TRIBUTES have been paid to the ‘king of customer service’ and former owner of The Hungry Man café, who died recently after 50 years spent working in the Island’s tourism industry.
Howard Davies, who previously owned the popular Island establishment in Rozel Bay, passed away in his sleep at the General Hospital last weekend. He was 71.
Born in London, Mr Davies came to Jersey as a nine-year-old on a family holiday – a trip that ended with his family remaining in the Island – his lifelong friend and occasional business partner Graham ‘Jud’ Judson told the JEP.
Mr Judson called his friend the ‘king of customer service’ and said that, despite being best remembered for running The Hungry Man, he was known for much more and ‘was loved and will be remembered by many’.
Mr Davies took over the Rozel café in the early 1990s, and decided to operate it every day of the year – only closing on Christmas – and could be found there whatever the weather.
‘For anyone who can remember those times, Jersey could be a bit of a boring place in winter, because at the end of the season everybody packed up shop and waited for spring to arrive,’ said Mr Judson, who added that he could not recall any small beach cafés operating during the colder months.
‘Business was very slow at first, with some days operating for very little money but the word soon got around. People heard about the bacon rolls, the homemade cider loaf, scones, and hot soup on a freezing day; locals and tourists started to come to The Hungry Man from all corners,’ he added.
Mr Davies’s success with the café meant ‘slowly, many other places copied his business model and now remain open in during winter’.
‘I really believe that because of Howard there are now more places to go, and this idea breathed new life into Jersey during those winter periods. There are now lots more choice of places to frequent,’ said Mr Judson.
During that time, Mr Davies also commissioned a Jersey artist ‘who was then the very young Eddie Blampied’, to create The Hungry Man’s sign.
Mr Judson said: ‘Once it was installed, the now world-famous cartoon crazy signs started to appear and The Hungry Man became an institution.
‘Howard helped it become what it is today, a tourist-must-visit destination, with magazine articles featuring it all over the world – it’s simply now part of Jersey life.’
Before taking over the café, Mr Davies began working in the 1970s, running the deckchair concession at Portelet Bay until the early 1980s, giving the bay a ‘cool vibe’ for locals and visiting celebrities.
‘You could easily be sitting in one of his deckchairs or a beach bed next to Paul Weller or other members of The Jam,’ said Mr Judson.
After that, he went on to the run ‘Pinkies’ gift shop at Havre des Pas and also Mimosa café in Rozel, both alongside Mr Judson.
The gift shop was ‘stocked floor to ceiling, like an Aladdin’s Cave; it sold everything that a tourist would want and no one left disappointed’, said Mr Judson.
After many happy years at The Hungry Man during the 1990s, in 1997 Mr Davies passed over the secrets of his recipes and showed the new owner, Katie Blampied, the ropes, before moving to France for ten years. After returning to the Island he operated the ice-cream van ‘Monsieur Glace’ opposite the Watersplash in St Ouen’s Bay, where he became famous his top-secret ice-cream recipe.
Mr Judson added: ‘The children loved him because of the smiling gentle way he served them and if a child dropped their ice cream – as they have a strange habit of doing – there would be a fresh one pulled and handed out of the window before they even had a chance to cry, with no hesitation and no questions.
‘Howard Davies really was the king of customer service and a great ambassador for the Jersey tourist industry. Everyone who met Howard loved him; he was the kindest, nicest person that you would ever meet. He used to love chatting to people and they loved chatting to him.
‘He will be missed terribly by all of his family, his two sisters, Louise and Claudine, and his “pop”, Harry, and myself, as I’m sure many people across Jersey will miss him too.’
