Excerpt from “The Art of Service” by Paola Bettinelli of The Work Style Magazine

Read the entire article here

Mary Louise Starkey defines a butler as “a professional who is trained in the overall management of a private home”. There have always been excellent career prospects for one who chooses this profession, and this trend continues to the present. The number of professional butlers worldwide has increased steadily over the past 25 years. You can find butlers in multi-million dollar homes in every country in the world. Newton Cross stresses that “with the modern day butler the emphasis is moving to total lifestyle management, instead of the traditional role…multitasking is the keyword”. Usually, continues Mr. Cross, “the younger, recently qualified butlers often find work in hotels, guest houses and game lodges where there is still an element of supervision and guidance. They are also in huge demand on luxury yachts, cruise liners and trains. The older more experienced is better suited for the domestic household where the responsibilities and pressure can be huge“. Therefore, a butler has many options in his or her career path. Due to today’s economy, Johnson specifies that “we are seeing an increase in activity in the field and our inclination is the demand will continue to expand. Luxury resorts are perhaps the most likely to be hiring at present though we are seeing an increase in private estate owners seeking staff for their homes”. Regarding the salary, it varies between countries depending on a butler’s education background and flexibility. Mr. Cross from South Africa says that “entry level is 750 to 1100 euros per month”. For Europe, Mr. Wennekes says that “a butler can earn anywhere from 40.000 to 120.000 euros a year, plus benefits”. While in Australia, Mark Johnson states that ”an entry level butler, in a private home, can expect to begin around 31.000 euros… with experience and working for an employer with multiple homes, it is not uncommon for a butler to earn in excess of 80.000 euros and much much more”. In the USA, Ms. Starkey says that for a Certifed Household Manager “salaries are currently between 42.000 and 105.000 euros per year with benefits, plus housing”.

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 We are enjoying the beautiful crisp air, the changing aspens, and a full class to start on September 28^th! It’s now time to start focusing on our last class of the year. We are offering one more 1 week systems course starting October 26^th – October 30^th, 2009. This course is for experienced household managers and personal assistants who want to bring the Starkey software into their Principal’s estates. If you are interested in more information, please contact me at your earliest convenience as these seats are filling up quickly!

Sincerely,

Donald Jardine

Chief Operating Officer

Starkey Internationa

303-832-5510 Work

303-994-7407 Cell

djardine@starkeyintl.com

By former Presidential Chef Bill Althoff

Did you know that as a baseline it takes 2 hours to prep, prepare, serve, and clean up one average meal for 4 persons?

Excerpt Original Guide to Private Service Management, Starkey International

 The Super Grain

Perhaps many in the world have never heard of the grain—Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah).  Farmed for thousands of years it is the grain of the pitseed plant grown in the Andes Mountains since the Inca civilization.  It is known as the super grain of today.  You can find it at your local grocers in the rice and cous cous section of the store.  It cooks similar to the way rice does,  it is recommended you do not rinse it.  I like to cook it with chicken broth instead of water. You can season it with a wide variety of spices, I like to add saffron or my favorite is to cook it until it is almost ready and add my favorite sautéed vegetable in the pot. 

So if you haven’t heard of Quinoa, try it.  It pleases all palettes, it is gluten free, meat free and tastes great.

Starkey International has taken years to fine tune our approach to Housekeeping and Housekeeping Standards.  One of the basic requirements of setting up a  housekeeping system is that it must be successful in every environment and it must be to your standard!  The Secret is it must also be time oriented.  To accomplish this, we have developed baselines for each of our ten Standard Categories. Our housekeeping baseline is:

 It takes 4 hours to clean 2,000 square feet to average standards.  A higher rate of Housekeeping Standards requires more time.

FOR EXAMPLE:  a 10,000 square foot home will require 20 hours per week to clean. (10,000 divided by 2,000 equals five, times 4 equals 20 hours) and then add in the variables below to the calculation and your number may be higher or lower.  You do the math!

Variables that will require a change in this standard may be many issues like:

                Family lifestyle, Location (rural, city, beachfront, etc), Climate, Home activities, Number of children and pets, Number of house guests, Allergies and physical health of the family, members, or guests, Age and style of residence, Type and style of furnishings and floors, Style of culinary expectations and amount of cooking required, Amount and style of entertaining, Style and Number of collectibles, Smoking or non-smoking, Organization and clutter of the home, Current construction projects anywhere on property, Cleaning standard of the Principal.

*Excerpts from “The Original Guide to Private Service Management” by Mrs. Mary Louise Starkey

It has been very busy in admissions since the CostCo Connection article was published.  Our phones are very busy with new students requesting admissions to our four and eight week Household Management Certification Programs both in Denver and at our Washington, DC location.  We are very excited to receive our new students, here and abroad.  I hope you have a great summer!

Call or email me directly, anytime you have questions about our spectacular programs at 1-800-888-4904 at Starkey or 303-994-7407 on my cell.

I look forward to the opportunity to be of service.

Donald Jardine

Director of Operations

Starkey International

Classy Class

Starkey International teaches

service with style

By Doug McPherson

The Costco Connection

Published August 2009

 Click here to see this article in it’s original format

Click here to download this article as a PDF

Thank you to all of our Veterans! Many of you shared the Military Stars Event at the Embassy Suites Hotel on July 30^th, 2009 with Starkey International Institute. Ms. Stimson, Mr. Althoff, and myself hope you enjoyed the Employer Panel and stopping by the Starkey booth. Good luck on your civilian workforce transition! If I can be of any assistance, please contact me at your convenience on my cell phone 303-994-7407. I look forward to the opportunity to be of service.

Mr. Donald Jardine
Chief Operating Officer
Starkey International Institute
djardine@starkeyintl.com