Client Profile: Phil Hooper

By Ally Oliver

Phil Hooper’s 42-year career in contract catering gave him a lust for life that continues into retirement. What’s next? Building his forever home.

We sat down with Phil in our 2023 Summer edition of Attivo Life Magazine to learn more about Phil, his career and his aspirations for retirement.

It was a school talk that inspired my career in hospitality.

A guy from the hotel industry gave a talk about his job and it sounded so glamorous that I thought: ‘This is for me!’ Something just clicked and I applied to do a Higher National Diploma (HND) at catering school.

Being adaptable has put me in good stead, both in business and with my family.

I was sent to the contract catering company Gardner Merchant on a work placement and on finishing my HND, I joined as a management trainee. I stayed for a further 42 years in various managerial roles, and after a management buyout from Forte in 1995, we were acquired by the French catering company Sodexo.

Starting at the bottom and doing lots of different jobs taught me how to be successful in business.

Gardner Merchant was really good at training and promoting its employees, so there were lots of opportunities to rise up the ranks. I was 40 when Sodexo acquired the company and went on to have another happy 22 years with them until I retired. Merging a British and French company, as you can imagine, was not without its challenges, but rather like a marriage it taught me how to meet in the middle, compromise and work hard on our relationship for the sake of the business.

I’ve always travelled for work and have moved around a lot.

I think that’s what keeps life exciting and it keeps you young. I was born in Windsor but lived outside Glasgow in Bishopbriggs from the age of eight to 18. That’s where I met my wife, Trish, at school, and we have been together for 46 years. During my 40-year career, we moved around a lot, living in London, Sheffield and even back to Scotland. So when we moved back down South after a few years up North, our two sons had Scottish accents!

Trish and I still travel all the time and we love getting to know a country like a local and experiencing its true culture.

You need a plan before you retire.

I moved over to Attivo two or three years ago after my financial adviser sold his business to them. I was worried that we were going from a one-man band to a corporate approach but we couldn’t have been more wrong. I take my hat off to the team at Attivo, they’ve been really good. I get on really well with the guy I liaise with, Joe Bergin, and I trust him.

Retirement is meant to be a slower pace, but life is busier than ever.

I worked as a consultant for about 18 months after officially retiring because I knew I had to decompress. One of the things that stuck with me from various training courses at Sodexo was the importance of wellness, and that’s stayed with me in retirement.

I know I want to be fit and stay strong physically and mentally in older age, so as well as taking up tennis, I play golf and have taken up Pilates with Trish. We bought a paddock 20 years ago and we had always thought about building our own house, so that’s what we’re doing! It’s 100 yards from our home in Newbury and I’m fast becoming an expert. We’re future-proofing it so that later on we will have everything we need to live independently. In business as in life, you’ve just got to go for it and try new things while you can.

Prepare for your next phase of life

If you’d like to bring your vision for the future to life, why not talk to Attivo about our unique Lifestyle Financial Planning and how we can help with the next stage. Click here to contact us.

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