Dr. Sándor Dénes

With a professional background as a chef, and with college-level hospitality, university-level economics, and PhD qualifications, he worked at BGE KVIK (and its predecessor) between 1980 and 2017. He was the head of the Teaching Cabinet belonging to the Department of Hospitality during the period between 1995 and 2017. He also served as the head of the English-language hospitality and hotel specialization program for four years between 2004 and 2008. He worked as an instructor and course leader for subjects in gastronomy, food preparation, and student projects in both the Hungarian and English programs. From December 2017, after 49 years of work, he became a retired associate professor.

In the early 1990s, as a teacher scholarship holder of the British government, he participated in a six-month study trip to universities in England (Surrey University, Manchester Metropolitan University), and he also studied the specialized higher education programs in the Netherlands, Ireland, and Switzerland. The result of this was that the practical hospitality training of the then college was successfully raised to the educational level of leading European institutions. In the 1990s he prepared hospitality students for the ECA (European Catering Association) international student competition with great success — first place in all four competitions — and he took part in the competitions in the Netherlands, Sweden, England, and France. He organized Hungarian gastronomic events in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Ireland, Portugal, France, Finland, Italy, Vietnam, and the USA. At the 1992 World Expo in Seville he worked as deputy chef at the Mathias Rex restaurant, which won the highest rating among the 250 operating restaurants. He participated in domestic and international competitions and demonstrations: organizer and jury member of the Chaine des Rotisseurs (young chefs) world and domestic competitions between 1996 and 2004; jury member of Les Saveurs Regionales d’ EUROPE (1998). In 2003 in South Africa he represented Hungary at an event with 150 chefs from 33 countries organized to help hungry children. In 2004 in Dublin he gave a lecture at the WACS (World Association of Chefs Societies) congress and was the leader of the junior chef team. In 2006 in New Zealand he gave a presentation at the WACS congress. In 2005 in Malta, in 2006 in Helsinki, and in 2007 in Bratislava he gave presentations at the WACS European presidential conferences. In 2005 he was the president of the first Hungarian Bocuse d’Or application. In 2006 he was the (main) organizer of the first Tradition and Evolution competition and in 2007 of the first WACS Central European hot kitchen cooking competition in Budapest.

In 2012 he earned his PhD at PTE, with the title of his dissertation: The role of gastronomy in the tourism geography of Hungary.

He was Hungary’s chef expert and jury member for EuroSkills/WorldSkills between 2010 and 2017 in Portugal, England, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates. In these competitions the best result was achieved in 2012 in Belgium. The prepared competitor was Zsolt Berki, who won a team European Championship bronze medal and placed 4th individually.

He was a trainer for the Olivier Roellinger international cooking competition. Among the competitors he prepared, Fanny Czompa won a regional European Championship bronze medal in 2016, Dániel Szűcs a regional European Championship gold medal in 2017, Barbara Ramocsai a regional European Championship silver medal in 2018, and Norbert Csukás a regional European Championship bronze medal.

Also worth mentioning are the French, English, Chinese, Thai, Luxembourgish, Italian, Irish, Finnish, Japanese, American, and Vietnamese chef demonstrations between 1985 and 2017 at KVF, BGF, and BGE, where he acted as both organizer and host chef.

In the MTMT system he is an author in 54 publications, a reviewer in numerous professional materials, and consultant or opponent in hundreds of theses. On Duna Television he prepared historical dishes in approximately 50 broadcasts. He has been a professional consultant, business initiator, and business plan creator for restaurants and hotels in connection with kitchen and restaurant operations, and for five years he was the managing director of a restaurant-café. He was the founding president of the Association of Hungarian Chefs (Étrend) between 2002 and 2006. He was chairman of the MNGSZ Education Committee between 2003 and 2005, then vice president of MNGSZ between 2005 and 2007.

In 2018 he founded the Pro Gastronomia Award together with Dr. Andrea Lugasi (dean of BGE KVIK and head of the Department of Hospitality) to promote Hungarian gastronomy and to recognize the professional activities of outstanding personalities and promising young representatives of the hospitality profession.