Sunit Sharma, Food and Beverage Consultant

Sunit Sharma, an Arts graduate who hails from Jamshedpur has completed his diploma in hotel management from IHM Hyderabad. He was inspired by the spirit of hospitality which he imbibed from his mother who was a great cook and a host. He is a Certified Executive Chef and team member of Guinness World Record, 2017 for the largest fishcake. Mr.Sunit Sharma – a chef of International experience and repute, worked 21 years with the world leaders of hospitality like The Ritz Carlton hotels, Planet Hollywood and Taj Hotels. Now having expanded his boundaries, he has become a consultant, who guides numerous chefs and people from the hospitality discipline. He reveals that there is no secret key to success but only hard work, passion for your work and dedication.

He discloses that the most important thing required to enter the world of hospitality is passion, love for food, love for people, and interaction with people. Once you love people and food, one can excel in the hospitality field. One should enjoy the work and if you enjoy your work, you will get paid to enjoy life.

According to him, the biggest challenges for a chef are knowledge and updating and rediscovering the ingredients and authentic food of the past generations, which we are losing today due to modernisation, convenience and exposure to fast food. So he feels that we need to go back to our roots, conduct research and restore our lost traditional ingredients and cooking methods. Also travelling will help to learn about the different ingredients and their produce. This would be a great improvement in the health of the customers as well as our families and future generations.

He feels that every challenge gives us an opportunity to grow in a better and strong way. The above mentioned challenges enlightens the chefs’ knowledge and helps to do something unique which sometimes turns out as their USP , giving personal rewards as well.

He states that failure should be taken as an opportunity to turn it into success. As a chef if any dish does not turn out as expected, he says that it should be presented in a different way as a new dish and not consider it as a failure. One basic mistake that the chefs committed earlier was- not giving time for themselves and their families. But now this mistake is rectified and new edge chefs have a proper work life balance which ensures good health, productivity and a contributor to business.

He expresses that it is not only the management but also the duty of the senior chefs to take care of the juniors and their teams. Creativity, free space and thought should be encouraged along with resources to travel and explore new dimensions in food, ingredients and new places. Such freedom and liberty helps to develop the F & B perspective of the chefs which ensures their efficiency and productivity.

He believes that today social media has become a boon which keeps him updated with the latest developments in the culinary area. Apart from this, books, magazines, articles and other chefs also help to update about the new recipes, cooking techniques and other related information unlike conventional chefs who kept secrets.

Also, being a part of education sector, Mr.Sunit Sharma feels that the curriculum of hotel management courses does need certain changes to keep abreast with the advancements and current trends. There should be teacher training along with professional training by actual professionals which will train the students with theory as well as with the practical aspects.

He feels that every chef who comes into the culinary art makes his mark in his own way as he may have created a memorable experience to his guest, through his dishes. So creating innovative, healthy, appealing dishes with good presentation to more number of guests can enhance the guests’ experience and make a mark in the culinary art.

The biggest change to enhance customer experience is- today the chefs are coming out of their comfort zone who interact directly with the guests. The trend of live stations and live food has evolved and this will grow more with time. In addition to this, chefs are going back to the roots and proudly showcasing the traditional and regional foods, ingredients, cooking techniques which have a great impact on the customers as they are also looking out for the forgotten recipes and traditional food. So basically chefs are becoming the custodian of traditional foods.

Love what you do –if you love people, you will get success in the hospitality business.

Cooks use hands and chefs use brain and heart with hands to cook.

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