by Dr. Iain
Corness
The director of Mr. Peter Catering Systems in Thailand
is a young, energetic Dane. He is a long way from his native Denmark, but
this is a young man who will go a long way.
He refers to himself as Peter Holm, using his middle
name rather than the surname, “In Denmark there are too many Jensens,”
he said by way of explanation. His father was in the construction industry
and Peter is the eldest of three children. He was a good student, who at
an early stage of his life had already begun to plan his future. He
decided that it would be advantageous to be fluent in English and since
his parents were not all that keen on his friends when he was 17, they
were very happy to pack him off to Texas for a year to brush up his
English.
When he returned to Denmark he was offered a job with
the shipping giant Maersk, considered the number 1 company to join in his
country. The offer was a four year cadetship, but one of the conditions
was that you were not allowed to have girlfriends. Peter, who already had
a girlfriend (or two, I would imagine) turned down the offer. He wanted to
get ahead in the business world, not become a monk!
To further his aim, he went to university for four
years instead, emerging with a BA in Business. I asked him why he chose
business studies and whether it was because of his parental influence, but
this was a negative. “My father didn’t want me to join the family
business, he knew we wouldn’t get along (working together). We are both
‘people persons’ but we’re totally different. He was happy to see me
go to university as it is important to get a good education.”
Following university he started work with a company
exporting shrimps from Greenland. “It was a good job with a good salary
from day one.” It was also a job that allowed him to travel, which was
another of the items on his list of preferred options. With his “Have
shrimp, will travel” suitcase, he saw Japan, China, Greenland and
Europe. I asked if it was a difficult product to sell overseas and he was
very forthright, “You don’t have to sell, people fight you to buy it!
You just have to make sure you get the money!” I have a sneaking
suspicion that there could have been a lesson learned hard in there, but
did not pursue the idea.
So the shrimp seller was getting part of his needs met
with the overseas travel, but this young man is a true ‘people
person’. On Wednesday, Friday and every second Saturday you would find
him in the bar. Not drinking, but working. “This was a great way to meet
people and make friends (and get paid at the same time),” said Peter,
though the money was unimportant, while the shrimps were going out the
door.
The bartender work was to provide the next challenge
for this young energetic man. “A man came to the bar one night and asked
if I would work for him. He was a director of a brewery, but I thought he
wanted me to do deliveries! He asked me to ring him on the Monday, and I
ended up going in to see him. By that afternoon I had signed a contract to
work for them as a regional sales manager.”
This new position suited his gregarious nature down to
the ground. “I loved that beer sales job. I talked to new people every
day.” However, just chatting to sales clients was not going to be enough
to satisfy an ambitious man on the way up. He needed a goal. There is a
street in Aalborg, Denmark’s fifth largest town, which is similar to
Walking Street in Pattaya. 40 bars and plenty of beer drinkers to drain
the barrels. Peter wanted that street. In fact it became his goal, almost
an obsession. He described the high of concluding deals whereby his
company’s beer became the only brand that could be sold from that bar.
He worked that street until it was his. “I wanted that street so bad,
but after I got it I lost the feeling for it. I couldn’t find the
motivation any more.” Without realizing it at the time, he had built
this one goal up in his mind so much, that after it had been reached,
there was nowhere else to go. These are watershed times for ambitious
people. They either have to just tread water and live on what they have
built up on the way to reaching the goal - or they have to branch out
again and set new ones. Peter Holm Jensen is a very ambitious young man -
he chose the latter option.
During his many years as being both working behind the
bar, and in supplying the bar industry, he had noticed just how easy it
was for the staff to fiddle the takings. Just how many shots could you get
out of a bottle of gin? (I believe the correct answer is 28, but short
measures are not unheard of in the industry!) He knew there was electronic
equipment available in Denmark that would circumvent the “theft” by
staff. His next goal was being formed, and it involved Pattaya.
He had been here many times on holiday, he liked the
food and the people, and he knew Walking Street, which had bars with no
spirit accounting system. He had another street to work! With that in
mind, he has relocated to Pattaya, and if you own a bar, do not be
surprised if you get a call!
Peter says his ambition is merely that he doesn’t want to have to
think about money by the time he is 50. He does also say, “I have the
need in me to succeed.” After meeting him, I am sure he will.
