. Butler spoke to The Royal Gazette about his new job yesterday at La Trattoria restaurant.

Under Bermuda law headmasters and school teachers -- like all civil servants -- cannot serve as Members of Parliament at the same time.

That left the former teacher and head of St. George's Secondary and Northlands Secondary with no job when he was elected for the first time.

"What happened is I was on TV and I said I didn't have a job,'' Mr. Butler said. "Almost immediately my phone was ringing off the hook.'' He said he asked people in the community about some of the job offers and was told he "shouldn't miss an opportunity to work with the Little Venice Group''.

Mr. Butler is now the director of training, leadership, and communications with the group and works with everyone from the "dishwasher to the president''.

The Group of six restaurants -- La Trattoria, the Little Venice, the Club, La Coquille, Cafe Lido, and the Harbourfront -- had found it difficult to represent itself in meetings before Government and the business community.

It had also wanted to improve its service while introducing its foreign born workers to Bermudian life and culture.

"They wanted to make sure they stayed ahead of the competition by maintaining the high level of service,'' Mr. Butler said. "The workers already had high skills. My job will be to keep it at a high level.'' Mr. Butler added with a smile: "They had to understand, of course, that I was not available on Fridays!'' He said he had "100 per cent'' support of senior management and had earned the loyalty of the staff.

Mr. Butler has been so successful with the programme that the group has contracted him to work with other companies to work with their staff.

He teaches the history of Bermuda, important points when serving customers, particularly Bermudians, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, human rights, and general knowledge about the Island.

He also sends undercover diners into the restaurants to evaluate the service and food, and reads every diner evaluation card -- and acts upon each suggestion.

Mr. Butler also acts as the company's liaison with the education community in encouraging young people to work in the hospitality industry and hopefully one of its restaurants.

"I would tell young Bermudians that they can make money, meet people, and their training can be paid for by the company,'' he said.

Mr. Butler added: "I think the company was becoming concerned that it was becoming harder to attract Bermudians. But they will send people to Capri, Italy, for training. There are so many opportunities.'' Mr. Butler, who prides himself on his talents with Bermudian cuisine, has even shown Italian chefs how to make decent tomato sauce for codfish and potatoes.

"Almost everything I do here is motivational,'' Mr. Butler concluded.

"Someone wrote the tomato sauce wasn't good, so I showed them.'' "But I have to keep telling them not to feed me so much.'' he said as he eyed an unclaimed plate of rolls.