When asked how the restaurant industry can increase the number of minorities in management and senior leadership positions, Bert Morales confesses he doesn’t have a ready answer. The fifth son of Mexican migrant farm workers, Morales said the industry offered him opportunities he’s not sure he would have had in other industries. Today he is chief operating officer of West Lake Country Club in Augusta, Ga., a 900-member club with $6 million in annual revenue. Morales oversees 120 employees, four dining rooms, two bars, a ballroom, a 13-court tennis complex, aquatics, youth programs and an 18-hole golf course. He began his career as a dishwasher in high school, and along the way he has worked every front-of-the-house position, managed brewpubs and seafood restaurants, opened restaurants for Uno Chicago Grill, and been an operating partner of a Carrabba’s Italian Grill. He’s worked in Southern California, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia, taking advantage of every opportunity to learn and improve, he said.
The industry is very diverse at the hourly level; why don’t more minorities move into management?
I wish I had an answer. When I talk to Latino kids, many grow up with this preconceived notion that they cannot get there. They’ve lost the race before they even started, mentally.
Why have you been so successful?
I’ll never forget something [tennis star] Jimmy Connors said when he was being interviewed about something he hadn’t done yet: “Don’t tell me I can’t do something until after I’ve done it.” That always stuck with me. No is not an answer if you want it and you go after it. It will happen. That’s what happened with me. I’m willing to walk through doors that open for me [and] not just walk through, but walk through and excel.
Did you go to college?
Most of what I learned has been self-taught and from the school of hard knocks. With hard work, I’ve been able to carve out my career. This is still an industry where you can do that.
