Today we’d like to introduce you to Alberto Taboada.
Hi Alberto, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started my culinary journey when I came to the US when I was 16 years old, 22 years ago. My first job was bussing tables for a year, then I moved to the dish room.
Shortly after I became friends with the cooks in the line and learned the fryer station, 2 years later after mastering all the stations I became the kitchen manager, that’s when I decided to go to culinary school and a family member helped to get my first job in a Marriott hotel as a cook, worked there for one year until I became chef de cuisine and sous chef shortly after while going to school.
In 2016 my former executive chef asked me to come to Louisville KY to help him with the restaurants, I spend 5 years there, working as the executive sous chef the last year in Louisville. That’s when I came to Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld for 5 years, I learned a lot as a culinarian and leader during that time. I transferred to the JW as the executive sous chef for bits for two years before I took over as the executive chef.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The first challenge was the language barrier to being able to communicate in the restaurant and also when I was going to school. The long hours working and going to culinary school while I had a wife and 3 kids a 4 years old, a 2-year-old, and a just-born.
I spent a lot of days working and going to school without seeing them grow, I would leave for work at 4:30 am and come back home after school at 11:30 pm also when they were sleeping.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I like to believe that I am a leader that likes to put great/strong teams together based on integrity, passion, dedication, building a strong culture of innovation, and being willing to make an impactful operation for our guests, team, and personal growth.
I am known for my quality of food and for always making sure we have a “what’s next” mentality. Every dish is great when it first comes out but is important to know that the next dish needs to be better. I am very proud of becoming the executive chef of such of important resort for the company.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I am the chef that tries to connect with other chefs by sending emails, visiting them in their restaurants, and LinkedIn to connect and pick their brains as far as their operation, new projects, leadership skills, different events, and recruiting.
I am big on mentoring. I spent 7 years with each of my last two executive chefs and I am extremely thankful for their mentoring and the career path that they had for me. I can assure you that I would have never had the opportunity to run this operation if I didn’t cross paths with these two mentors.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @alberto_taboada_84
- Linkedin: @Alberto taboada
