Sasidhar (Sash) Thathapudi

Experience

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  Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces

  Feb 1996 - Feb 2000

  Commis chef

  It’s a 5 star deluxe luxury hotel comprising 212 guest rooms including 11 suites that are luxuriously stylish. Also it’s having three best restaurants, bar, 24 hours room service including fine dining Patio. • Preparation and setup daily mise en place and buffets as per standards;• Producing food as directed by the executive chef or Sous chef and put the times required;• Check the daily menus, par stocks and mise en place lists;• Worked in Patio a fine dining restaurant.

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  Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

  Feb 2000 - Apr 2003

  Demi Chef

  Four Seasons Hotel, Riyadh comprises of 249 guest rooms, four restaurants, a ballroom accommodating up to 1000 people one time and 4 meeting rooms with foyers.• Responsible for all functions of food production in the ‘‘Seasons’’ restaurant; • Supervision of buffet replenishment and clearance;• Working in close liaison with all sections with the kitchen to ensure efficiency;• Preparation of food items according to recipes and menus, including specialized food production for ‘‘theme nights,’’ buffets, banquets and ala carte. Show less

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  P&O Cruises

  Apr 2003 - Oct 2004

  Chef de Partie

  Luxury ship having 4 restaurants and one Italian fine dining with 2000 passengers capacity• Responsible for all functions of food production in the ‘‘fish and breakfast’’ station to achieve optimum production and sanitation;• Analysis and control of sales, food cost, quality, checking, issues and returns, indenting of stores, butchery, presentation of food products;• Cleaning check offs in accordance with United States Public Health Standards.

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  Thistle Hotels

  Oct 2004 - Jul 2006

  Chef de Partie

  Deluxe 4.5 star hotel with 294 rooms, 1000 people banqueting capacity 6 F&B outlets.• Section in-charge for ‘‘Fletcher’s’’ French cuisine restaurant;• Kitchen Training coordinator;• Ensure cleanliness, hygiene and maintain of all work areas;• Assist Sous chef in the performance of their culinary and other duties, the needs of the other outlets.

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  IHG - InterContinental Hotels Group

  Jul 2006 - Dec 2007

  Chef de Partie

  Deluxe 5 star hotels comprises of 255 rooms 19 villas, 1000 people banqueting capacity 5 F&B outlets.• In-charge for Room service kitchen;• Controlling food and labor cost, co-operate with executive chef to make new food promotions;• Prepare duty roster and training schedule for room service kitchen staff and trainees;• HACCP coordinator, working closely with Royal Commission- Saudi Arabia for their hygiene audits.

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  Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

  Jul 2008 - Jan 2010

  Sr Chef de Partie

  Luxury 5-star hotels comprises of 230 luxurious rooms, 12 first-class conference rooms with five F&B outlets including one Michelin star restaurant.My latest roles, I decided to put myself back into a position of learning. I spent the last 17 months working at one of Geneva’s most prestigious restaurants of Michelin star Bay View. During my time here I learnt a great deal about modern French gastronomy, modern Scandinavian, fermentations, and preservation. Here we worked exclusively with seasonal French ingredients from surrounding areas some of which we foraged ourselves. Show less

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  Heritage Hotels

  Jan 2010 - Aug 2011

  Sr Chef de partie

  4 Star plus hotel comprises of 212 rooms including 28 villas, with 3 F&B OutletsAfter finishing the luxury 5-star property in Switzerland moved to New Zealand to my first hotel, here I learnt a great deal of the importance of keeping food simple and letting the quality of the ingredients to come forward without being over worked, something I constantly apply to my style of cooking on a day-to-day basis.

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  Stamford Hotels & Resorts

  Sept 2011 - Sept 2012

  Sous chef

  Luxury 5star hotel comprises of 286 guest rooms including 15 suites, six versatile function rooms with 3 F&B outlets.Sous chef of a team of 14, here I had the opportunity to implement all the skills I had acquired from previous kitchens. Keeping the ideas of a fine dining restaurant, fresh ingredients, contrasting flavors, attention to small details and adapting them to more informal environment. This was recognized in the whole group by achieving the pinnacle of gastronomy. I was also constantly able to keep the labor and food costs with in 22-30% while Executive chef away. Show less

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  Scenic Hotel Group

  Oct 2012 - Sept 2016

  Executive Chef

  In my current role as an Executive Chef, setting up and overseeing two brand new sites from the ground up. Ports O’ Call Bar & Grill, and Carlton restaurant. Over both outlets I hired full teams of staff, implemented seasonal menus, set up a range of artisan suppliers worked closely with hotel gardening team to grow fresh herbs and various vegetables from seedlings helped design hand made plates. Within 6 and 3 months respectively of both outlets opening we were awarded Dunedin’s best bar & grill and restaurant from Metro Top 50. This role has been most exciting for me so far and the biggest learning curve. I work closely with our operations team to make sure we are hitting all the right food and labor costs each week. We do constant evaluations of our food and service based on customer feedback to make sure the business is always moving forward to stay fresh and relevant. The food style was contemporary European and constantly evolved. We follow the seasons and work hand in hand with our suppliers to make sure we are using the best product available. E.g., Line caught sustainable fish, handmade bread, NZ made cheeses etc.… Show less

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  Cornell Institute of Business and Technology

  Sept 2016 - Mar 2018

  Sr Chef Tutor

  NZ Culinary fare Training Excellence Award 2016, 2017 & 2018. One of the leading hospitality management institutes with a strong reputation for quality, excellence, and student success.• Team Manager for Culinary competitions New Zealand, trains the students to achieve the best of their careers in cookery field;• Train the students to basics and current modern techniques to meet the industry requirements;

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  Hotel Grand Millennium

  Dec 2018 - now

  Executive Sous Chef

  My current role has been setting up and running the new conference events and banquets menus nationwide for Millennium group hotels in Auckland as a prime signature banquets outlets of the hotel. Working on that concept. In similar circumstances created a brand-new menu offering for our popular banquets operations and looking after that with my team. We had a very saucerful busiest functions last year with 64 Gala dinners just from May 2022 to end of December including 17 weddings. Started with Hospitality New Zealand plated gala dinner of 550 pax of 3 course menus. The food style is modern French and Italian with Kiwi and Greek style which again implements seasonal menus designed by myself drawing from my work experience in Australia, Switzerland, and London. We have done everything here in the last 20 months right after quarantine from private dinners, galas, radio shows, TV Cooking demonstrations to luncheons for Microsoft and Harcourts. We have received consistently good reviews from customers and media. Show less