For the woman with the definitely Khmer smile, the catering sector is a field in which she has been evolving since her years as a student.
Willing and determined, the thirty-year-old learned to be adaptable by living through a difficult family situation: her parents’ divorce when she was barely three years old. Her family also includes two brothers and a little sister. If she now occupies a position of (great) responsibility, it is because she has never failed in her primary objective: to succeed in her professional life.
She explains: “When I was younger and studying, I didn’t really have any particular desire for my future, I only knew that I had to work seriously, learn English and then get by”.
Education and training
Khantei started school in Boeug Trabbek, a district of her hometown Phnom Penh. She then lived with her mother but the family’s situation led her to join the NGO Pour Un Sourire d’Enfant. Nonetheless, her mother wasn’t far away, she was selling drinks in front of the premises.
“I studied at PSE until 2004, and finished my hotel and restaurant studies there in 2011”. Then, with her brilliant results in hand, she was offered the opportunity to join the NGO’s team of trainers in the training restaurant where she taught the basics and techniques of catering for almost five years. At the time, there were two training restaurants, one at PSE’s base and the other, The White Lotus, in BKK1, but the latter closed due to high rents.
In 2016, Khantei had the opportunity to benefit from a training trip to Toulouse in France. “I really loved the experience. I learned some French, maybe not enough to carry on a conversation, but enough to understand and respond to French-speaking clients during my work,” she says.
Professional beginnings
After PSE, the young woman thought of joining a large catering group, and chose one of Thalias’ gastronomic restaurants for expressing her ambitions.
“I knew of Topaz, and I wanted to work there. Alain Darc was a technical advisor at PSE and he gave me the opportunity to join the team. That was in 2017.
“My first job was managing and running the restaurant at Khéma La Poste. Of course, I had to train at Topaz and Khéma Pasteur beforehand.” Khantei’s efforts and seriousness proved fruitful.” Today, I am the General Manager of Khéma La Poste and I work directly with Hak Lina, our Operations Manager for the brand”, she confides, full of smiles.
Responsibilities
Such responsibility is not always easy. Khantei is aware of the constraints linked to catering, but stresses that she has also learned the good aspects of this type of activity: “I love my job, because I simply love this sector. I love the contact with people, I love gastronomy, and I’m quite a fan of French food and wines on a personal level”.
“My favourite French dish would probably be coq au vin. I also like charcuterie. At the beginning, it was not spontaneous, I had to learn to taste this very European food,” she adds.
As for the constraints, she takes them with a smile, aware that she has a job where you have to know how to adapt to the clientele and the number of people who come to the establishment.
“I have schedules that have to be adjusted according to the restaurant’s activity. We receive many customers, especially at weekends, and I have to be available.”
In the mornings, she helps her team to ensure that everything is going well for breakfast, and the same goes for lunch and dinner. She hosts a daily meeting to discuss the previous day’s operations, to look at what went well and what can be improved. A total of 48 employees work for this establishment. Is she a bit young to lead a team that includes long-time employees or older people? “Not really,” she says with a smile: “It’s true that I’m young to lead a big team, but there’s a very good spirit between us and it’s going pretty well.”
Finally, when asked about her future plans, Khantei answers unambiguously that she wishes to pursue her career with the Thalias group, a company that is constantly developing and for which she says she is proud to work.
Current situation
With Covid-19, there has been a sharp drop in restaurant activity and Khéma has not escaped the trend. Kanthei explains: “At the beginning we saw a big drop in attendance due to fears of the virus. Then, we put in place the safety measures that everyone now knows: taking people’s temperature at the entrance, disinfecting hands, spacing the tables.”
And these precautions apply as much to the customers as to the restaurant employees and delivery staff. In the middle of May 2020, customers started to come back. Even though attendance did not reach the level of the good old days, the restaurant has returned to a completely regular activity. “We have appealing products such as the $14 free-flow that work very well, we communicate a lot about our promotions and that also encourages regulars to come back,” says Khantei, who also points out that Khéma’s pastries and bread have the reputation of being the best in the capital.
Beyond Work
Outside of work, Khantei says she spends time with her mother, with whom she still lives, and also regularly visits her father who lives in the province. In her spare time, she admits to having a weakness for the music of Sinn Sisamouth, the Cambodian crooner of the 60s and 70s, and likes to watch local comedies. Travelling? She has had the chance to travel to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, but mainly for business trips. “I love to travel, I had the opportunity to visit Paris and I found the city wonderful. On the other hand, I don’t see myself living anywhere but in my own country.”
