Sean DiCicco: Can Las Vegas hospitality industry be taught … hospitality?
Editor’s Note: Our sincere thanks to the guest columnists who filled in for Robin Leach during his two months of annual summer travels. Robin has returned from Mexico, and on Sunday we’ll have his story of the 100 new restaurants and vineyards that have sprung up north of Ensenada. We’ll continue with our columnists until his return here for Labor Day Weekend.
Las Vegas thrives because of the high hospitality standards set by our casino resorts and hotels, restaurants and nightclubs. Our first guest today is Sean DiCicco, VP of Food & Beverage at Caesars Palace who also serves as president of our Epicurean Charitable Foundation that provides scholarships for future F&B leaders.
Our other guest column is by new Las Vegas resident Will Hodgson, who has taken over general manager responsibilities at House of Blues in Mandalay Bay. Let’s start with Sean:
By Sean DiCicco
People talk about if hospitality is something innate or that can be taught. Having worked in a city that runs on hospitality most of my career, I believe that true hospitality is innate. But that doesn’t mean education isn’t important.
That’s why I developed a training curriculum over the 11 years I spent in food-and-beverage operations at Mandalay Bay and why being involved in the Epicurean Charitable Foundation is so important to me.
When people talk about ECF, they usually talk about our fundraising for scholarships and of course Mentoring & Educating Nevada’s Upcoming Students, our annual event of the finest restaurants and beverage distributors in the city.
That’s important, of course — we hope to offer as many as 10 scholarships to underprivileged hospitality students soon. Nine out of 10 of our students are the first in their family to go to college, so we know that we’re making a difference.
But to me, it’s the mentorship that my fellow board members and I get involved in that really defines the purpose of ECF. Las Vegas is still very much a who-you-know city, and for these students to be able to spend time with execs gives them an incredible leg up.
Lately, I have seen more young adults who are less enthusiastic about working hard — they want the title and salary now. Mentorship helps them understand that not everything comes immediately and that hard work and persistence pay off.
Mentorship is rewarding for us, as well. Not only do we enjoy the satisfaction of helping people with their ambitions, it also helps us reflect and remind ourselves why we do what we do. Las Vegas is a city that runs on hospitality, and that should never be overlooked.
We also are loading the pipeline for people to fill our shoes in the next 10 to 20 years. I’m a big believer in succession planning. We always emphasize the next step for people. But hospitality isn’t limited to the food-and-beverage world.
It is important for me to open the ECF board to people who touch all aspects, from hotel to transportation and beyond. Not all of our students want to go into F&B, and we want to be able to guide them wherever their career leads.
In my new position as VP of F&B for Caesars, I get to travel to properties all over the country and observe how hospitality functions best. There is one constant: Hospitality is about making people happy. And it’s infectious.
Our alumni are now getting involved in giving back to our new students, which really underscores what ECF is all about. If you would like to be involved in ECF’s M.E.N.U.S., we are always looking for silent auction items, volunteers, mentorship opportunities and more.
Please contact Melissa Arias at (702) 932-5098 and melissa@ecflv.org for more information.
Be sure to check out our other guest column from new Las Vegas resident Will Hodgson, who has moved here from Houston to become general manager of House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. Robin was busy over the weekend on phone calls to Macau and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for stories from the Asian gaming capital and the Summer Paralympics, respectively, that we’ll have in Friday Neon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
