#044 - Hospitality Meets Kellie Rixon - The Trade Body Chair

I really am a lucky pup. There's so many stories of the different people and roles in hospitality that it will take several lifetimes to tell them all.Today's guests is an absolute cracker.I got some time with the inspirational beacon of positivity that is Kellie Rixon, Founder of Rixon Associates (http://rixonassociates.com) and the new Chair of the Institute of Hospitality (https://www.instituteofhospitality.org), the professional body for the Hospitality industry.As always, we get through so much including receiving an MBE, humour, endorphins, being the clever one, making a nuisance of yourself with the council, holiday parks, cleaning buses, change, uncovering talent, overcoming extreme adversity, IOH, debating, Everton v Liverpool, being busy and of course Kellie's incredible career story.It's full of energy and passion and really should not be missed.Enjoy!Show TranscriptionSPEAKERSKellie Rixon, Phil StreetPhil Street 00:01Welcome to hospitality meets with me Phil Street where we take a light hearted look into the stories and individuals that make up the wonderful world of hospitality. Today's guest is the amazing Kellie Rixon, founder of exit associates and the new chair of the Institute of Hospitality. Coming up on today's show... Kelly demonstrates that every day brings its own surprises...Kellie Rixon 00:22And as I'm talking 2 armed police guys just walk in the back of the room, walk over to one of the guys tap him on the shoulder, he walks up, stands up and walks back out with them.Phil Street 00:32Phil unconvincingly tries to rescue this statement... I'm always off, trying new stuff, and... all of it legal. And we learn that it really is amazing what you can find in a dumbwaiter...Kellie Rixon 00:44Opening the dumb waiter one day to find one of the KPs sitting in there and his underpants...Phil Street 00:48All that and a whole lot more as Kelly talks us through her incredible journey so far, which includes an amazing story of overcoming extreme adversity. Kelly talks with such energy and positivity throughout, it really is a story not to be missed. Don't forget, we launch a brand new episode each week telling the amazing and always amusing stories from hospitality. So make sure you hit that subscribe button and give us a like and share across your networks. Enjoy. Hello, and welcome to the next edition of hospitality meets with me Phil Street. Today, I'm super excited to welcome to the show the recently elected Chair of the Institute of hospitality and founder of Rixon Associates, That is none other than Kellie Rixon. MBE. Kellie Rixon 01:28Hi PhilPhil Street 01:30How you doing?Kellie Rixon 01:30I'm good, I like the pause before the MBE to just add some gravitas there. Thank you so much.Phil Street 01:36Absolutely. I was trying to accentuate it so that we can make it a discussion point, which I'm sure we will. But well, actually, let's just go straight into that. What What did you get the MBE for?Kellie Rixon 01:46I'm proud to say it was for services to hospitality. So yeah, it is something that has kind of really kind of made a difference in my life in terms of my pride in my work. It was a great moment, and it's kind of still is great to talk about it.Phil Street 02:04Yeah, absolutely. And is it true that Prince Charles commented on how nice your dress was?Kellie Rixon 02:10He actually did. And he also told me his opening line to me was "Thank God you're here. It's been incredibly dull so far". I thought that was great. I thought it was kind of bringing the party to the palace.Phil Street 02:23Yeah, brilliant. Great stuff. We'll get into that in a little bit more depth as we as we go on. But how are you anyway?Kellie Rixon 02:31Yeah, I'm really well, thank you for asking in a locked up Liverpool at the moment with the world going mad around us. But thankfully, all well. And yeah, fighting through it.Phil Street 02:42Yeah. Which tier Are you in?Kellie Rixon 02:44Where we are the only one in tier three at the moment. So I'm here at being a really competitive person. I like to be, you know, the best I possibly can. So if there's a worst category, that's best, that's what we're in. So I still, somehow I'm taking some sort of sense of achievement in being in the worst group. But we're doing our best.Phil Street 03:05There's always little moments of positivity in the face of adversity. Or I certainly look for humour at times of adversity. Yesterday, I saw a post somewhere, which I did share because it just caught, it gave me an lol moment, which was how people are starting emails now. Which was something like Hi, Phil, I hope you're staying positive and testing negativeKellie Rixon 03:33(Laughs) you see there you go, humour in Liverpool. It's literally bread and butter. It's ah humour plays such an important part in my life. I think it's such a critical kind of thing to use it in both kind of my daily life but just in the people I like to surround myself with. Yeah, there's no no way round a really good laugh.Phil Street 03:55Yeah, I just think it's one of the greatest tonics for life. Really. It's there's there's a science behind it isn't there about your what it releases within you in terms of stress relief and positive chemicals, whatever they're called?Kellie Rixon 04:10Endorphins.Phil Street 04:11That's the one that's the one yeah.Kellie Rixon 04:13This just is so much good. I mean, I was talking about this the other day. I somebody posted you know, the old sketch the Morcambe & Wise breakfast sketch.Phil Street 04:23Yeah,Kellie Rixon 04:24Somebody posted it and it literally stands up today. I just found myself giggle in a way to it with the oranges and the grapefruits kind of it was just such a fun kind of thing to watch over and over again. But yeah, no, lots of things make me laugh and lots of people make me laugh and it's it's definitely part of my life. It's really important part of my life.Phil Street 04:45Yeah, I'm not gonna get too political, but this government is currently making me laugh.Kellie Rixon 04:52Well, I think you're gonna laugh or you're gonna cry at the moment. And I think that in any situation, we do look for humour, and I think we have To find the humour in it, because, you know, you can't always change what's in front of you, but certainly you change your approach.Phil Street 05:07No, indeed, I couldn't agree more. Great. Okay. Well, take us all the way back to the very beginning. And I was gonna say, obviously not birth, but and yeah, talk us through your your life and journey so far.Kellie Rixon 05:21Well, I, you know, I could go back to birth because, you know, I was born in the house that my mom and dad still live in. So, county council estate in Liverpool and they still live in the same house today. So I think what you'd call it now is probably an area of regeneration is probably the kind of politically acceptable phrase but yeah, counsellor state was when I was I was there in growing up. But yet, you know, really happy kind of life growing up in terms of, you know, we didn't have much but I'm one of five children. So lots of people around me there was always kind of quite a social circle and friends, but you know, we we talk about humour growing up with with four brothers and sisters. There's definitely banter. And, yeah, there's definitely fun in there too.Phil Street 06:13Where were you in the pecking order?Kellie Rixon 06:15So I was the baby until my baby sister turned up about eight years later. I never really forgave her for it if I'm honest. So, yeah, no, she's she came along, and I didn't don't think I really kind of warmed up to her for a couple of years. And you know, I'm not gonna lie to you yet. She wasn't the prettiest baby and she turned into the most beautiful woman. So I thought I was okay, because she was going to grow up and she wasn't going to be beautiful. And she turned beautiful. So now I have I have two sisters. One's incredibly beautiful. And ones include incredibly glamorous, and and my mom suggests that one is, you know, beautiful. One's glamorous. And I'm the clever one. Which is just family like my mom. Yeah, and then it's not good. Is it reallyPhil Street 07:01We can always rely on on mum's for a bit of cold hard honestly.Kellie Rixon 07:06It's It's fine. You know, if you want to know about being kind of smart or stylish or glamorous you go to the to, but if you want somebody to ring the council and complain about your bins been emptied, and you're mad. And then I've...