 Five-star Food and Delivery challenge
Executive chef, Ernst Jaeck, who recently took the reins at the Sofitel Jin Jiang Oriental Pudong, Shanghai, talks to Grapevine about the culinary challenges of launching an international five-star brand.
A long-standing desire to work in Asia has been finally realized for Ernst Jaeck, executive chef at the Sofitel Jin Jiang Oriental Pudong, Shanghai. However, he has hardly realized his dream in half measures by starting out in the hotbed of the region that is Shanghai. All major brands have swarmed into the city, but whether they will all live up to their impressive hardware is the key challenge they all face. All very well to have a great looking restaurant, but if the service is not five-star, it doesn't matter how good the food is - it will not get the reception that it might deserve.
"This is one of my key challenges," says Jaeck - who we met three days into the job. Still a bit jet-lagged and certainly a little shell-shocked, we found him in the kitchens training his staff. "This is a new hotel and a new beginning. I have always been interested in working in Asia - and always in China - so I'm very happy here."
A seasoned professional, Jaeck has been working in hospitality for almost 25 years, with experience stemming from stints in Europe, South Africa, Australia and the Middle East, that has provided him with "good knowledge of different industry systems and directives". A large part of the German national's most recent experience has been in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, where he was last executive chef at the Sheraton. The challenges he faced in Egypt he believes will set him in good stead in Shanghai, as many of them are similar.
"There are many things to do - from creating menus for all the restaurants to getting the kitchen properly equipped. I find many similarities with Egypt - there are no qualified chefs, the service is poor and English language is not well spoken. It is a step-by-step process, but I'm very excited by it."
"I have worked in two star Michelin restaurants in the past, but that wouldn't work here - I have to work out the capability of my staff and get the most from them. We are starting from basics."
There will be a total of five restaurant outlets at the Sofitel JJ Oriental - Shanghai Spring, a traditional Shangainese restaurant; Crystal Bridge, a Cantonese restaurant; the JJ Caf? a 24-hour international coffee shop; and two other outlets are being constructed and scheduled for opening in the first quarter of 2003 - Syu Getsu, a Japanese restaurant, and a revolving fine dining French outlet to open on the 46th and 47th floors at the top of the hotel.
However, Jaeck feels more than prepared for the task at hand. "In 1996 I handled 40 heads of state for the Peace Summit in Sharm El Sheikh. I thought the world was coming to an end! So this will be like peanuts," he says with a rye smile.
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