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I am an early bird. I’m up at 5 a.m. every day. My breakfast is usually coffee and something high in protein but low in carbs so I don’t lose energy through the day. I go to the gym. Then I’m in the office by 6:30 a.m.

I’m the food and beverage director at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena. When I get to work, I look at my day organizer and plan for a good couple hours on the restaurant floor with people. All my appointments fall on the either side of every meal period.

I walk the restaurant floor and touch base with the chef and manager before talking to a couple of guests to get a pulse of the mood there. I also walk the floor with the cleaner to make sure it’s being cleaned properly.

By 11.30 a.m., I head back to the floor and over the next two hours I discuss the lunch menu, quality of food and service with the chef.

I am back in my office at 1:30 p.m. or 2 p.m. and grab a quick bite to eat. I eat in the restaurant at least two or three times a week. It can get quite fattening. I run a few extra miles just because I eat there. I observe how other guests are served. I know I get extra attention, but I look at the couple sitting across the room to see if their appetizer looks like mine or arrives as fast as mine.

It is important to understand what food is being made and how quickly it is getting out of the kitchen. I have a trained eye so I can identify issues. I will not get up in the middle of a meal and cause tension, but I go into the kitchen and talk to the people there if anything comes up.

Right now we are proposing to take an existing space and draft a concept from the ground up and change the theme of the restaurant altogether. What is now a contemporary Californian style eatery will be a modern French bistro when we finish.

We want to create an atmosphere that is decidedly different from the Ritz-Carltons of the past. Our audience and market today is a lot younger than it used to be. The type of food served 11 or 15 years ago is not what people are looking for now. Today, time is money and we should be able to deliver a great product in 45 minutes from beginning to end.

I started with writing down a concept brief on what we want and how we want to do it. From there I will break it down into various sections, like the menu, interior design, service etc.

I look at lighting, uniform, items on the menu and decide what will capture the essence of the theme. I will pick decor, the items to put on the menu, the name of the restaurant and all that. I will even write down how many minutes the service should last from start to end.

I will also point out the artifacts to be displayed, material of the furniture, floor, walls, windows and paint color. The bar area is important so I should work on what wines we want to feature and what we want our signature beverages to be. I also propose an average check price. It is a very creative process and every single part has to fit into the puzzle.

At exactly 3 p.m. I have a lineup of the entire food and beverage team and review the successes and failures of the previous day. After that I have a cup of coffee and head to my office to check e-mails.

At 5 p.m. I’m back in the restaurant checking on the nightly specials. If there are no special events lined up, I head home at around 7 p.m.

After coming home, I read and usually talk to my girlfriend, who is in Miami. Then I watch the news and do personal e-mails. I love to cook at home. It is very relaxing and I could never do it professionally because I would lose my love for it.

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As told to Aarthi Sivaraman

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David McIntyre



Food and Beverage Director

Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa, Pasadena

In the Kitchen:

Makes Indian-style meat korma and fish pakora


Travels:

Hiked all over Scotland, sailed up and down the Scottish coast


Collector:

At least 140 bottles of single malt whisky, representing almost every distillery in Scotland