Executive Assistant Manager of Food & Beverage at Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve
E: What are your responsibilities?
A: Besides staff management, quality control and guest satisfaction, the main importance is to do strategic planning on how to stay relevant in the future. It is easy to take the job for such a prominent hotel, and all the staff have made it into this amazing hotel, but to stay relevant in the future is the point where I can make a difference.
E: What makes a typical day?
A: I come to work just before 8am. Firstly, I check the back of house and the breakfast set up, in anticipation of our guest visiting. I believe breakfast is the most important meal period and place for all our guest. This is the place all guest gather and rate the F&B based on their experience. Besides that, I really see the breakfast at Sawah Terrace as a big part of the Mandapa experience that cannot be missed. After that, it is time for morning line-up or meeting. The rest of the day is a combination of building blocks that can move in timeline based on operations. Emails, F&B meetings, follow up on projects, talk to key people on training or guest preferences, check on our staff’s happiness and running operations during lunch and dinner period.
E: Who has been the most influential figure in your career to date?
A: Every previous general manager has shaped me to what I am today. If I have to pick one, it is Vincent, my old boss who runs operations for Marriott International in Thailand. He taught me constructs and concepts that are easy to apply to difficult situations and that still help me on a daily basis.
E: Team player or team leader?
A: Team player, as much as possible I let things go its natural way, but I will ask questions to our Ladies and Gentlemen that will make you think about how and why we do certain things. Often these questions lead to group discussion that leads to a new standard, procedure, set-up or way of doing things.
E: As the executive assistant manager of food & beverage, name one thing that is special about the restaurants at your resort?
A: Although the products, the view and a bunch of signature dishes are amazing, the thing that is really special at Mandapa, is the people that work here. It’s not work, it’s a way of living. Experiencing is believing.
E: What is the most important trait to have in your work?
A: I think it’s a mix of traits that I feel comfortable with expanding on. I’m quite creative, always eager to try things. What really drives me is my search to always be better. I can’t sit still and accept how things are, I will do or seek something new to do to make things move and ultimately better.
E: What is the most memorable moment of your career?
A: A key moment actually occurred recently. Upon checking out from Mandapa, a whole family burst into tears from happiness of spending the last days at our hotel. This reminded me that the business we are in, is in the business of making memories.
E: Dead or alive, who would you like to take out to dinner?
A: I will take my parents and wife to dinner, as I only see them about a week a year when I visit back home or they visit me. My parents raised me with the values that I have today and the biggest lesson they taught me is to have respect for everyone. They are the kindest people you can meet.
Exquisite Taste Volume 45
Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve
Jalan Kedewatan, Ubud
Bali 80571, Indonesia
T: (+62) 3614792777
E: reservations.mandapa@ritzcarlton.com
W: mandapareserve.com
IG: @mandapareserve
