Profile

Director F&B Operations and Culinary

International Culinary Judge

Marcus was born and raised in Hong Kong, and has a passion for all things food and beverage. Marcus did his formal training at The Dorchester Hotel in London and after completing his training moved to the Caledonian Hotel in Edinburgh where he was promoted to Sous Chef of the fine dining Pompador Restaurant which went on to win Restaurant of the year in Scotland. During this time he was also a finalist in the Scottish Chef of the Year and competed in culinary competitions in Frankfurt.

Marcus then transferred to The New Piccadilly Hotel in London (now Le Meridien) which was re-opening after a total refurbishment and he was Sous Chef of the fine dining restaurant The Oak Room which went onto win a Michelin Star.He then went back to The Dorchester as Sous Chef of The Grill Room working closely with the Chef Anton Mosimann, during this period Marcus assisted Mr Mosimann with his cook books, participated in culinary competitions in Germany and achieved 17/20 in the Gualt Millat Guide.

Marcus then moved back to Hong Kong as Sous Chef of the Hong Kong Club which had 5 restaurants and banqueting for 300 people, he was engaged by The Peninsula Group to assist the Chef in raising the standards of the venue. After two years he was transferred and promoted to Executive Chef of the Hong Kong Overseas Bankers Club which had three restaurants and a function room for upto 250 people.  During this time Marcus was part of the Hong Kong Culinary Team and the Peninsula Group Culinary Team participating in the Culinary Olympics in Singapore. He then moved back to London for the re-opening of The Dorchester Hotel as Executive Sous Chef. The hotel had been closed for two years undergoing a major refurbishment, and Marcus was an integral part of the re-opening, focussing on the ala carte and the Chinese Restaurant. After a year and a half, he moved back to Hong Kong as Executive Chef of The Royal Garden Hotel with a brigade of 90 chefs.  Marcus was engaged to lift the standards and improve the profitability which he did.  The hotel’s main restaurant won the Best Italian Restaurant in Hong Kong.

Marcus was also Vice President of the Hong Kong Chef’s Association and assisted the Heep Hong Society for under privileged children during this time. In 1998 after the handover of Hong Kong Marcus and his family moved to Melbourne when he was appointed Executive Chef of The Sofitel and during this period the hotel received many awards including Three Chefs Hats for Le Restaurant in the Age Good Food Guide and American Express Hall of Fame as well as the Best Training initiative with the opening of The Culinary Academy. He trained many apprentices for competitions successfully both nationally and State wide. He trained apprentices such as Shane Delia, George Calombaris and Matt McCartney. Marcus also created the charitable event Eat Street whilst working at the Sofitel. After a stint of five years Marcus moved to Crown as Executive Chef of Restaurants where he oversaw 15 restaurants and over 300 staff.

He was one of the co-founders of The Million Dollar Lunch and judged the National Cheese awards. He also spent much time training the Australian representative for the prestigious Bocuse D’or competion in Lyon. Three years later he was promoted to Director of Food and Beverage of Crown Restaurants with a staff of over 700, in this position he was responsible for the smooth running of all the restaurants and a revenue stream of over $78M. Marcus then took over the reins at Peter Rowland Catering for 2 years before moving into consulting, he now is the Director of Rowland Projects. Marcus is currently a highly regarded Food and Beverage Consultant who works with his clients to achieve their goals.

His recent work has included the design of kitchens at The Metropolitan Golf Club, Telstra in Exhibition Street, ACMI and JBWere. He has also major events such as A Feast of Chefs in Hobart and has just finished a food and beverage review for a major university.  Previously he has overseen 10 venues for the NAB increasing the profitability in order to prepare the venues for sale.  He has also worked on feasibility and new restaurant and café concepts for clients. Marcus is also an accredited International Culinary Judge and a Life Ambassador for Australia Day.