It’s a long way from where he started in 1992, as a waiter at Restaurant Lafite, at the Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Huza stood out from the rest, and was promoted to guest services manager just after four years in 1996, and after 10 years, maitre d’hotel.
“It was a position given only to French fine dining restaurant leaders who have mastered the art of gastronomy and formal dining service, including Gueridon service, French silver service and sommelier service,” he said.
“The maitre d’hotel identifies the regular guests and with the team brings euphoric moments to diners. It’s also about driving a structured approach to be efficient for the customers. It’s about wowing the guests so that they value the services.”
He left in 2006 to join the Westin Hotel, Kuala Lumpur as assistant director of F&B, before being promoted to director. He was there for seven years. He now runs Huza Radzi Consultancy, giving rise to the concept of a “service personality”, or dare we say, a “celebrity butler or waiter”. The company offers hospitality training and advisory services to hospitality schools, running events like the Brunei royal wedding, halal certification and HACCP.
“I was the first F&B director to obtain halal certification for a five-star hotel when it started in 2009,” he said. Global brands who want to do business in the Middle East have engaged his company for this, especially for coffee brands from Latin America, and brands of plant-based products from China. Huza sparks passion when he talks about the hospitality industry and his vision of using Malaysian talents optimally in this industry.
“I’m now sending hospitality talents to the Asean Summit in Langkawi (from April 19 to 29); I’m known for this now.”
The wedding celebrations of Prince Malik spanned 11 days and Huza was there training his team before the Sultans of Perak, Selangor, Johor, Terengganu and Perlis, and Yang diPertuan Besar Negri Sembilan arrived to stay in the Brunei Palace. Huza and team saw to the comfort of all the Sultans, arranging meals for them and providing services and butlership. He had collaborated with UITM in Shah Alam, Penang and Dungun to allow the 100 students and 20 lecturers to work at this event, which he described as a golden opportunity for learning for them. Huza and UITM (or Mara College) go back a long way to when he was a student there. It’s the first school of hospitality in the country, and the oldest one in South-East Asia. Huza enjoys working with hospitality students, and travels to hospitality schools all over the country to share his experiences. Once they enter the workforce, one of the first tasks for him is to help improve the standard of English among the new hospitality recruits, through interaction and the right working environment.
“I’d like to bring a high level of industry exposure to hospitality talents, starting at the schools, and bringing them to worldclass internship opportunities such as the PGA CIMB Golf at the KLGCC. Meaningful exposure will increase employability, give value to students, and prepare their mindset for employment.”
His consultancy is constantly looking for internship places for Malaysian students. “It’s quite difficult as the internship period for our hospitality schools is only three months while that for students of Nepalese and Indonesian hospitality schools are for six months, and they get taken in by employers here. Our Malaysian hospitality schools should look into this.”
The hospitality industry has moved on, he said, with five-star hotels going for the global trend and keeping up with current demand to suit the various sectors of the market, from baby boomers to Gen X and Gen Y.
“The latest consumer market is now focused on Gen Y (born 1980 to 1990). There are new hotel brands like ‘W’ and Aloft which is a smart approach to the new generation.
“The biggest spenders are the baby boomers who are patrons of five-star hotels, and they expect service to be of prestige quality but not all can afford this. So now it is about uptrend brands that are hip and funky. My consultancy is also catering to these demands."
“We need to train Malaysian hospitality services to a much more sensible and refined level when approaching customers of all generations."
