Bernie Primack is one of China's most well-known hospitality professionals. Having been on the scene in China for only seven years, Bernie is called upon frequently by both domestic and foreign hotel chains for consulting and business assistance. Bernie frequently travels between his homes in Beijing and Guangzhou to talk with private sector and government departments abvout China's booming tourism industry.
Bernie Primack was born in London England and moved to South Africa before his first birthday. Growing up in Johannesburg he was introduced to his dream of becoming a chef as his grandfather built Africa's premier 5-star property, a 35-storey 1200 suite luxury development that included 60 state-of-the-art condo apartments which was ahead of its time in the early 60's. Having gotten his baptism by fire, as they say, Bernie was onsite after school during construction and watching every move his Pop-Pop (Grandfather's affectionate name) made from design, construction material to the choosing of the opening management team. Bernie was now hooked and knew he wanted to be in the service industry, starting out in the kitchens and working his way through the various other departments within the hotel before finally going to famed hotel school, Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, and receiving his degree after 3 years.
After emigrating to Canada in 1973 Bernie started working in the top hotels as a chef in Montreal's Hotel Bonaventure for 4 years and then took the position as Chef de cuisine at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, also in Montreal.
Bernie then joined the American Restaurant chain called Victoria Station, a dinner themed chain of prime rib houses located in North America, Australia, Japan and Hawaii. He started out as a unit manager and within 3 years was promoted to regional manager responsible for 32 of the companies 170 units worldwide.
Bernie turned his attention to franchising in Alberta, Canada during the oil boom years of the 80's and met up with a real estate baron who wanted to be in the pizza business with a full range of services for dine-in locations as well as take out and home delivery. In the next 4 years Bernie built a thriving enterprise of 18 dine-in restaurants and 80 pizza delivery parlors throughout western Canada from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Vancouver, British Columbia. Only 4 stores were company-owned and the rest were all franchised. He was now well-know for his ability to grow a business from the ground up.
In the mid 80's Bernie was approached by another fledgling Canadian restaurant owner who wanted to open a new style of watering hole where guests could enjoy food and beverage and dance to the tunes at night. The first of over 100 restaurants was born in Toronto and the rest was history because over the next 5 years Bernie and a team of hospitality professionals put together the most successful chain of franchised roadhouses ever built in Canada. The chain was called O'Toole's, which boasted its own brand of beer and it was the first restaurant chain to have its own Braille menus.–two ideas that Bernie had implemented that gained him recognition in the industry.
In the early 90's Bernie once again felt the calling for the hotel business and joined the Sheraton Group in Vancouver Canada as regional F and B Director and after 2 years was looking after 2 properties as General Manager.
In 1997 Bernie was asked to come to China on a one-year contract to work with the CAAC and its Hong Kong partner to build a sports bar in Beijing's Xidan District. After the year he had fallen in love not only with the country but also a local lady.
Bernie was hired by the Rose Garden Housing Development located in Beijing's Chanping district near the Great Wall to assist them with their hospitality program and to advise the Chairman on the best services to provide homeowners.
Bernie decided to go back to hotels as Director of Banqueting and then Director of F and B at the State Guest Presidential Plaza Hotel in Beijing, and then he joined a resort hotel located just outside of Beijing as General Manager of the Sky-Line Hotel, a 5 star property that was complete with 18 holes of golf. When the SARS epidemic gripped Asia, Bernie turned his attention to working with a Chinese management group giving seminars and lectures all over China on the hospitality industry.
In April 2004 Bernie was asked by the Hong Yu Real Estate Group of Guangzhou, the owners and builders of Star River Guangzhou, to join their company as a General Manager responsible for their construction of the Beijing Star River operation being built on the eastside of the city. Bernie was asked to tour the Guangzhou project to get familiar with the company. After little more than a month, the Chairman of the company asked Bernie to take over as General Manager of the Guangzhou Hotel and club facility as an added duty to the Beijing project. Bernie worked for 8 months in Guangzhou before coming back to Beijing to get ready for the grand opening in July 2005. In September of 2004 he was also placed in charge of the company's subsidiary property management division as the Director for Beijing and Guangzhou.
Bernie is now busy forming his team in Beijing. He is planning strategy so that all key members that come on board will know exactly what they need to do and will be given a huge amount of freedom within their areas of expertise to operate.
Bernie likes an open co-operative style of management where a team environment is fostered, but he is not afraid to pull the reins if things get off track. He is old school in many ways in terms of management techniques, and he believes in praising and reassuring people.
Bernie says, One of my management styles is to catch people doing it right! It is always easy to find a staff member or manager doing something that is not necessarily wrong but that it does not conform to our ways, but we seldom give on the spot praise to our team. In the hospitality business where staff tend to come and go a lot faster than other industries, it is fiscally smart to pay attention to these small praises as by doing so you create pride in the people and the jobs that they perform.
Bernie's experience around the world have served both himself and his companies well. He is a well-respected hospitality professional who keeps reaching for the stars and makes sure his staff also rise with him.