I completed my Senior School (National Matric Certificate) in 1984 with Hotel-keeping and Catering as my major and English, Afrikaans, Economics, Business Economics and Accountancy being the others, but my hospitality career that to date stretches over almost 40 years started already in 1981 at the age of 16 when I worked on weekends and during school holidays as a part-time kitchen hand in a busy restaurant in Johannesburg.

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In the years that followed, I attended several different training and development programs including financial control, Human Resource Management, Computer Skills development, and general business management principles.

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Early on in my career, I was employed as the Maitre d' Hotel in a 5-star hotel dining room/a la carte restaurant in Johannesburg from where I grew to later successfully hold the position of General Manager in several upmarket restaurants in South Africa . My early career development was rooted in working as a Chef and Caterer in the South African Air Force (Permanent Force) from October 1985 to October 1989.

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I have also been involved in setting up, opening - and running restaurants as both a Consulting Manager and Managing Shareholder (Owner Manager)

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Since April 2015 I mostly worked in several roles as a freelance Sole Chef Head Chef. on luxury super-yachts with both private and charter uses.