Oysters are renowned for producing precious pearls in an act of resistance against particles of grit forming in their shell. A gem created from perseverance and resilience. Bettina von Massenbach FCSI named her consultancy OYSTER hospitality because oysters offer “a breeding ground for development and protection. That’s how you develop pearls, through that synergy,” she says.
Also an expert in operator succession planning, von Massenbach has been helping restaurants and hospitality brands to fulfil their potential, all the while unearthing and developing the talented pearls from within their teams, for more than 20 years. First, as an operator at leading UK and German restaurants, and then as a consultant for the last 12 years.
She was born in Munich, Germany, but aged three her parents moved the family to the countryside near Stuttgart. Young Bettina was not happy about that. At all. “I still remember how furious I was. How dare they?!” she laughs. Thankfully, her childhood was something of an idyllic one, surrounded by “lots of animals” and familial happiness. “It was wonderful. We are a very warmhearted family, so we had a really nice time together.”
Her father was a lawyer and farmer, while her mother was a homemaker, caring for the four children. Bettina was the eldest child. So, was a future in hospitality mapping out before her at this stage? Not yet. “That was the last thing I thought about. People seemed to work so hard in restaurants,” she says.
What von Massenbach did want to do in her later career “was take responsibility,” she says. “I always wanted to change systems and accompany others during a change or growth process. Maybe that’s because I’m the oldest child of four, and that’s something I always had to do: take care of my brothers and sisters. That was my role.”
Her father wanted her to study law, but she thought the studying too intense. “I’m much more of a hands-on oriented person,” she says.
Value driven
She describes herself as “a strictly value-driven” person. “I always found it very important to focus on how we deal with each other. How we trust or respect colleagues.”
Having completed an apprenticeship and moved back to Munich for five years after her A-levels, von Massenbach then went to Frankfurt to study marketing and communications in the evenings while she worked at an insurance company during the day. By the early 2000s, a wanderlust to see the world was building. “I wanted to make a dream come true and move to New York, spending my life in the big city and away from little Frankfurt,” she says.
To get a green card, she ended up working in an IT consulting company for investment banks that was opening an office in New York. A change of plan at the corporate level meant New York quickly became London, where she was sent to support that new office instead.
After six months, though, the company closed down its London office and she needed another job. Thankfully, von Massenbach’s boyfriend at this time was a business partner of the investor of Zuma, the Michelin-starred restaurant. Located in London’s high-end Knightsbridge area, Zuma was founded in 2002 by Rainer Becker and Arjun Waney. It offers a sophisticated twist on the traditional Japanese izakaya style of informal dining.
“They offered me an administration job, tidying up the back office. It was a startup, so we all worked really hard. But it was a wonderful time, and we were a great team with a nice culture. We’re still in touch 20 years later,” she says. “I was very lucky because they invited me into the financial meetings every Friday. That’s where I learned the hospitality skillset.”
A firm belief that “this could be my full-time career” quickly forming, von Massenbach joined Becker’s Roka Restaurants group as project manager in 2004. As well as sales and marketing she was responsible for staff recruiting and establishing ‘corporate standards’ that could be easily transferred to other restaurants across the Roka Restaurants group.
The role brought out her natural talent for helping to forge inclusive, supportive cultures in operations, as well as seeing how organizational structures can be improved. “I understand structures and situations very quickly,” she says. “Sometimes that is about identifying who the weakest link is, and then trying to support that weak link.”
This two-year experience proved to be a brilliant further grounding for her later career as a management advisory services (MAS) consultant. At that point though, she simply saw it as a “big opportunity.” There was, she adds, “a lot of pressure, but there was a lot of trust as well.”
Von Massenbach moved back to Munich in 2006 to become operations manager at Tantris, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant still considered one of the finest in Germany. One lure of the role was to help the operator successfully handle a succession plan for the owner to the next generation in their family.
“At that time, Tantris was 35 years old, and the owner wanted to adapt and make it future-fit. So, that’s what I did with them. It’s the iconic restaurant in Germany. It was always on a mission to get its Michelin stars [the restaurant once held three stars, now it has two]. Like Zuma, it has a very strong appearance from an interior design point of view and they’re both driven to deliver unique experiences for the guests. So, outstanding service is key. Dining there is an emotional experience – that’s the reason people come,” she says.
Paying back the team
From her office purview behind the kitchens of these hugely successful restaurants, von Massenbach was able to observe the blood, sweat, and tears being produced by the respective front- and back-of-house teams. “I could see the hard work of these amazing people. They are artists, doing a brilliant job. Very focused and all with special personalities. I really adored them.”
She also felt a burning desire to do more to help support restaurant employees on a wider level throughout the industry. After six years at Tantris, in 2012 she decided to strike out on her own, establishing OYSTER Hospitality with the express mission that it was “time to pay back” and help restaurant employees to get “more life quality” from their work.
“They’re working 14-15 hours each day. So, I wanted to help them to achieve a better balance.”
Ever prescient, von Massenbach also knew that younger generations of workers were far less likely to accept those longer hours. “The demographic change was already in the pipeline, but no one in the hospitality industry was interested [in addressing the issue]. Instead, we were just always looking for more people to hire, rather than really trying to keep the good ones leaving the sector. I thought, ‘If we’re not doing something now in terms of changing the culture and the way we treat people, we won’t find anybody in the future. Interestingly, Covid was actually a real catalyst for changing that,” she says.
With the industry facing a serious labor issue in the wake of the pandemic, von Massenbach no longer feels such a lone voice in industry, but she still makes it her business to stand up for the rights of people who work in restaurant and hotel kitchens. “When I started 12 years ago, [the sector] didn’t really want to hear that voice. They thought, ‘Why should we change anything in our lives?’”
Joining FCSI in 2017 enabled her “to find some sparring partners” on topics like this. “I needed people to exchange my knowledge with and get new ideas. I wanted to be part of a group that could help me make a better industry.”
FCSI, she says, is also “a proof of qualification”. Being a consultant encourages teamwork and ‘design thinking’: a method to improve cooperation, collaboration, and communication within teams. “This is very useful in terms of working with clients,” she says. “But it’s also very useful for working within FCSI. Four years ago, FCSI Germany-Austria conceived a project called the ‘Train the Trainer’ program, which recently launched. It’s about improving ourselves and how to deal with our clients by rethinking the so-called ‘problem’ behind an operation and changing the point of view every single time. It’s amazing seeing the different results that come out of it. The original ‘problem’ may not be the actual issue in an operation, when you change perspectives.”
In her own consultancy work, von Massenbach specializes in combining “the different interests of management, staff and guests – putting everybody under one hat and finding out what kind of motivation is behind each group and their goals. T hey all must realize that they depend on each other. If they’re not linked and have the same vision, then an operation will not succeed.”
In the natural world, pearls get formed through grit and pressure. But with this particular OYSTER, von Massenbach has shown that rich, precious rewards can be created when a natural empathy and consideration for people – and fully understanding how they want to be treated – is applied.
Away from the desk
When not on site with clients, where she is at her happiest, von Massenbach loves to spend time with friends and family. Otherwise, she can be found “recharging her batteries in nature” either hiking or skiing. Yoga keeps her relaxed too. And that wanderlust has not left her. “I’m interested in seeing new places, so I travel around as much as I can,” she says.
Pride in projects
Bettina von Massenbach works extensively across Germany as well as internationally, with recent client work taking her to the Netherlands and Austria. In her own words, she is particularly proud of the following projects:
1) “Kansha was a Japanese vegan restaurant in Munich that opened in 2018. I was so proud of what we achieved there, but unfortunately, we had to close it down last summer, mainly due to the rise in food prices. But it was a wonderful place with amazing people.”
2) “For the last six months I have spent most of my time in Munich working with BalanDeli, an integrative restaurant, half staffed by people with cognitive handicaps. The aim is to offer these young adults the possibility to have full labor contracts. They earn their money so they can have an independent life. It is incredibly rewarding. The first time I came to the restaurant, I was almost in tears because I’ve never seen such warm-hearted service and such a lovely atmosphere.”
3) “A really rewarding project is my work with continua on succession planning in hospitality. I think this is the next biggest thing in our industry. If a business has been built up by a former generation the question is, how is it going to be continued by the next one? So, I started a partnership with continua, which has designated partner networks across industries. I look after the hospitality industry, covering aspects such as the need for digitalization.”
Michael Jones
