Nigel Lobo

Nigel is a local chef been born and raise in the UAE. He started working in the hospitality industry at the tender age of 17, he became a Chef de Cuisine at 24. At 27, he became the Executive Chef and Group Culinary Administrator at Royal Orchid Hospitality Group and at 29 he became the Group Executive Chef at Stars n Bars-UAE. He currently oversees the culinary operations for the group’s restaurants which is based in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi and in La Mer, Dubai. Nigel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Tourism Studies, a Post Graduate Diploma in Kitchen Management from the renowned Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development (OCLD) and has specialized in Spanish cuisine at Escuela Internacional de Cocina in Valladolid. In 2014, he was the only Indian to be selected to be part of a unique group of chefs for a culinary scholarship in Spain. He spent his formative years training at Miramar (two Michelin stars)under michelin star Paco Perez, at Compartir under Mateu Casanas (former Chef de Cuisine at elbulli, partner at disfrutar) at Compartir in Spain; Attica in Australia under Ben Shewry (the then 21st best restaurant in the world), La Vie under Thomas Buhner (former three michelin star) in Germany and at a local tapas bar in Valladolid-La Tahona under Chef Jose before taking the helm at the award winning gastro pub The Eloquent Elephant. Nigel believes in the future of food through disruptive ideas and has created numerous food concepts which are run completely independently through cloud kitchens. He is in the midst of launching the first brand in the coming months focused primarily on millennials and the current market trend of experiential delivery meals. He believes that millennials who has the highest spending power are more likely to trust experts, who happen to be relatable influencers; and more likely to be influenced by blogs or social networking sites. Millennials are likely to find you on their smartphones and search for food on the go. Nigel remains passionate about Modern European cuisine and being born and raised in the UAE, he has harnessed the locally available produce to create successful menus which he has rolled out across all the group’s outlets. As an inspirational leader, Nigel has given members of his team an opportunity to prove themselves in a new role, he has believed in them and has trained and taught them to become better at what they do which has led to smooth successfully run operations. A firm believer of the quote – “you’re only as strong as your weakest link”, Nigel is proud to say that at most of his restaurants even the entry level is empowered and take care of a section. By empowering individuals, they are motivated and feel more valued and this definitely shows through in the overall quality of service. This human resource management and planning has, in some cases, led to significant cost savings for the group. In an endeavor to educate and guide young chefs or students who are looking at starting a career in the Food & Beverage industry, Nigel has launched his website (http://www.nigeljlobo.com/) which has different sections breaking down complex F&B terminology into simple, understandable lingo. There’s also a Q&A section which allows individuals to write to Nigel with their queries and he answers them. His thoughts behind hosting the website is that one pays to go to a good culinary school, however, now with the prevalence of numerous social media platforms it’s become increasingly easy to communicate and dispense information. And this is exactly what he wants to do using his website – dispense information and teach and guide youngers chefs who are entering the industry. There are many individuals want to enter the restaurant business with no idea regarding the return of investment or other business-related queries – there’s a section on the website that also answers these business-related queries.