William Robert Baxter (born August 1960 in

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

- died 16th October 2023) was a British foodservice and hospitality entrepreneur. Baxter was a leading figure of the industry for over 30 years, retiring from commercial life in 2011, continuing to serve the sector as Chairman of Hospitality Action from 2010. Baxter was also Chairman of the Scannappeal, a charity which raises funds to purchase life saving medical equipment for hospitals in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

Life

Baxter was the son of Ron Baxter, a civil engineer, who attended the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and was Chairman of Halcrow and Gillian Baxter. Baxter spent his early life in Scotland and Mid-Wales, until he was eight, when his family moved to

Harrow-on-the-Hill Harrow on the Hill is a locality and historic village in the borough of Harrow in Greater London, England. The name refers to Harrow Hill, ,Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) and is located some half a mile south of the mod ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. Baxter was a pupil at Friends' School Saffron Walden from 1971-76. Although he was dyslexic, Baxter obtained sufficient

A Levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

and was offered places at university to study architecture, but instead decided to choose a career in

hospitality Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis de Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de J ...

, after realising that ''“Seven years looked like a long time. I bottled out"''. Between 1979 and 1982, Baxter achieved a

Higher National Diploma Higher National Diploma (HND), part of the Higher Nationals suite of qualifications, is an academic higher education qualification in the United Kingdom and various other countries. They were first introduced in England and Wales in 1920 alongsi ...

Hotel and Catering Industry Institutional Management at

City of Westminster College City of Westminster College is a further education college in the City of Westminster, England, founded originally as Paddington Technical Institute in 1904 and gaining its current name in 1990. The college has two centres in central London, lo ...

Baxter met his wife whilst studying at Westminster College and they have 3 sons and 1 daughter.

Career

Baxter began his career in 1978, working at the Selfridge Hotel. In 1982, Baxter joined Sutcliffe Catering, and rising to become one of their youngest ever Area Managers. He left in 1987 to set up his first contract catering operation, Baxter and Platts which he co-founded with Rob Platts. He sold this business to Granada in 1997 and staying with the company until 1999 as Executive Chairman. In 2000 Baxter launched his next contract catering venture, BaxterSmith, with Mike Smith which he merged with the then WSH to become BaxterStorey, taking on the role of Deputy Chief Executive until his retirement in 2011. Baxter retired from commercial life in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxter, William Robert 1960 births Living people Catering Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of Cambridge People from Inverness People with dyslexia