Wyndham Hotels & Resorts hosts chef competition to expand Eurasia’s F&B Advisory Council
and celebrate excellence
BY KARAN PURI
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world’s largest hotel franchising company with approximately 9,100 hotels in 95 countries around the world, recently concluded a competition where nine Wyndham chefs competed for the prestigious opportunity to join Wyndham’s F&B (food and beverage) Advisory Council in Eurasia for 18 months.
The advisory council of chefs will guide the franchised hotels to standardise and uplift their F&B offerings in conjunction with strategically designing and managing F&B operations. The event was held at the Indian School of Hospitality (ISH), Gurugram, with prominent personalities of the F&B industry in attendance.
The theme of the competition was “Indian/ Indo fusion/ Continental & Japanese dishes” and Wyndham’s top chefs were invited to showcase their skills and talents, whilst also challenging themselves with cuisines, culinary skills and creativity.
The first prize was awarded to Yogendra Prasad, Executive Chef at Ramada by Wyndham Dehradun Chakrata Road, the second prize was awarded to Executive Chef, Manoj Rawat, Ramada by Wyndham Gurgaon Central and the third place was awarded to Akash Bhalla, Chef de partie at Ramada by Wyndham Neemrana.
Dishes were judged based on creativity, taste, texture and appearance by esteemed judges and industry subject matter experts: Dilip Puri, Founder & CEO of ISH and Bikramjit Ray, Editor, ET HospitalityWorld. Each chef was also ranked based on hygiene and cleanliness (uniform, personal, and workstation), food wastage, mise en place, culinary skills and visual appeal.
Dilip Puri shared his experience judging the competition. He said, “It was interesting to see that a brand like Wyndham and their hotels in India, which are largely franchised had so much talent in their culinary teams. When I was judging the competition, given that these chefs were from tier 2, 3 and 4 cities, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I was so pleasantly surprised both with their presentation, originality and creativity.”
He added: “It dawned upon me that culinary talent is not restricted to hotels in big cities with brands like Ramada by Wyndham. It was wonderful to judge the chefs and to host the entire Wyndham leadership team including Dimitris Manikis, President EMEA and Nikhil Sharma, Market Managing Director, Eurasia. It was an honour for the ISH to host the event which provided a great learning opportunity for our students and connected our academic institution with a global brand like Wyndham.”
Bikramjit Ray, Editor-In-Chief ET Hospitality and Celebrity Chef, shared his judging experience. “Witnessing the standards of cooking in small towns was a revelation in some ways. Tier 2 and 3 cities are becoming more popular, and the demand and availability are there,” he said.
“The competition highlighted that food is made with intelligence and creativity and the kind of dishes the chefs created was trendsetting. I think it’s a great experience and I enjoyed the food the chefs prepared. For the Wyndham chain to have chefs like these, their guests will have a very pleasant experience.”
Talking about the new initiative, Dimitris Manikis, President EMEA, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, in an interview told Hospitality Horizon, “Indian dishes are one of the leading cuisines in the world. What we are trying to do is use our hotels to promote the incredible Indian cuisine. During the competition, I was amazed at how creative our Wyndham chefs are and how visually appealing a traditional Indian dish can look. Now, our focus is about how we can take the local cuisine to the next level.”
He added: “We need to make sure that we go back to basics with creativity and relevance in today’s world. What is relevant is sustainable products – products that are homegrown and don’t add challenges, but instead complement the environment. Sustainability continues to be a key focus at Wyndham, and we look forward to bringing the winning chefs into the conversation to find creative solutions to minimising our environmental impact and reducing food waste, one of the industry’s biggest challenges.”
The global hospitality company has witnessed remarkable growth in India, currently operating over 50 hotels and more than 4,700 rooms in the region. In India, Wyndham’s portfolio of six brands includes Ramada by Wyndham, Ramada Encore by Wyndham, Wyndham, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham, Days Inn by Wyndham, and Howard Johnson by Wyndham.
Talking about expansion plans in the subcontinent, Dimitris said, “In India, our franchised hotels make up 95-98 per cent of the business model and we are proud to have a strong portfolio of brands in the market including one of the leading and most popular, Ramada by Wyndham. The infrastructure plan is also a major factor for expansion. Airports will connect cities, societies and people. Train and road networks will connect tier 2 cities and they will need hotels. That’s why we are bullish about India and this steady trajectory will help Wyndham reach 150 hotels by 2025.”
“Another important focus and one that is very close to my heart is people,” he continued. “We are employing more talent here in India and at the same time, we are looking to export talent from India. The culture of Indian hospitality is not only impacting the country but the way hospitality is delivered across the world. The exceptional education delivered in hospitality schools will help prepare and shape the industry’s future leaders. To me, the success of Wyndham in India involves exporting the exceptional talent to the rest of the world so that others may learn and understand true Indian hospitality.”
When asked about the group’s focus on F&B strategy he replied: “In India, 40-50 per cent of revenue in the hotels comes from F&B and, therefore, offers immense potential. We have witnessed significant changes in the F&B sector over the past two years. One trend I have noticed with Indian hospitality is that people still love to go and socialise in hotels. In Europe, hotels used to just be a place to stay but the world is changing, and hotels are becoming a place to work, eat and socialise. After Covid, a key takeaway is that the hotel industry needs to be part of the social ecosystem. Therefore, we are planning to introduce signature F&B strategies for our hotels that they can follow.”
This initiative is to empower, ignite and leverage F&B across their franchisee in the region. Nikhil Sharma, Market Managing Director, Eurasia, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, said, “The F&B division contributes almost 50 percent of revenue for the group and therefore offers immense potential. With more than 50 hotels across India, the competition brought together culinary experts from the subcontinent’s diverse regions, each with their own unique specialties and cooking styles. We look forward to continuing to learn, adapt and improve our F&B offerings with Wyndham’s growing F&B Advisory Council to create dining experiences for guests that make their stay memorable.”
Destination weddings are a hot topic again with couples searching for the perfect venue to say, “I do”. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts have a range of options to choose from to make your dream wedding a reality. There is something for everyone across Wyndham’s portfolio of hotels and resorts in the country in Udaipur, Cochin, Lucknow, Chennai, Mohali, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Panipat and other cities.
The group selected three winners from the competition who will become part of the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Eurasia F&B Advisory Council for 18 months.
The competition’s winner, Yogendra Prasad has 15 years of culinary experience, working with renowned names such as ITC Gardenia, Taj Hotels, Hilton and Radisson in India and around the world. The competition’s winning dishes, prepared by Chef Prasad included jamboo flavoured, horse gram, stuffed dumplings with stone crackle vegetable consommé’ and mint, hemp chutney to start; homegrown mustard leaf vegetable, local black been curry, ragi millet bread and barnyard rice grain cake for the main and barnyard grain kheer with a hint of hemp oil (sugar-free) to finish.
Executive Chef Manoj Rawat brings 20 years of experience working with some of the finest global hotel brands including The Oberoi Group, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott, Hilton and Radisson. In second place, Chef Rawat created a smoked ham and cream cheese on salmon toast with kafir lime leaves to start, followed by braised lamb morsels with jeera vegetables and khichdi parmigiano and for dessert, mewa kesar gujiya tart.
The third prize was awarded to Chef Akash Bhalla. Graduating from the Institute of Hotel Management Gurdaspur, Chef Bhalla holds a certification in industrial training from Hilton, Janakpuri. He is a specialist in curating Japanese cuisines and has a creative spark in bringing new ways of presenting dishes. He prepared a wasabi potato patty with steamed tamarind to start, vegetable katsu curry for the main and halva baozi for dessert.
