PERSONALITIES
r chef ’ s
TAKE ON SUCCEEDING
By JEFF WEINSTEIN , EDITOR IN CHIEF
IN THE KITCHEN
Pro-snowboarder turned three-time Michelin star Chef Akira Back recently opened his 20th restaurant , Akira Back Dallas with the majority of his locations inside high-end hotels such as Yellowtail at The Bellagio in Las Vegas , as well as restaurants at the JW Marriott Hanoi , the Four Seasons Seoul , and W Dubai .
This winter , he ’ ll take over the entire food & beverage department at London ’ s new Mandarin Oriental , including two namesake restaurants and a lounge , plus breakfast and room service .
The 47-year-old who moved from Korea to Aspen , Colorado , as a teen , has hosted the James Beard House dinners seven times , opened a pop-up with KPop superstars BTS , and is generally obsessed with hotels .
Chef Akira recently talked to HOTELS about his views on hotel F & B as well as what he sees coming next .
HOTELS : What else do you have planned in the hotel F & B space beyond the Mandarin in London ? Chef Akira Back : We will next be opening hotel restaurants in Istanbul , Turkey and Florence , Italy . Istanbul will be an Akira Back restaurant within the JW Marriott Hotel Marmara Sea . It is a beautiful design with gorgeous views that I am very excited about . It will be opening in September of this year . Florence will also be an Akira Back restaurant which connects to a beautiful atrium courtyard and will have private meeting rooms that can also be used for karaoke and entertainment . The location is confidential for now as it has not been released publicly but it is scheduled to open in early 2024 .
H : What is your best advice for a luxury hotel on how to best evolve F & B service and concepts considering trends ? AB : They key to operating anything profitably in F & B is to serve quality products and give great customer service . Have a brand concept and cuisine that is relatable to all types of customers . When I was a professional snowboarder and we would travel it was hard to find a place for a large group of us to all eat together because we all had different tastes and things we liked . Because of this , I have always tried to make sure my menus have enough variety and things to offer for people where they can enjoy with a large number of friends or just by themselves . Try to find chefs and managers that execute multiple concepts to help reduce costs and drive profitability .
H : How do you best and profitably operate room service ? AB : Room service is an amenity which is important to hotel guests . We offer signature dishes from our
October 2022 hotelsmag . com 57