Season 3 - Episode 4 - Alannah Francesca - The Accidental Pastry Chef!
Send us a textThis podcast is bought to you by Gulfood - https://www.gulfood.com and Meelz - https://meelz.me Alannah fell into hospitality completely by accident. The dream was to become a graphic designer, however after realising that it meant sitting behind a desk, it was a that point the decision was made to go into culinary school, the journey began at the tender age of 16!The College was in Luton, UK, Alannah was shown the A-Z of what it was like to be in this world. In terms...
This podcast is bought to you by Gulfood - https://www.gulfood.com and Meelz - https://meelz.me
Alannah fell into hospitality completely by accident. The dream was to become a graphic designer, however after realising that it meant sitting behind a desk, it was a that point the decision was made to go into culinary school, the journey began at the tender age of 16!
The College was in Luton, UK, Alannah was shown the A-Z of what it was like to be in this world. In terms of her pastry life, again totally by chance, her presumption was that pastry chefs are not real chefs!
The very first recipe she made, was the famed crème brulee, after that day she never went back into the main kitchen.
Alannah did some work experience in London at the 5 star luxury Royal Garden Hotel in Kensignton, with the brilliant Executive chef Steven Munkley, he would be the one to show her the ropes at the very early stages of her career.
https://www.royalgardenhotel.co.uk
Her first real taste of how tough life can be in the world of the kitchens, would be at the busiest time of the year, when the entire senior pastry team resigned, which meant Alannah was the next one in line manage the whole pastry operation, at the age of 19, that’s not an easy task, however she stepped up, this gave her an experience that she will never forget and a lesson that she still carries with her to this day.
After two years, it was time to take a break, life had a different plan, she got a job in one of the most Iconic hotels in the world – The Savoy. https://www.thesavoylondon.com
Once again, after sending one of the best ever fruit plates to a guest that just so happened to be the group director of Fairmont worldwide, she had sealed her fate, and worked in the Savoy for a further 2 and half years.
On one of the days, Alannah received a phone call from a previous chef, asking if she was interested to go and work in Dubai, after making a quick pit stop from Malaysia, this would be her next move as the Executive Pastry Chef of the Address Dubai Marina.
https://www.addresshotels.com
This would give her an opportunity to run her own team kitchen, compete at the highest possible level, even gaining a world record!
Fate would rear its head once again, this time opening her own business, she took a leap of faith, and went on to supply the likes of Etihad, Costa, Jumeirah, in fact it was selling to over 200 vendors.
5 years down the line it was time to say goodbye, and was tasked to run the entire pastry division of Sarood Hospitality, another gigantic operation which takes military precision.
https://www.saroodhospitality.com
Alannah doesn’t know when to stop, knowing her, she will end up being the head of food evolution for NASA or Tesla, developing recipes for intergalactic travel!
You can follow all of her escapades via Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/alannah_francesca
Alternatively you can contact her on LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alannah-doe
Stay tuned for next week’s show, we talk to someone who is about to push a global collaboration platform!
Thank you to our partners Gulfood and Meelz, make sure to click on their links at the very top of the page. Until next time, food is memories!
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