Courtyard by Marriott Executive Chef honoured with Marriott's Award of Culinary Excellence

The annual Award of Culinary Excellence is at the cornerstone of Marriott's efforts to recognise and identify their great chefs and culinarians in Marriott and Renaissance Hotels worldwide. Since 1998, over 500 chefs have been nominated with 100 incredibly talented winners. Many of these chefs have continued their passionate efforts and been instrumental in the company's culinary growth.

Chef Christian was nominated by Elaine Watson, General Manager of the Courtyard by Marriott Dubai Green Community, who sees him as a pivotal member of her team. During 2006, Chef Christian was actively involved in driving the hotel's experiences forward, and pushed the Banqueting Revenue from 1.2 million in 2005 to 3.45 million in 2006. He is actively involved with the Sales team during each sales blitz to promote new menus or activities, and every six months ensures that new menus are launched within all the F&B outlets. In June 2006, with the advent of Passports to Success, he took great pride in coaching and training his entire kitchen brigade of 34 chefs through the first 3 levels of the programme.

"This is a tremendous achievement and is reflecting of just how involved he is in encouraging his team to learn new skills and brush up on the old," said Elaine Watson.

Among his top achievements, Chef Christian has demonstrated great creativity and innovation in the hotel's culinary development. Throughout 2006 he developed a home delivery menu for ht local residents in the green Community area, raising awareness for the hotel food and beverage outlets. His imaginative and innovative menus for the hotel's coffee breaks and conference lunches were part of the success in increasing the hotel's banqueting revenue substantially.

Over 80 nominations were received at this year's ACE awards, representing each of the full service brands from every region of the globe. Selections are made by careful evaluation of the nominations using a blind technique of numerical scoring and ranking. The nomination committee solely bases their scores on the strength of each of the six criteria detailed.

Measurable Improvement in Overall Dining
Outstanding Achievement in Culinary Excellence
Creativity and Innovation
Training of Others
Leadership
Personal Development

The criteria measures the culinary dedication required to be a great culinarian, and provides an avenue for recognition of the passion for excellence.