György László

During his five-decade professional career, he has overseen the culinary operations of numerous domestic and international hotel chains (5 countries, 46 hotels, 3*-5*), developed and implemented new food concepts, led kitchen teams as head chef, designed and executed F&B concepts, trained staff, and managed talent development. He has organized Hungarian gastronomic festivals in many countries around the world.

He began his professional career at the Gellért Hotel between 1967 and 1979, and during two assignments in Japan, he worked as head chef at the Hungarian restaurant in Tokyo from 1979-1981 and 1983-1986. He served as deputy head chef at the Hotel Intercontinental Budapest (formerly Forum Hotel) from 1981 to 1990, and as head chef from 1990 to 2001.

Between December 2001 and May 2002, he contributed to the development of Tom George’s fine dining restaurant (restaurant and kitchen setup, F&B concepts, training new staff, head chef duties), and from August to November 2002, he was head chef of the U.S.A./Royal Caribbean unit. From November 2002 to August 2003, he worked as business consultant for Dokk Cafe.

From 2003 to 2018, he was Group Executive Chef of the Danubius Hotels Group, where his responsibilities included modernizing hotel chain kitchen technology in line with international trends and food safety (HACCP) regulations. He also worked on improving production efficiency, reorganizing kitchen workflows, auditing kitchens—covering margins, equipment management, revenue, costs, results, and staffing—designing and implementing new menus (including healthy choice and healthy break concepts in spa hotels), career planning, talent development, and selecting head chefs. He conducted professional training, organized gastronomic events, and reviewed culinary publications.

From 2011 to 2016, alongside his role as executive chef, he served as Director of Food & Drink Operations at Radisson Blu Béke Hotel. His duties included overseeing the F&B operations of the 4* superior hotel within the international chain (kitchen, restaurant, pastry, banquet, procurement), defining the responsibilities of department heads, monitoring execution, preparing and implementing the annual business plan, and regularly reviewing its progress. One of his favorite activities was developing special food concepts, such as the Brain Food concept (a dining concept designed to maintain participants’ concentration during meetings). He also contributed to the F&B professional support of the reconstruction of Zsolnay Café’s Olives restaurant.

ACHIEVEMENTS

1989: Master Chef

1990: Founding member of the Hungarian organization of the France-based Chaine des Rotisseurs, Chef Rotisseur

1991: Guest at the International Gourmet Parade (Klagenfurt); NESTLÉ International Culinary Exhibition (Frankfurt, 2 gold medals); HOGOKA Hotel and Hospitality Trade Fair (Karlsruhe, Large Silver Plaque); member of the White Hats Club and the French Gastronomic Club

1993: Culinary World Exhibition (Basel, 2 silver medals)

1994: Karlsruhe, gold medal

1994-1998: Silhouette Restaurant, permanent member of the top ten in culinary art

1996: József Venesz Lifetime Achievement Award; board member of the Hungarian Chaine des Rotisseurs as culinary advisor

1999: Chair of the Master Chef Examination Board

2000: Berlin Bundess Press Ball (Inter-Continental), Berlin Federal Press Ball

2004: Presidency of the Hungarian National Gastronomy Association, jury member; international jury member at the first Hungarian Bocuse d’Or competition

2006: Chaine des Rotisseurs Maitre Rotisseur

2008: Chaine des Rotisseurs, honorary culinary advisor

1999-2010: Organizing Hungarian and international professional competitions, WACS (World Association of Chefs Societies), Global Chefs Challenge, and IKA, serving as delegated jury member at domestic and foreign competitions

EDUCATION

1979: Vocational Secondary School of Hospitality

1984: Higher-Level Trade School

TRAINING

Annual international and domestic professional and HACCP training

1996: Fidelio F&B program user training

1999: Accounting for Non-Accountants

OTHER SKILLS

Languages: conversational English, professional Japanese and German (listening comprehension)