Leah Foster believes young women should view the hotel industry as an exciting and lucrative career path, rather than a part-time gig.

“It’s not a stop gap job,” said the latest Women in Hotels Hall of Fame inductee

“A lot of people think it’s just something you do while you’re at uni and that’s what I originally thought.

“But it gets into your blood.”

More Than One Path

Leah was appointed CFO of the Palmer Hospitality Group in 2016. She has a degree in accounting and says tertiary certification helps propel ambitious candidates beyond the ranks of bar and restaurant staff.

But it is not the only key ingredient.

“You’ve got to be really passionate about the industry,” Leah said. Meeting a champion on your journey who sees your potential doesn’t hurt either.

Leah’s champion is industry icon Martin Palmer who convinced her to return to the hospitality industry in 1999 as an office administrator when he opened the New York Bar & Grill.

More than two decades on and it is she who champions the cause of young women in the group.

“You can pick someone and if they have the right personality, you can support them in making that choice and encouraging them to make a career in the industry.

“We’re always looking for the next employee to move up the ranks."

The Social Side

Beyond the financial rewards, she said, “it’s the camaraderie, the teamwork”.

“And it’s a fun industry. The way we’re going where jobs are becoming more isolated, it allows you to become part of a community.

“You don’t just sit in your office and do your job, you’re socially connected.

“In a small town, the pub is the most important place but that doesn’t change in the suburbs. You get to know people as they come in.

“You meet so many people from so many different facets of life, it gives you this amazing outlook on life. You become much more tolerant of everything.”

In a rapidly-changing world where technology threatens the existence of many jobs across multiple industries, a career in hospitality offers one other distinct advantage.

“This industry is safe from AI because it’s a service industry.

“You still need to have someone pour you a beer.”

Lennies

When she was 15, Leah worked weekends at the community sports club in Streaky Bay where her father was the licensee.

“I used that skill when I came to Adelaide to go to university.

“I got a job at Lennies and worked in that amazing institution for about five and a half years while I put myself through uni and fell in love with the people.

“I still have close friends from there today.”

As a young woman new to the city, Leah thrived on the friendships she developed working in the team environment of one of Glenelg’s most patronised watering holes.

“We were working hard, playing hard and having fun.

“It gave you a social life and a work life at the same time.

“Everyone knew who you were because you worked at Lennies.”

Too young to serve alcohol when she started, Leah was a glassy for more than six months before pouring her first drink and then quickly rose to cashier.

“Somebody realised I could count and was quite good with money, so I was back of house for a lot of my shifts.”

After completing her accounting degree, she was briefly coaxed out of hospitality, working for Western Mining and then Catholic Education South Australia.

But fate would inevitably lure her back.

“My partner Rob Mullarvey was in the industry, so I still had a lot of contact with it.”

After Leah joined the Palmer Group, the pair took another giant step in their hospitality journey, becoming part owners of the famous Port Anchor Hotel in 2020.

It presented them with an entirely new perspective and challenges.

“Having confidence in the decisions you make is one,” she said.

“And you do lots of things but it’s not your money.

“When you have to do it yourself, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, that’s a bank loan’.”

Hall Of Fame Surprise

Despite her storied career, she said she was completely taken aback by the Hall of Fame honour.

“I was in complete shock. I didn’t think I would be eligible for it, I guess because I’m more back-ofhouse than front-of-house.

“I’ve worked behind the scenes with Martin now for 20 of my 27 years and hospitality is still probably seen more a front-of-house service industry.

“I just come to work and do my job. I love it but I don’t think I’m doing anything magnificent, I just do what I do.

“Now you look back, I realise I’ve had an amazing ride in this beautiful industry and it’s lovely to be recognised for that.”

The Future

And she forecasts a particularly bright future for women in hospitality.

“It does feel like we are picking up. “Women are definitely viewing it as a career.”

More than half of her administration team of 12 at The Highway are women.

Save for the bottle shop manager, the group’s Morphett Arms Hotel is run entirely by women.

“If you told me that 10 years ago, I would have laughed.”

She is convinced her own journey within the Palmer Group has yet to reach its pinnacle.

“There’s definitely another level for me personally, and that is preparing this industry for the onslaught of AI at the back of house.

“I want to make sure when my time in the industry comes to an end, I want to know the Palmer Group is set up and moving forward the best it possibly can.“Information is coming faster and more efficiently so you can use that data to make better choices about operations.”