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22/09/2008
Michael visits Langside college as part of his tour of Scotland.

16/09/2008
Michael has been coming to Ayr College for over six years and in that time has been an inspiration to the many students receiving his message.
Part of Ayr College’s aims is to prepare students for work and to play a part in society as good citizens.
Michael scores on both these points as the anti drink and drugs message hits home.
Michael’s passion and endearing personality not only gains popularity with the students but also respect.
This in turn means the students listen and engage allowing a better understanding of the dangers involved in the misuse of drink and drugs.
A true character and inspiration, Michael always leaves us feeling energised after his visits.
I have come to know Michael over the years and he is now much more than just a guy coming to visit and do a talk, he is a friend of staff and students at Ayr College and will always be welcomed with open arms.


William Ferguson
Curriculum Manager
Hospitality
Ayr College

15/09/2008
Michael is currently on tour in Scotland.

Picture right is from Cumbernauld College.

South Lanarkshire Picture

02/07/2008
Mike called into Regency and was asked to give a lecture to full time and apprentice chefs on alcohol and drug awareness. He gave a frank and often humorous talk of his career at the very top of the industry, and how he hit rock bottom due to substance abuse. An excellent 40min's that was well received by students and staff, great pointers for young chefs and on a personal note terrific to see Micky Quinn back. All the staff who attended the lecture have said they would love to see this as a seminar presented to our students each semester.

27/06/2008
Cassandra, Neil , Tom from the Australian Culinary Federation and Stuart Dean (NOT IN UNIFORM) of Hospitality CIT

20/06/2008
Swan TAFE delivers a UK initiative to Australia which is destined to make a huge impact and a difference to those entering and working in the hospitality Industry. Arkglobal hit the Western Australian shores with the arrival of it founder Mr Michael Quinn MBE and the ripple effect is being felt across the country.

Swan TAFE launched this successful initiative from the UK on the 17th June 2008 which will benefit hospitality workers not only in Perth but throughout Australia. Michael Quinn MBE founder of the Ark Foundation in 2001 and assisted by Roy Southworth, Principal Lecturer in Hospitality at Swan TAFE have been keeping in close contact since December 2007 when Michael first made contact after many years to organise the Australian launch.

Roy Southworth explains how this initiative found its way to Perth, Western Australia

“Michael was my cookery lecturer at the Accrington and Rossendale catering college, Lancashire, England in 1976 before he returned to the hospitality industry and was later head hunted by the Ritz Hotel London. Michael came to Perth in December 2007 to inform me of what had happened to him since I last saw him. I last saw Michael during a period of my life when I working as a head pastrychef in the five star hotels of St. Mortiz. Switzerland. He discovered that I had moved to Australia when presenting his seminar at Blackpool and Fylde College in Lancashire England where I taught cookery and patisserie for 10 years. Whilst in Perth he told me of his story and how through the successful growth of the Ark Foundation that he and a team presenters visit all the Colleges and Universities throughout the UK each year. He told me of his ambition to bring the Ark Foundation to Australia to educate the hospitality workers here. Early 2008 I approached both my Managing Director for Swan TAFE and Portfolio Manager Mr Bernhard Staggl for their permission to use Swan TAFE for the launch and allow me the time to make contact with our local industry, TAFE’s colleges in Perth and throughout Australia”.

During his visit to Perth Michael has provided seminars at Swan TAFE Bentley Campus, Challenger TAFE, West Coast TAFE and at the Burswood Entertainment complex. The seminars reached over 550 apprentice chefs, full time hospitality students, managers and TAFE lecturers with his awe inspiring story and advice on the dangers of alcohol and drugs and their impact on other and their careers.

On Tuesday 17th June 2008 Swan TAFE officially launched Arkglobal at the Bentley Pines restaurant in the grounds of the Bentley Campus. The evening was attending by 86 people from Western Australian industry peak bodies, TAFE colleges and Industry employees. The evening started with all guest being received at the door as they entered by Mr Michael Quinn MBE, Principal Lecturer for Hospitality Roy Southworth and special Guest Tamiko Miyake who presented herself wearing the Traditional ceremonial Kimono of Japan.

Canapés included sushi served in lacquer boxes, a parsnip soup served in small glasses and pre dinner drinks were served in the lounge area before the guest entered the dinning room for a mouth watering feast of Western Australian products prepared and served by the hospitality lecturers and student at Swan TAFE (see menu here).

The evening was supported by Western Australian producers and suppliers to the hospitality Industry by donating food and fine wines for the evening. Michael addressed the guest with what can only be described as a life changing speech. His delivery made a huge impact on all who attended. The evening was hugely successful and as provided a platform for Arkglobal to be given a life here in Australia and as opened in roads to all major hospitality organisations in the Perth industry. Michael left behind a Jacket worn at the seminars containing the Arkglobal logo and The Ritz Hotel London logo which has been signed by the staff and student who worked so hard to make the evening a success. It will be framed and placed on show in College to celebrate the evening. We have gained support from the Australian Culinary Federation, Western Australian chapter President Mr Patrick O’Brien who has contacted the president and members in other states for support, The Catering Institute of Australia WA and Swan TAFE Managing Director Mr Wayne Collyer has sent letters of support to other Managing Directors at the TAFE’s I organised Michael to visit in, Adelaide, Canberra, Cairns, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Mr Collyer will also be introducing him to other Managing Directors of TAFE throughout Australia at the largest trade competitions in Australia held in Sydney this July, it is hoped that Michael will be given the opportunity to give his inspirational speech at the World Skills dinner.

Michael left Perth on the 22nd June for Adelaide and will now be receiving a warm welcome in each state with people wanting to meet and help with this much needed initiative.

ABC Radio interview here

20/06/2008
Phil Westwood
SNR Lecturer Challenger TAFE
Fremantle
Western Australia

'The Examiner' press coverage here...

16/06/2008
Top Chef delivers strong alcohol message to students
Former head chef of The Ritz Hotel (London) Michael Quinn MBE shocked hospitality students at West Coast TAFE, Joondalup, this week with his compelling story of alcohol abuse that ended his high-profile career and nearly…. his life.

Quinn’s visit to West Coast TAFE has formed the first of a series of drug and alcohol seminars that he will deliver (through international charity Ark Global*) to TAFE and college hospitality students across Australia in the next few months.

Gaining the support of celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver (an honorary vice-chairman of the charity) and Gordon Ramsay, Quinn has spent the last 8 years addressing over 20,000 students across 300 colleges on the early warning signs and effects of alcoholism, determined to prevent other young chefs from falling down the same dark hole.

“In the hospitality industry, you are surrounded by alcohol all the time,” says Quinn. “There is a social aspect to it – the winding down after a service, working irregular hours, working under high pressure as well as the ‘work hard, play hard’ culture that often encourages drinking in this industry.

“I saw the Ark as an educational tool to take the message of alcohol and drug awareness into (catering) colleges,” says Quinn who, doing little cooking these days, has made this important drug and alcohol awareness campaign his full-time occupation.

Director of the West Coast Academy of Hospitality & Tourism, Patrick O’Brien said he felt both honoured and privileged to welcome Michael Quinn to address the academy’s hospitality students on the issue of drug and alcohol abuse.

“Michael Quinn’s commitment to educating young people in the hospitality industry is remarkable,” Mr O’Brien said. “His intriguing story was an inspiration to our students who will (if they haven’t already) almost certainly become exposed to drugs and alcohol during their career.”

During the seminar, Quinn addressed West Coast TAFE students on what he called “the invisible line” between social drinking and dependant drinking (or alcoholism). He spoke about the early warning signs of alcoholism and shocked students with his tales of wetting the bed, impotence, a broken marriage and finally, being diagnosed with liver failure and given his last rights by a priest in hospital.

“I’m an alcoholic but I never chose to become one,” said Quinn.
“I couldn’t stop, I had no choice, I had to drink and I had too
much of an ego to admit that I had a problem.

14/06/2008
Radio interview in Australia for ABC Radio (9 mins : 2.1mb)...

Click to listen

14/05/2008
Congratulations and thanks from the staff and students at Grantham College to Michael and his team for the inspiring work that they do!

06/05/2008
Michael attended a reception at Buuckingham Palace for the hospitality industry on May 6th. The reception was hosted by Her Majesty The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

21/04/2008
Michael was part of the judging team for the "Catey" Hotel Manager of the year" award at the Dorchester hotel, London.

20/04/2008
Once again it was a pleasure to welcome Michael to Leeds Metropolitan University. We invite Michael every year to speak to our new intake of hospitality students as it is viewed as a beneficial and enlightening presentation about the effects of alcohol and drugs in the industry. Michael is always received well by the students who find real value in his first hand experience and down to earth approach with genuine honesty and truth.

Zoe McClelland

26/03/2008
Westminster Kingsway, the No1 UK hospitality college gives its unequivocal support to Michael Quinn's new Ark Global project.

Geoff Booth, Centre Director.

Westminster Kingsway

12/03/2008
Former head chef at the Ritz and founder of the ARK Foundation, Michael Quinn MBE, captured the attention of the Hospitality and Catering students on Wednesday 12 March, with his open and honest drugs and alcohol awareness seminar.

Michael was keen to highlight the intentions of the seminar:

“It’s not an anti drinking workshop,” states Michael, “it’s about highlighting the warning signs and planting the seeds.”

The students heard first hand how alcohol addiction saw Michael go from a successful career into homelessness and eventually hospital where he was even given his last rights.

Through the seminar, Michael was able to illustrate how he ‘paid a heavy price’ and hopes the students picked up the key messages:

“There are lots of messages in the talk, some hidden and some obvious – I hope they picked them up and leave here with something.”

23/02/2008
When I was Editor of Caterer & Hotelkeeper in the late 1990s, it was a publication that people referred to as the “Bible of its industry”. This had little to do with me – at the time there simply wasn’t anything to rival the magazine in British hospitality. With a weekly readership of 250,000, its position as the main channel of communication in hotels, restaurants and among contract caterers was second to none.

This was in the days before email, and the Editor used to receive up to 100 letters a day. Most routine correspondence was handled by my PA or other members of staff, but I always responded to personal letters myself. One day, a letter arrived from a Michael Quinn. Something about it caught my eye, I’m not sure what. I read it carefully and then walked out onto the editorial floor and asked: “Has anyone ever heard of Michael Quinn MBE?” There was silence. Someone muttered something about “famous chef, long time ago”.

I checked out the name, made sure that the letter wasn’t a fake, and arranged to meet Michael in a hotel near Northampton. Over lunch, he told me his story. I was intrigued. My nose for good editorial copy was twitching. But it was more than that. As he described his descent into the nightmare world of the alcoholic and about his slow but successful recovery and how he now wanted to do something to assist fellow alcoholics, I felt compelled to help.

Two months later we ran a leader column in the magazine about the Ark Foundation, accompanied by a six-page article and interview with Michael. The rest, as they say, is history. The hospitality industry responded, the Ark was launched, support gathered momentum and the work commenced.

I’ve never pretended that it was this article in Caterer that was responsible for the Ark’s success. It would have happened anyway, such was Michael’s commitment and faith in the project. But if the magazine helped, then I’m pleased.

As a personal footnote, my subsequent friendship with Michael kick-started an interest in charity work that led, five years later, to a new career with The Children’s Society (www.childrenssociety.org.uk). It’s no coincidence that I should find myself involved in an organisation where much of the work helps young people with drink or drug problems or whose parents suffer from substance misuse. Michael Quinn’s influence is more far reaching than he thinks!

Forbes Mutch
Senior Communications Editor, The Children’s Society
Editor Caterer & Hotelkeeper (1997 – 2005)

13/02/2008
"The work you have dedicated yourself to do is invaluable and I know will be an enormous encouragement and blessing to everyone you speak to. I have no doubt you will already have affected many people's lives and will continue to do so."

Stephen Boxall, General Manager, The Ritz London

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