As a man who began as a pot washer, restaurant chain boss Philip Barnett has little patience with those who expect employers to hand them plum jobs despite their lack of experience.Now president of the Island Restaurant Group, which includes the Pickled Onion, Hogpenny and Barracuda Grill, he welcomes Government’s determination to get to grips with Bermuda’s failing public education system because trained labour is vital to ensuring businesses succeed.

He said: “One of the difficulties is that many of my fellow Bermudians do have a sense of entitlement — which is that they deserve something without actually earning it.

“And I think that is one of the concerns that business has in that you are not going to walk into the vice president’s position at $100,000-plus. You have to do the work beforehand.”

Mr. Barnett fell into the catering trade by accident after taking a job pot washing and waiting tables to make a little extra money while at theatre school where he was studying to be an actor.

Deciding the acting career was tenuous at best he took a management role in that same restaurant business and learned the trade from the ground up.

“That’s crucial. You get an understanding and respect for everything there is.”

Part of his management training programme insisted he worked through all positions including three months of kitchen training.

It was invaluable to his current role where he employs nearly 100 employees at three venues.

“I know what I can realistically expect from my people. It wasn’t fun washing dishes, or bussing tables. But it has put me in a position where I truly understand the business and I think that’s something that we as a population need to understand. There is nothing that replaces experience.” And it’s an attitude he hopes will catch on.

“In Bermuda some of the most successful people are those who have gone overseas to do a stint and experienced what life truly is.

“We have no idea — the Bermudians who don’t go overseas to work and don’t have to struggle and fight for every single thing don’t understand how incredibly lucky they are to be here and have the opportunities,” said Mr. Barnett who grew up in Bermuda and emigrated to Canada with his family when he was 13.

“It seems a crying shame that we don’t necessarily take advantage of these opportunities simply because we believe that we are just entitled to things.”

But to ensure Bermuda maintains its success people have to make hard choices. He is thrilled Government is taking on the education issue.

“We as a chamber are very, very pleased the study was commissioned. It’s obviously very hard-hitting and goes directly to the heart of the matter,” said the 39-year-old father of two.

“The Premier has very publicly said he is going to move on it. We see that as something that definitely needs to happen.

“When you have to bring in 12,000 people from overseas to fill jobs it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out there is a massive cost involved in that.

“The more that we can have an educated local population that is growing and challenging themselves then the better off we are going to be.”

He echoed the comments of his predecessor Peter Everson that Government was itself a drain on an already over-stretched local labour force after boosting its own payroll by 1,000 jobs since 2001.

“Every time a job becomes available in the public sector it basically pulls an employee from the private sector.

“And by Government becoming leaner we could fill many of the jobs — which currently have to go to foreigners because there is only a finite amount of people here.

“It will put in check the cost of housing, the cars on the road and a lot of things we as a small country are currently faced with.

“The future of Bermuda is going to be less Government. Less people working for the public purse is going to be a better thing.”

And Mr. Barnett suggested a rethink on Police deployment might be necessary given the lack of beat officers.

“One of our biggest complaints from the business point of view is the lack of visibility of the Police.

“Whether it be during public events such as Harbour Nights or just general Police walking up and down. Sure we have the Policeman in the birdcage directing traffic — a wonderful thing for the tourists to see but having a community beat officer who is actively involved is key to the future.

“Maybe it is time we re-evaluated all the individuals — who knows, I am not the person to answer — but is the force top heavy right now? Are there too many people in administrative positions and not enough people in actual hard policing positions? I don’t know.

“But for the fact that we supposedly do have the most Police per square mile of any country in the world and yet we still have the problems that should really be very manageable. I think the challenges the current Commissioner has are fairly significant in figuring out why.”

The crime cameras have probably cut bike theft believes Mr. Barnett but he said vagrancy was still a big pain.

“In this land of plenty where there is no shortage of employment — the reason they beg is quite frankly they make a very, very good living at it. For the least amount of work I am sure these gentlemen are probably earning $100 a day.”

But right now the Chamber has its own financial problems. One of his first orders of business for Mr. Barnett will have to be coping with a recent loss of $292,7927 in 2006 after the Chamber lost the franchise on Visitor Service Bureau’s which he said had come as a bit of surprise and left it with redundancy payments which were a drain on finances. “As a non-profit organisation it is difficult to salt money away for hard times.” The Chamber has lobbied the Premier for compensation.

Despite dumping the idea of being a thespian Mr. Barnett says his chosen trade has much in common with his previous dreams of stardom.

“This business is very much like theatre. There are deadlines that go into everything we do. Every night with dinner we are pulling up a curtain and opening a show.

“Dining has so much gone from filling that empty space in your stomach to becoming very much an entertainment experience. Do I love the business?

“Absolutely, it is something I am very passionate about — putting the very best out there.”

“It’s one of the only jobs you do where someone can come to you directly and say ‘I didn’t like that.’ You really have to have a pretty thick skin for some of the complaints you get but that is the nature of the beast. It’s similar to theatre where you might get a bad review but you have to keep plugging away.”

Unsurprisingly his venues have striven to keep live entertainment going but he said with the lack of critical mass among the tourist numbers the days of attracting top notch entertainers to Bermuda seem pretty remote.

And the presence of cruise ships can be as much curse as a blessing.

“The other night I came out of the Pickled Onion and from the very top deck, ten storeys up, heard what sounded like a very raucous soca party but I looked down Front Street and nobody was walking. That’s a concern.”

Mr. Barnett said Front Street couldn’t compete with the ability of cruise lines to put on shows and he said limits might be needed as cruise lines were adapt at keeping their passengers on board.

“If there are 2,000 people on the ship yet we can’t even get 20 off to enjoy the food and the drink and the atmosphere it’s a major concern.”

He is keen for Bermuda to spruce up its waterfront to inject new excitement into the capital.

“The fact we actually have parking in some of the most expensive real estate in the world is astounding but understandable because we are still not sure what we are going to do there. I think something should be done.

“The City of Hamilton is changing in so many ways. If we do the waterfront correctly we are going to continue to ensure that Bermuda enjoys it success.”

He believes the niche smaller cruise ships will be ideal bringing a more discerning visitor.

But any development will have to pay for itself. “I can’t come out of the public purse. There’s going to have to be a real estate component to the dock.”