To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is a formal reference for Mr Travis Talbot.

I have had the good fortune to have known Travis on a personal level for close to 15 years. On a professional level I have known of Travis and his accomplishments for over two decades, and in those years I witnessed him trump one accomplishment after another and watch his reputation grow to one of almost celebrity status.

Travis is without question one of the most outgoing, diverse and lively characters in the business but is also arguably one of the most determined, impassioned and committed professionals I have ever seen. In fact, many of his peers and colleagues in the industry refer to him as obsessive when it comes to his dedication to projects and his trade as a whole. We all marvel at his ability to juggle countless projects at the same time while many of us feel challenged to simple maintain one or two ventures.

Over the past couple of years I have been lucky enough to have tapped into Travis’ passion as a chef, talents as an operator and gift as a marketer. For Travis anything to do with the restaurant, nightclub or entertainment industry is second nature and his skillsets are more instinctive than learned. Travis was integral in assisting me develop and evolve our award winning restaurant Petite. His marketing, PR and social media abilities are second to none. That ‘know how’ coupled with his tireless drive and complimented by his willingness to always help, has energized me personally and inspired me to expand my business. I routinely (as do many others he is a mentor to) call upon him for insights and advice which helps our business continue to grow and collect accolades.

Without a moment of hesitation, I would recommend Travis not only for any project related to the hospitality or service industry but any project. A good example is his Goodwill Travels mission. Again, I have seen and been a supporter of many of his charitable projects and continue to be amazed at his tireless devotion and ability to generate success after success.

Please feel to contact me should have any further questions. I can be reached directly at 555-555-555.

Sincerely,

Deirdre Malone
Partner/Director of Marketing
Petite Restaurant and Catering

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this as a personal and professional reference for Mr. Travis Talbot. I was introduced to Mr. Talbot in 2008 when he joined the restaurant hospitality group I was under contract with.

Mr. Talbot brought a great deal of professionalism and expertise to the company. His ability to work with staff, management and outside vendors was without a doubt remarkable; to watch his skilled tact, diplomacy and knowledge be infused into the company was truly incredible. His understanding of the industry was amazing to the point of owners and seasoned veterans were taken aback. He was definitely the most critical asset to the company at a very critical time.

In addition to benefitting from working with Travis professionally, I had the pleasure of being part of ‘The Reverends’ mission to do good. I was a participant as his last fundraiser while in BC and was amazed at how devoted to a cause of helping others he can be. Even though he was responsible for running nine venues, on countless community boards and a party to almost any ongoing (hospitality industry or charitable project) in the community, he still managed to find time to produce his own projects to aid others. His ability to help anyone or anything is wonderfully selfless.

I wish Travis the best with all his future endeavours and confident that any company that gets the opportunity to work with him will be better for it.

Sincerely,

Nicole M. Desjardins
desingd@shaw.ca

October 12, 2011

To Whom It May Concern:

Re: Rev. Travis Talbot

Rev. Talbot has asked me to provide a letter of character reference and I am genuinely delighted to do so.

By way of background, I am the Venue Manager of Bistro 80 in The Star Casino in Sydney, Australia. Prior to this posting I was the Manager of Saltaire Restaurant & Terrace in West Vancouver and the General Manager of Players Chophouse in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. I mention these points because I have had a significant amount of experience in managing literally hundreds of people in my career. As a result, I believe I have a reasonable aptitude for assessing an individual’s character, talent and makeup.

I have known Travis for almost 4 years and was immediately impressed with his integrity and diligence. He was the VP of Operations for the Points West Hospitality Group for my tenure with the company and I can sincerely say has been the greatest teacher/trainer I have had in my career. Travis has the uncanny ability to captivate and motivate a diverse makeup of staff and finds exciting ways to lead and educate all ‘his followers’.

While in Whistler Travis made an immediate impact on the local community by organizing charity dinners, local farmer’s group meetings and being a regular face in the local papers. Walking into an establishment in Whistler/Vancouver with the Reverend was like being with a local celebrity. Our busiest time working together was during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Our company saw 150% increases in sales during this time and I owe it to Travis’ leadership for its smooth execution and for making the experience fun and rewarding – not just work.

Travis is a professional who operates with the highest level of integrity and transparency. Honesty and morality under pressure is a valuable trait in any mentor and Travis exhibits both consistently.

Travis also possesses other attributes which, in my opinion, qualify him for careful consideration for any position he might be considering. He has both extraordinary energy and focus when it comes to work. He is always motivated and a self-starter.

In my view, Travis is a first rate individual and now a close friend with a healthy amount of ambition and sincerity. He has been a vital role model in my career progression.

If any of these remarks require clarification or amplification my contact information is above.

Yours truly,

Nick McLaughlin
Restaurant Manager, Bistro 80 – The Star

Dear Sir/Madam,

As the Executive Chef of both The Player’s Chophouse Whistler and PCH Prime Tapa’s Bar, I reported directly to Travis as my Culinary Director and company VP. Over a two year period, including the Winter Olympics, we worked closely together developing the concepts and overseeing the daily requirements of both restaurants. Being the Olympics it and having large seating capacities and almost 24 hours a day of operations – this was no simple accomplishment.

During this time, Travis was definitely a mentor to me as I had never before dealt with the marketing, financial, legal, and large scale operational aspects of opening a restaurant (s). This was most evident with PCH Prime, our Olympic venue, where literally only had a few weeks after the lease was signed to equip, staff and promote before the opening the doors to literally tens of thousands of customers. Travis worked around the clock to secure our permits, licenses and staffing was proper. Even more impressive was his concerns with hitting the opening budgets – even lending a hand with the painting, building, decorating and cleaning. Thanks to his leadership we were able to not only open early, but under the projected costs.

Travis is a master of the media! His ability to promote is unrivalled. Both of our restaurants were consistently in all the local papers, were able to acquire massive private functions, were always participants at community events and Travis was always in front of a camera and doing interviews. One Olympian once commented, “Is that guy a sportscaster or local celebrity” as media was always huddled around him. In reality, it was his kindness, personable nature and understanding of people that initially attracted guests to our business and turned Travis into one of the most known faces around town.

As I have moved on in my own career I have applied many of the things I learned from Travis. I am far more knowledgeable when it comes to budgets, profit and loss statements and I have a great media portfolio that is growing all the time. In learning from the media master, I am incorporating many more social media tools into my business practices than I did before. Much of this growth, and definitely the great success I had in Whistler are largely due to Travis’ abilities as a leader and mentor. I would gladly work for him again in the future!

If you require any further information feel free to contact me at jonnyfb73@gmail.com, or 604 355-1545.

Sincerely,
Jon Campbell
Chef de Partie
Four Seasons Vancouver

To Whom it May Concern:

Travis Talbot and I worked together over a period of 3 years at Points West Hospitality. He was initially appointed as our Director of Operations and I was a restaurant Manager for one of the 7 venues. In short time, he was quickly promoted to the VP of Business Development and the Culinary Director. It was also rumored that due to his contributions the partners in the business would be offering him the position of President which would have been more than warranted considering how he was growing the company.

Working with Travis you noticed and personally felt that he made everyone on the team feel like an important contributor. Not just an employee but a valued individual with ideas, input and an ability to develop the business and our respective careers. This empowered staff to work harder and care about the quality of the job they were doing. In working with Travis you feel like you have a genuine vested interest in the business not just an hourly or salaried employee. His leadership style, albeit unorthodox and sometimes questionable, was best described as leading by example which promoted good relationships throughout every level of the company flow chart.

Travis definitely has an “operations and marketing brain” his talents really lay in the bright ideas and the creative areas of work. He’s an educator and a researcher; someone who will know what is gong on in the marketplace, in the industry, around the nation and around the globe. His knowledge and insights as to what is working where and why is uncanny as is his insights as to what venues are concepts are failing or destined to fail. Our management team would often take bets on Travis’ calls to see his success rate which was almost a 100%. He has an eye for talent and knows how to coach individuals and teams into becoming star and winning franchises. He never gives up on staff or management when others would have been happy to hand over pink slips. Once you have earned his loyalty he will not give up on you until you have succeeded. He’s humble enough to recognize that some of the most profitable ideas don’t come from the top ranks but from the front lines and that the best achievers are those one that are given a chance. He is the best talent coach I have ever been fortunate enough to have worked with and I know many of my colleagues share the same view.

Owners find that Travis will dedicate his time and efforts as if it was his own venue. That level of loyal is hard to come by today and should be valued. I wish him the best of luck (but with Travis its always about hard work not luck) in his future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Chelsea Stewart.

Dear Travis,

On behalf of the board of directors of Men With Heart, I’d like to thank you and Goodwill Travels for doing so much for our organization.

Just a few months ago, we first sat down and talked about forging a relationship between Glynn Hospitality, Goodwill Travels, and Men With Heart. Since then, you helped throw an amazing charity event that benefited the Men With Heat team, but truthfully you did so much more than simply raise a sizable chunk of money and awareness for Men With Heart.

Our all-volunteer team has gained much success and notoriety in the past, but never have we attempted such a large-scale event with a lineup of live bands, food, drink, and other entertainment. The team had loads of energy and enthusiasm, but it was raw and unfocused. From the beginning, you helped us with sound advice and guidance. Your skills as an organizer and motivator helped us focus and deliver. You possess an easygoing style and upbeat zeal that, combined with your exceptional communications skills, were essential to the success of the event and raising the most funds we have raised at one event in our history.

We could not have aligned ourselves with the better group than Goodwill Travels. You had a vision and a grand plan for the block party, partnering us with the Glynn Hospitality group and gaining us media exposure. I can’t say enough about your organizational skills and professionalism throughout the lifespan of the event. Instead of dictating how things were to be done, we always felt like true partners as you gave us great creative license and always solicited out input.

I speak for the entire board and membership when I say that we can’t wait to work with Goodwill Travels on another big scale event!

Thank you,

Scott Walters
Founding Board Member and Director
Men With Heart

To Whom It May Concern,

As the Director of Operations at the Daily Catch restaurants in Boston, it brings me great pleasure and excitement to return a kindness and have the chance to write a letter of reference on behalf of Travis Talbot.

When I originally met Travis I was immediately taken by his keen sense of judgment. A long-term customer of ours introduced him to us as our company was in the process renovating and restructuring our business. Fortunate for us, Travis was the perfect man given our situation. As a very open-minded and well-experienced hospitality consultant, Travis listened (unlike many of our previous consultants and advisors) closely and was immediately able to point out inefficiencies with some of our intended plans; making suggestions that saved us a lot of time and considerable money.

Afterwards, I was able to personally meet with Travis and bounce off him a few challenges and ideas we were facing. The feedback Travis provided, on an operational level, greatly improved the efficiency of our business. Simply by meeting with him on these few occasion, our business benefitted greatly. From a business perspective I can tell he is an incomparable person to work with; he is positive, smart and has as variety of experiences from the hospitality industry to pull from. On a personal level, he is able to listen closely and focus on finding the solution to whatever problems are faced. He is very open-minded, will consider many options, and will use his sharpened judgment to make the most knowledgeable and most realistic decisions. He was able to save us time and money in a few short meetings and in an incredibly short period of time was able to advance our business to the next levels. I still am in contact with Travis to this day and it would be eager to work with him again.

I would highly recommend Travis for any position within the hospitality industry. His operations-management systems exceed expectations; including Travis as part of your team will directly contribute to the future success of your business.

If you are in need of additional information, I would be happy to further discuss. I can be reached at email: sage@dailycatch.com or by work-phone: (617) 772-4400.

Sincerely,

Sage Freddura
Director of Operations, The Daily Catch Restaurant Group

In Reference to Rev. Travis Talbot,

I was recently asked to construct a letter of reference for Travis Talbot and with the greatest of pleasure I promptly agreed only to have had to stop periodically to consider just how to go about explaining someone who I find to be one of, if not the most unique individuals I have ever had an opportunity to meet.

I have known Travis since the mid 90’s and have read through most if not all of his employee manuals, training programs, development systems, inventory controls etc., and can conclude with out question his competence, as an operator and professional with in the hospitality industry is unparalleled. His commitment to success is second to none.

It took several days to draft this letter and I can say with all honesty I have struggled with it all along as there were so many positive things I wanted to say but didn’t want the letter to appear embellished or overstated. You see I am almost at a loss to describe someone like Travis who gives so much of himself to others and requires nothing in return. I think the most effective way for one to try to understand Travis is to spend some time talking to him and enjoy his genuine and certainly unique prospective of what is important. His desire to help others is at a level of hyper intensity as I am certain everyone can clearly notice

Maybe something we could all use is a little of Travis’s approach to life and some adjustment of our own priorities.

I hope I have managed to accomplish what has been asked of me in attempting to describe my take on Travis. He is many things and best interpreted by:“What you see is what you get and what you get is all good.”

I sincerely wish Travis all the best and if I can be of any further assistance in anyway at all, please do not hesitate to call.

Chris Woodburn
Private Club Manager
Vancouver British Columbia
Personal cellular 778 833 1229

I have had the pleasure of working with Travis on our inaugural Loungeburger Stampede Event Tent. This is an outdoor beer garden/festival style of operation. The event saw over 20,000 people come through the venue over 9 days of the Calgary Stampede, billed as “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth”. The event generated over $420,000.00 in sales in those 9 days for Loungeburger and was a tremendous branding success for our company.
Travis was instrumental in the early stages of planning the event as well as implementation, execution, setup and day to day operations. Below is a shortlist of some of the duties performed by Travis as the lead for our team:
• Budget planning and pro-forma analysis reviews.
• Design and ergonomic plotting of venue/space.
• Logistics, inventory control including pars for liquor, reefer trucks and ice trucks. This is a massive undertaking with an event tent like this that lasts for 9 days.
• Catering management.
• Cash and ATM controls.
• Hiring and training of personnel including overseeing supervisors and all venue staff, (up to 60 employees and 15 managers/supervisors).
• Corporate sales, security and crowd control.
Go to www.loungeburgersaloon.com for a peek at the event.

Travis is one of the few individuals and professionals I have met that truly puts 100% effort into the projects he tackles and who possesses the ability to competently handle projects of this magnitude. His reputation definitely precedes him but to actually see him in action and benefit from his talents was an impressive sight. He is a tireless workhorse, an incredible wealth of knowledge and a professional that always remains calm under pressure. I would not hesitate to partner with him on future endeavors, he is reliable trustworthy and more than anything – fun to work with!

Sincerely yours,

Brian West

1800 – 4th Street SW Suite #150
Calgary Alberta Canada T2S 2S5
T 403 229-3366
Cell 403 630-7881
Work Email Brianw@tiltedgrill.com

Brian West
Partner
Loungeburger, Tilted Grill, Vicious Circle

June 13, 2011

Dear Paul and Travis,

On behalf of all of us at the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the men and women of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 718, thank you for organizing and hosting last Thursday’s Boston Fire Local 718 Charity BBQ & Bachelor Auction for MDA.

Candidly, thank you feels like an inadequate sentiment and organizing certainly not big enough of a verb. I am finding that even now I’m not quite sure how to translate the emotion and gratitude that is in my heart into simple words on a piece of paper. Quite simply, there are few people in this world like the two of you and I am profoundly grateful to know you.

When Paul approached me a few months ago, wanting to hold a fundraiser for MDA in conjunction with Local 718’s Fill the Boot summer-long program, I was skeptical at best. MDA frequently is approached by restaurants that want to host an event for us. This usually turns out to mean that the restaurant will give us a small room in the back for free if we pay for and do everything else. What you were proposing – an equal share in creating, organizing, and executing the event – just seemed too good to be true.

As the event was taking place, a fellow MDA staff member asked me what the cost was to hold the event; she was so impressed by it that she was considering holding something similar up on the North Shore. I explained that not only was the event no-cost – yes, I said to her, that meant “free,” as in completely donated space, staff, grill, music, DJ, food, and supplies – but that this event wasn’t even originally my idea but instead yours, and that you had approached me with a timeline, organizational checklist, and ambitious fundraising goal, needing just my name on the dotted line. Needless to say, there was disbelief all over her face, much like there was on mine upon receiving Paul’s voicemail back in February.

You see, what you did for MDA simply doesn’t happen in the non-profit world. There are very few members of the Boston community, let alone the hospitality industry, that would lend their staff, their resources, and their wallet, in support of helping an organization raise as much money as possible simply because they wanted to do it. The Glynn Hospitality Group is a rare breed.

To Michael Glynn, we simply could not have been successful without your support. Thank you for seeing the value in supporting MDA, Boston Fire Fighters IAFF Local 718, and our combined efforts to help 2,500 residents of Massachusetts live a better life despite a diagnosis of muscular dystrophy, ALS, or muscle disease. Thank you for being so incredibly generous with your resources. I hope that in some small way we have helped you as much as you have helped us.

To the fantastic staff at Dillon’s – bar team, servers, chef, and cooks, thank you for your enthusiasm, excitement, and willingness to serve our guests for far less in tips than you typically would enjoy on a hot Thursday afternoon. We heard nothing but compliments from attendees about your professionalism and courteousness. Thank you for giving of your time to help our charity and for being so accommodating to us as we took over your restaurant.

Finally, to you, Paul and Travis. Thank you for your inspiration and true desire to help. Thank you for being so organized, so willing to be an equal partner in this endeavor, so patient, and so glad to do whatever you could to have a successful event. Thank you for measuring success in terms of funds raised for MDA. Thank you for using your media resources and contacts to spread the word to the community at large. Thank you for using your personal resources to help the event be as successful as possible. Thank you for giving up your personal time many times over in advance of the event to make sure no detail was missed, and for volunteering all day on Thursday to help with set-up and event management, right up until the event was over. Thank you for your willingness to take on work and responsibility and for the energy and passion that you committed to having a fun, well-executed, professional event. Thank you for bringing together MDA, Dillon’s, Local 718, The Glynn Hospitality Group, and Goodwill Travels. Thank you for the many laughs we shared along the way to the event on June 9, and the friendship that has been built between the three of us.

I know what good work MDA does in the community because I see it firsthand every day. I see the doctors and specialists that provide cutting-edge treatment and care to thousands of patients a week at one MDA’s 7 local hospital-affiliated clinics. I see the hope that comes through the promise of $14.8 million spent in the Greater Boston area each year on research projects and clinical trials. I see the relief and independence that comes from the delivery of medical equipment from the MDA loan closet. I see the happiness and joy on a child’s face as they enjoy a barrier-free week at MDA Summer Camp in the woods of New Hampshire each July.

Most importantly, I see the pride and satisfaction on a sponsor’s face when they feel good about something they’ve done to help someone else. I know I saw this satisfaction on the faces of the Local 718 members in attendance on Thursday night, on the faces of guests at the event, and on your staffs’ faces as they realized that thousands of dollars had been raised for a charity because of their hard work. I hope that you also wore smiles of pride and satisfaction because you truly did something remarkable and selfless and it has made a tremendous impact on the lives of those around you.

In closing, just one more time, thank you.

Kate Tighe
Executive Director
Muscular Dystrophy Association
Boston Chapter