Whitbread has appointed headhunters to help find a successor for Alan Parker, who is expected to announce in the summer that he is retiring as chief executive of the leisure group, The Times has learnt.
Mr Parker, 63, was expected to complete a five-year stint when he was promoted to the top job from head of hotels in 2004. However, his success in turning around Whitbread’s fortunes, allied to his enthusiasm for the job, have allowed him to stay past his scheduled departure date.
The sailing enthusiast, who took delivery of a new boat last year to occupy him after he retires, has steered the group through turbulent times, overseeing an asset sell-off that has left Whitbread, which owns the Premier Inn, Brewers Fayre and Costa coffee chains, as well-equipped as any consumer-facing business to ride out a prolonged recessionary storm.
The sale of such businesses as Marriott Hotels, TGI Friday’s and David Lloyd Leisure means that today’s Whitbread is focused on three areas — budget hotels, coffee shops and pub-restaurants — all of which have performed resiliently in the economic downturn.
There is no shortage of qualified candidates. Chris Rogers, the group’s finance director, is credited as a driver in the asset sell-off, while Patrick Dempsey, managing director of the hotel and restaurant division, and a former head of Forte Hotels UK, is known to be well regarded by the non-executive directors.
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But many analysts are tipping an outsider as the early favourite. Carl Leaver, who recently quit as head of Marks & Spencer’s international division, is best known in the City for his tenure as chief executive of De Vere Group, the hotel and leisure group.
Before joining De Vere in 2003, Mr Leaver, who has yet to secure a new job since leaving M&S, spent three years at Whitbread as managing director of its Travel Inn chain, now Premier Inn. He remains friendly with Mr Parker, who once said that Mr Leaver would be “a name it would be reasonable to consider” when the succession process eventually began.
But Mr Parker has dismissed speculation that Richard Baker, the former chief executive of Boots, could be a candidate after his appointment last year as a non-executive director of Whitbread. He said Mr Baker had “made it crystal clear” that he was not interested in the job.
Whitbread declined to comment last night, although a person close to the company conceded that the board was “likely to start tackling the succession issue this year”. Although it had yet to launch a formal process, it had started “laying the groundwork”. The source added: “The board is fully aware that in due course it will need to appoint a successor to Alan.”
Mr Parker, who was appointed CBE in 2008, has spent his entire career in the hospitality industry. In his youth he worked at the Arsenal Caf?, his parents’ restaurant in North London, and went on to graduate from the University of Surrey with a degree in hotel and catering management.
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His appointment as European managing director of Crest Hotels in 1985 was followed by promotion to run Holiday Inn’s Europe, Middle East and Africa operations. In 1992, he joined Whitbread as head of its fledgeling hotel business. Last month he quipped to The Times: “I’m going on forever.”