Hotelier Middle East meets Ghassan Zaetouni, Grand Hyatt Dubai's Arabic specialty chef, responsible for banqueting operations at the hotel.
6:00am — I start my day with a big mug of coffee as I help my children get ready for school. We always have breakfast together in the morning, and I can say that it is the best part of my day.
7:00am — It’s a long drive to take them both to school in Al Barsha, but it’s never a dull one. We enjoy ourselves with a karaoke session all the time.
8:00am — A much-needed stop at a coffee shop before I head to work.
9:00am — I reach Grand Hyatt Dubai, and I head down to the kitchen to get ready for the team briefing.
| Advertisement |
10:00am — Now is the time for our morning team meeting. We work on dividing the team and work on their mise en place; and then we prepare everything for the day’s events.
10:30am — General kitchen operations begin. We usually have four or five events per day, so I have to ensure there is excellent communication between kitchen and the service team so they can deliver the best to our guests.
3:00pm — We meet to discuss the hotel operations of the day at our daily chefs’ meeting and share comments.
4:00pm — I go back to my team and inform them about what has been discussed in the chefs’ briefing meeting.
4:30pm — I start the mise en place for the following day, preparing the menus, as well as the ingredients.
5:30pm — We start cleaning, and after that we set-up the chillers and finish some other jobs on the to-do list for the next day. If we have a wedding that day, then we start getting ready.
10:00pm — If we are meant to be hosting a wedding, of which there are about three per week on average, it’s time for the wedding’s main course and we start serving it.
1:00am — We usually have to serve the VIP guests of the wedding, and we have to ensure that they are taken care of by our service team.
1:30am — I am back home and ready for bed, and I am also looking forward to having breakfast with my kids the next morning.
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
