Executive chefs are charged with co-ordinating strategic business manoeuvres.
What's your background?
Marcus Gregs: This is my sixteenth year in the industry and loving it! I started my career at Wrest Point Hotel and Casino, Hobart, Tasmania as an apprentice chef.
Castelot Sebastien: I've been working in F&B since I was 20 years old - that's 18 years.
I started my career in my hometown of Paris in a three-star Michelin restaurant.
Steffen Gube: I've been in the industry for 16 years and started out at Relais & Chataeu Traube Tonbach in the Black Forest in Germany where I was responsible for the property's breakfast buffet.
Brendan McGowan: I've spent 24 of my 40 years in kitchens.
Initially, I entered the heart of the house, donning a navy blue plastic apron and blue overalls as part of the stewarding or kitchen porter team.
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After nine months observing the commis doing their daily tastes, I approached the executive chef and asked to move fromblue to white.
I started a four-year programme in The Westbury Hotel in Dublin as a commis.
Martin Knaubert: I have been in this industry for 14 years. During that time, I have worked in a multitude of kitchen positions but I began my career in Berlin, Germany, working in several small restaurants, always in the kitchens.
When I joined Four Seasons Hotel Berlin in 1981, I started to look at the bigger picture in terms of my role and I began to work towards a more cohesive relationship between the kitchen and F&B.
What are the pleasures and the frustrations of your role?
Gregs: I enjoy travelling, constantly learning, passing on my knowledge and seeing full stomachs and happy faces.
On the other hand, I find computer work taxing as it is not what I was trained for.
Nugraha Adi Wardhana: Cooking is the best part of my job, although getting the right ingredients and making sure the staff deliver the same quality daily can be a challenge.
Sebastien: I like the diversity of managing 10 different restaurants, as well as being in a multicultural team.
Managing your private and professional life is challenging though. This job is so demanding.
Gube: Being creative, increasing my product knowledge, and managing a multitude of chefs from different backgrounds and nationalities to achieve the goals of the business are all things that I enjoy.
It can be a challenge to stay patient, however, due to the vast number of delays and postponements, which seem to be the norm in this part of the world and are beyond my control. It's difficult to learn to work with this.
McGowan: The opportunities the Four Seasons creates for our line employees is a pleasure to behold.
The development of people, product and profit is something shared within the team and is witnessed on a daily basis, from cooks presenting their dishes to witnessing the team doing that little bit extra - this is what keeps me going.
On the other hand, Riyadh is a vibrant city that offers unique challenges, one of which is the direct availability of good produce.
The open markets are a little limited and importation is the only real option.
The executive chefs in the city are all in contact with each other regarding any new products coming in though, and this is refreshing.
Knaubert: I love food and I love working with people who love food. Every day is a learning curve.
I see and taste new items each day, and it can be very inspiring to work with various innovative products that chefs have access to.
I take pride in creative presentations and the entire F&B set-up.
In the end, it is satisfying to see customers pleased with what we are presenting to them.
In this part of the world, however, it can be challenging to get certain products that I, as a chef, or even my customers, would like to have.
In an international hotel chain, customers expect certain products at all times. The demand for such items may not always be strong, but it is our responsibility to deliver.
Ensuring that quality and freshness are consistent, and that goods are delivered in a timely manner, is often very hard.
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