Position: Head chef, Solomon's Fresh Market
Guardian Business: Can you briefly describe your experience in the tourism sector? What your role is today?
Simeon: My entire career has been invested in the sector of tourism. I have worked in major hotels and stand-alone restaurants and respect the 'life' that they both bring. Now, as I journey towards owning my own internationally acclaimed restaurant, I am drawn towards areas that are not often seen as tourism partners. My role today is to increase awareness of better ingredient eating, support of local farmers and fishermen and to show Bahamians that historically the food our forefathers ate was more nutritious and appealing.
GB: Why did you choose to work in tourism as a career?
Simeon: Both my grandmothers were chefs in the tourism industry. One was a cook at the Nassau Beach Hotel all her life and the second owned and operated a famous restaurant in Carmichael Road that often catered to movie sets and special VIP visitors.Being exposed to both of them, it was fate that I felt at home in the kitchen in both the hotel and stand alone restaurants alike.
GB: What has been your most memorable moment?
Simeon: The most memorable moment for me was the day a young chef I mentored a few years ago called me to say thank you for all the training and the 'tough love', and to let me know that he was now executive sous chef at a hotel in Colorado.
GB: Has the industry changed since you started your career?
Simeon: Yes, it has. Unfortunately, I feel the industry has moved away from the things that are uniquely Bahamian. Sadly, 'Bahamian Night' buffets rarely feature the down-home 'soul' food that we once had. With the move to eat healthier and more international, we seem to fear things that helped to mold the islands of the past. We have lost a sense of place in our delivery of the Bahamian product. With young chefs like myself finding great encouragement in all things local, and with visitors demanding more local food, I am encouraged in the shift that is slowly but surely taking place.
GB: What should The Bahamas focus on to stay competitive?
Simeon: We should focus on the notion that "tourism does not mean hotel"! We need to move away from that thinking and recognize the fact that tourism is everyone's concern. You do not have to work in a hotel or directly in industry. We have to realize that an engineer at BEC who stops to give a tourist directions or recommend a favorite place to eat is an ambassador of our tourism product; the cashier that rings the grocery at the check out counter for a private chartered yacht crew member is equally as important as the taxi driver that greets the tourist the minute they step on to Bahamian soil. We are all intertwined in this product which sets us apart from the rest of the world and make us unique.
GB: What advice would you give to a young person who is considering a career in tourism? Simeon: I would suggest that young people diversify, think outside the box, broaden their horizons and embrace our tourism product as not just a hotelier. Welcome a career that, on the surface, is not as directly interactive as a hotel employee. Look at being a farmer, fisherman or bread maker. Look at the great possibilities of being a supplier to the major hotels. Think smart business and be creatively different from what is the status quo.
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