Mr Aguiar retired last December from a distinguished 41-year career at St Pierre Park Hotel. In a sweet farewell, he walked away as winner of this year’s Special Recognition Award from the Guernsey Hospitality Association at its annual awards night.
‘It is the cherry on the top of the cake as I retire from that fantastic career,’ he said.
‘I had a great life. I met so many nice people, and that is what hospitality is all about – people. I could not sit in an office for eight hours a day.
‘I love to see people, understand them better and give them pleasure. It makes me feel good, and to me – that’s my payment. In catering, you see the best and the worst of people. And when they have a few drinks, you get to meet the real them.
‘The most important industry in the world is food and drink. And when I trained people, I tell them that. We’re in the best profession in the world.
‘Without it, there’d be no enjoyment, and then what a waste of life. I have a very positive mind – there are no problems, only solutions.’
From Portugal, as a teenager in the 1970s, Mr Aguiar had planned to join the navy during the colonial war in Africa. He had already passed the tests and received his uniform, but two months before enlisting, the war ended and his plans with it.
Feeling restless, he left his country and found what became his lifelong calling in the Channel Islands. It began in Jersey, where he met his wife, who soon brought him to Guernsey.
After working at various local restaurants, including La Fregate and Le Nautique, he joined the newly-opened St Pierre Park Hotel in 1984. Starting as head waiter, he steadily climbed the ranks and worked his way to the role of deputy general manager, overseeing the entire food and beverage department. During his time, he employed thousands of staff and estimated that 50 to 60% of those working in the local catering industry today have passed through his training.
‘I always tell people I train that the most important thing in life is respect,’ he said.
‘First, you must have respect for yourself and then you can respect others. And remember – you are not just a waiter or waitress. You are an actor.
‘If we have a private problem, we must remember it’s not the customers’ fault, they came here to enjoy themselves. You must leave it all at home, and when you come to work, it’s like going out on stage – the curtains open, and you put on your best act. You’re in the showroom.
‘It’s all about how we present ourselves to the public. And I’m proud of myself that I trained so many, hundreds of thousands of people, that way. I get a lot of pleasure when those people credit me for helping them get to where they are now.’
Mr Aguiar is known for his favourite response to whenever someone asks him how he is.
‘On top of the world,’ he said.
‘That’s my saying. I’ve always been the “on-top-of-the-world man”. That’s the way I see life. If you don’t do that, you will not survive in this industry.’
Though times have changed since the days of silver service, flambes and table theatre, Mr Aguiar said he was still optimistic about the future of the local industry. Though some standards, for him, never slipped.
‘I wore black shoes and black socks to work every day since 1978,’ he said.
‘That was the uniform that I was trained to wear. I don’t feel comfortable in anything else. But today, it’s much more relaxed – people don’t care, it’s white shoes and white socks.
‘It has changed completely, but those changes had to be done, in order to survive.
‘And it will carry on changing, the new generation are not expecting some to wait on them in the same way – to bow down to them and hover. In fact, they don’t like it, and that’s quite right. We are all human.
‘No one is better than anybody else. Respect them and they will respect you.’