When the executive chef at Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa in Kuala Lumpur was let go, the hotel didn’t replace him. Instead, John Tage Nielsen, at that time the property’s F&B director, decided to put the chefs of each outlet in charge of their own operations.
“It worked brilliantly,” says Nielsen. “Suddenly I had given (the chefs) the freedom to perform.” Without an executive chef making high-level decisions, the specialty chefs were given more control and responsibility, which Nielsen says increased their job satisfaction.
This change in structure was addressed by HOTELS contributor Stéphane Bellon in his post, “Are executive chefs going the way of the dinosaur?”
In his piece, Bellon, a consultant and founder of Geneva-based Studionomie and former vice president of F&B at Kempinski Hotels, asks hoteliers whether the role of the executive chef is shifting and if it’s time for a change. Could a hotel operate just as well, or better, with no executive chef and, say, three chefs de cuisine, one in each restaurant?
Contributed by Kate Kasbee
“I think all of society is moving away from this top-down orders, into a more balanced workplace where everyone is giving their opinions and contributing, more on an equal level,” Bellon tells HOTELS. “So, there is kind of this old idea of the executive chef who has a super ego and yells at people and throws things and is very demanding and has total control of the menu. There’s still, obviously, validation to the existence of the executive chef, but I think we need to introduce this idea of: ‘Hey, it doesn’t have to be this way. We choose to have it this way and it’s kind of an old way of thinking.’”
With potential benefits like lower turnover and higher levels of chef expertise and dedication, the idea sounds appealing. The blog post received dozens of comments from industry folks with strong opinions on both sides.
“This is something we talk about constantly in the hotel world,” says Rafe Gabel, senior vice president of restaurant operations at San Francisco-based consultancy Puccini Group. “It’s really dependent on the property and what they’re trying to execute.”
Gabel, who has worked with both models, doesn’t see a need for change. “What I like to see is an executive chef with three chefs in training beneath him,” he explains. “I feel it’s really beneficial to have a department head in the kitchen versus trying to spread out (the responsibility) between a director of outlets or a director of food and beverage, because their bandwidth gets jeopardized.”
Gabel says that by putting a specialty chef in charge of the culinary team, the front of house team, and shipping and receiving, there’s a lot of opportunity for mistakes to happen — not to mention, it puts cost and labor at risk. “There are a lot of things that are so crucial to operating a business in a safe, lawsuit-free way,” says Gabel, “that I question a chef de cuisine being able to maneuver through some of those delicate business operations.”
In his model, Bellon proposes putting the F&B director in charge of these delicate business operations. He or she would oversee purchasing, cost control and human resources while allowing the chefs to do what they do best. Ideally, the F&B director would be a former sous chef or executive chef with industry knowledge.
Matthew Dahlkemper, executive chef at the Four Seasons Hotel Dubai International Financial Centre, knows firsthand how beneficial it is to work with an F&B director with kitchen experience. “A lot of the purchasing can become askew if your purchaser isn’t from a food background,” says Dahlkemper. “Chefs are very particular about their products. Some people in (administrative) roles without food backgrounds can’t grasp that.”
This culinary insight is critical not only to ensure smooth kitchen operations during dinner service, but before the restaurant opens, too.
Chris Vandall, an architect and project manager with OZ Architecture in Denver, has worked on hospitality projects for 14 years. He coordinates with resort developers to design kitchens and works with F&B directors early in the process.
“It’s beneficial to have that food and beverage person on a project to be able to set the goals and the concept for a new restaurant very early on,” Vandall says. An architect will also work closely with the executive chef. “The executive chef is very involved when it comes to the technical layout of the kitchen,” Vandall adds. “All of the equipment requirements typically come from the chef, and then we work to see what fits within the space with them.”
A new way forward
Dahlkemper has seen a version of Bellon’s proposed model work, but reversed. As the executive chef at the Four Seasons in Dubai, he is one of four F&B department heads in that report directly to the GM.
“We had a food and beverage director who was transferred and hasn’t been replaced,” says Dahlkemper. “In our operation it’s working extremely well and gives much more ownership to the head of each department.” He adds that this model only works if strong, adept and independent leaders are in place.
At the Mandarin Oriental Paris, which opened in 2011, the hotel’s Michelin-starred Executive Chef Thierry Marx also serves as F&B director, with operations assistance from the hotel’s manager, Sonia Timsiline. GM Philippe Leboeuf says the model works (the brand take a similar approach at the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong).
“The idea is that these type of chefs need to feel like ‘patron’ (boss) and be their own decision-makers. Often F&B directors only do administration and don’t have the best rapport with the chef,” Leboeuf says. It also allows for a more linear, collaborative culture.
“I do not approve of ‘too many levels’ in the organization,” says Leboeuf, adding that this setup also allows the chef to express him- or herself more efficiently.
Whatever structure works best, operations knowledge and a dynamite kitchen team is a winning combination.
“I don’t just want a chef in the kitchen, I want a restaurateur,” says Puccini Group’s Gabel. “I want a business partner, and that understanding of the business goes hand in hand with someone at an executive level.”