Graeme Nesbitt

Independent country house hotel group, Hand Picked Hotels, has appointed Graeme Nesbitt as Director of Food & Beverage in a newly-created role within the senior management team. Graeme will provide strategic leadership and oversee all food and beverage operations across the group, which includes 20 restaurants, many of which have either 2 or 3 AA Rosettes. Working closely with Operations Director, Douglas Waddell and Group Executive Chef Matt Ashton, Graeme also takes responsibility for the group's lounge dining, in-room dining and banquet ing for wedding guests and conference delegates.

Graeme joins Hand Picked from his most recent position of two years as General Manager at the Lygon Arms in Worcestershire. With almost 25 years' experience in the hospitality industry, Graeme began his career as a chef at Gleneagles in Perthshire in 1994 before moving on to the kitchens of The Dorchester, The Savoy and Claridges in London. Graeme first joined the Lygon Arms in 1998 as Executive Head Chef before moving to the St Andrews Bay Golf Resort and Spa in Scotland where he spent five years as Executive Chef, then Director of F&B and finally Resident Manager in his first General Manager position. Graeme then took the helm at Malmaison in Edinburgh and Birmingham in 2006, followed by Cameron House in Scotland two years later, The Mere in Cheshire three years after that and then The Welcombe Golf & Spa Hotel in Stratford-Upon Avon where he left in 2016.