Executive Chef Massimo Pasquarelli has been leading the kitchens at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore for 8 years, but the chef’s varied history from leading fine-dining restaurants and restaurant groups (like Alain DuCasse) for near three decades in different countries has made him knowledgeable about the way workplaces and how leaders within the industry recognise the skills and work of their teams throughout the years.
“Any time you lead a group of people, you have to get into their soul, or into their mind sets and skills, in any way possible,” he explains. “So I have to be self-confident. If you believe in yourself and what leadership is about, you can make it happen.” One of the reasons the chef didn’t direct as much within the first 3 months of his leadership was because he was more focused on listening to what the chefs he was working were like, and he wanted to make sure he was 100% sure he knew how he was addressing the team before he did so.
How does a hotel with a huge kitchen team like Ritz-Carlton recognise the different chefs’ skills and challenge them to go further? By practice, and having the humility to see how they can do better. “Every week, we do a taste-panel and launch seven new dishes, which goes into our recipe bank,” explains Chef Pasquarelli. “WE GO AND TRY THEM, AND SOMETIMES THE BEST RECIPES GO INTO THE NEXT MENU. WE KEEP CHALLENGING OURSELVES. WE MAY BE A PART OF THE RITZCARLTON BRAND, BUT WE HAVE TO KEEP REMEMBERING THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO MIGHT BE BETTER THAN US, OR HAVE BETTER RECIPES.”
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