The chef, the operator and the systems designer are the same person.
I started in hospitality at thirteen, washing pots, then worked front of house and cellar roles before moving fully into professional kitchens. Across Ireland, New Zealand and Canada since then: restaurants, major venues, premium event catering, private dining, high-performance nutrition, multi-site leadership and industrial-scale production.
In between, I studied computer science at UCD and then computer-aided design and building services. I did not finish the first and did not use either for years, but the way of thinking never left — and when the operations got large enough, it turned out to be the more useful half of my training.
Because as the scale increased, the same pattern kept appearing. Most performance problems were not problems of skill. They were the gap between what the business needed and what the kitchen could actually deliver — a gap made of information, ownership, handover and system design, and one that nobody owned from both sides.
So I began building the things the operation needed
- clearer production flows
- SOPs and visual standards
- digital batch tracking
- volume-ordering systems
- regeneration and assembly guidance
- culinary references
- training material
- chef-facing tools and prototypes
That work developed into a broader practice combining culinary judgement, operational design and digital product thinking.
The best system is not the most detailed one. It is the one that helps the right person make the right decision with the least unnecessary friction.
Current direction
The consultancy and the products are converging on one thing: systems shaped around a specific operation rather than sold to it as a template.
The Galley Bible, Fond, The Spicy Noodle and Scorcher Bay were all built outside the scope of any job, on my own time, to test whether the operational thinking travelled. The systems I built in-role solved the problem in front of me; the products were how I worked out which parts generalised.
The current yacht/private-service project is a deliberate culinary pivot, not a departure from the systems work. After large-scale production, multi-site leadership and major events, it tightens the other end of the range: privacy, personalisation, constrained environments and ultra-premium single-guest execution.
In parallel, I am formalising the project-management language around mobilisations, operational change and multi-site implementation through current Coursera training.
The cooking is not background to the systems work
I am still a chef. The operational work is credible because it sits on top of a long cooking career: classical resort kitchens, opening teams, mountain hospitality, Michelin-recognised gastropub work, major venues, elite sport, performance nutrition, premium private catering and high-volume production.
I care about systems because good systems protect the craft. They move avoidable decisions upstream so the person at the stove has more time for the decisions that actually require judgement.
The career, as a sequence of capabilities
The chronology is below and in the CV. The useful story is what each environment taught me, and how those layers became a systems practice.
01
Ireland · foundations
Craft
Pot wash first, then front of house, cellar and the kitchen proper. Classical sections, service discipline, and the understanding that a system is only useful if it works for the person doing the job.
02
Whistler · 2012–15
Pressure
Large resort operations, up to 1,500 covers/day, promoted through line cook, lead hand and sous chef. Where pace, morale and commercial performance became one problem rather than three.
03
Vbase · 2016–20
Scale
Major venues, satellite kitchens, plated dinners for up to 1,350 guests, artist and VIP catering, elite sport. At this size the constraint is logistics and timing as much as cooking.
04
IHF and NOSH · 2021–23
Building operations
One kitchen opened from nothing; another delivered premium catering into a different venue every time. Both taught the same lesson: familiarity is fragile, systems travel.
05
Compass Group · 2023–26
Operations into development
First the Victoria University operation run deeply — seven halls of residence, three production kitchens, 5,000+ daily covers — then culinary development across stadium, university, school, tender and mobilisation work.
06
Private service + independent products · now
Precision and product
A current yacht/private-service project deliberately tightens the ultra-private end of the culinary range, while independent products test whether the same systems method transfers into software and unfamiliar domains.
Compass: prove it in one operation, then carry it across a portfolio
Compass is the hinge, and it is worth not collapsing two different scales into one. I ran the Victoria University contract directly; promotion to Culinary Development Lead widened the remit across very different client environments.
01
Lead one operation
Victoria University
7 halls of residence, three production kitchens, 5,000+ daily covers and 100+ staff across the operation — under direct responsibility.
02
Build and prove the systems
In live service
Digital batch tracking, volume ordering, regeneration and assembly standards, forecasting and clearer production controls. Used on the floor, not kept in a presentation.
03
Move into portfolio leadership
Development Lead
Forsyth Barr Stadium; Massey University at Albany and Palmerston North; VUW; schools and institutions; plus Restaurant Associates corporate work in Wellington. Wrote the HACCP guide and SafeFoodPro forms behind the sector-wide rollout.
04
Restore confidence through delivery
Stadium
Supported stadium delivery, contract renewals and new-business work. For the UniLodge Canterbury tender, contributed to catering design across three main sites and two satellite kitchens, designed the culinary offer and menu, and cooked the client presentation. My involvement ended at tender stage.
05
Work at another order of scale
100,000-meals-per-day facility
A separate distributed-meals operation. My contribution was culinary development and production thinking; it was not the Victoria University operation.
Employers, dates and qualifications in full below, and in the downloadable CV.
Selected roles
About 25 years across hospitality, and each environment added a different constraint. Ireland built the craft; Whistler added pace, morale and commercial pressure; Christchurch added major venues, elite sport and performance nutrition; Wellington added premium catering and multi-site systems. The current yacht/private-service work is deliberately tightening the last end of that range. The systems practice is the sum of those environments, not a departure from cooking.
2024–26
Culinary Development Lead
Compass Group PLC · Wellington
Promoted December 2024. One contract run deeply became standards carried across many.
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin Massey University · Albany & Palmerston North Victoria University of Wellington Schools and institutions across multiple regions Restaurant Associates · corporate contracts UniLodge Canterbury tender · catering design only
- Rolled the regeneration and assembly standards out across the sector
- Wrote the HACCP guide and SafeFoodPro forms behind it — allergen and labelling standards tightened sector-wide
- Developed dishes for mass production at a separate 100,000-meals-per-day facility
- Massey University: supported Albany and Palmerston North operations serving residents, external customers, campus contracts and external catering
- UniLodge Canterbury tender: contributed to catering design across three main sites and two satellite kitchens, designed the culinary offer and menu, and cooked the client presentation; no operational role after tender
- Contributed to multiple contract renewals through RFP responses and contract scoping
Evidence level: Documented
2023–24
Executive Chef
Compass Group PLC · Victoria University of Wellington
One contract, run deeply.
7 halls of residence 3 production kitchens 5,000+ daily covers 100+ staff across the operation
- Built and implemented the digital batch tracking and volume ordering system linking individual sites to central production
- Designed the regeneration and assembly standards behind it — several hundred dishes reduced to five classes decided by two questions
- Delivered events across the wider sector beyond the contracted scope from the outset, which led to the national role
- 2 Star Awards in 2024: Chef of the Year in June, Performance Award in November
Evidence level: Documented
2022–23
Head Chef
NOSH · Wellington
Head chef for a premium Wellington caterer working across private homes, corporate functions and major venues. Jobs ranged from thirty-person dinners to plated service for 350 covers and canapé service for 1,500 guests, with a different kitchen, access plan and team almost every time. Achieved the highest available food-safety audit grade within a month of starting.
Evidence level: Documented
2021–22
Head Chef — opening team
IHF Health Club · Christchurch
Opening-team head chef at The Crossing, Christchurch. Built the kitchen, menu and daily food offer around performance nutrition and member service, working directly with high-performance athletes including the Tactix netball squad. The club was later named 2022 Independent Facility of the Year.
Evidence level: Documented
2020–21
Sous Chef
Emerson's Gastro Pub · Dunedin
Sous chef in the brewery taproom operation in Dunedin: a smaller team and tighter modern gastropub format after four years of large event catering. Menu development, mentoring and repeatable quality under steady volume.
Evidence level: Documented
2016–20
Senior Chef de Partie
Vbase (now Venues Ōtautahi) · Christchurch
Vbase, now Venues Ōtautahi — multi-venue culinary and event work across Christchurch's major sport, concert and civic spaces. Ran functions, plated dinners to 1,350 guests, artist and VIP catering, elite sport and satellite kitchens. This was where logistics, timing and temporary operating environments became as important as the cooking.
Evidence level: Documented
2015–16
Chef
Chop House · Dublin
Christmas-period contract at The Chophouse in Dublin, a Michelin-recognised gastropub that appeared in the Michelin Eating Out in Pubs guide and had been named Best Gastropub in Ireland. Prep and service in a compact, ingredient-led brigade.
Evidence level: Documented
2012–15
Line Cook → Lead Hand → Sous Chef
Whistler Blackcomb · British Columbia
Employed by Whistler Blackcomb and promoted each season from Line Cook to Lead Hand to Sous Chef. Primarily based at Dusty's Bar & BBQ, with up to 1,500 covers/day at peak, alongside resort catering and private events. Part-time work at Alta Bistro added modern seasonal alpine cooking; the Whistler Brewhouse added another busy village format. In 2014/15 the team I helped lead finished first in the division across guest, staff and financial measures, including a record 93 staff satisfaction score.
Evidence level: Measured
2011–12
Chef de Partie
Avoca · Monkstown, Dublin
Part of the 2011 opening team at Avoca Monkstown — the group's first food market — working in the seasonal, locally led café and restaurant food culture that became a defining Avoca format.
Evidence level: Documented
to 2011
Commis Chef → Chef de Partie
Druids Glen Golf Club / Fairways Bistro · Wicklow, Ireland
Where I learned to cook: a five-star Wicklow resort environment around a championship course that hosted four Irish Opens and the Seve Trophy. Classical fundamentals, sections, functions and the service discipline behind everything that followed.
Evidence level: Documented
from age 13
Kitchen porter → lounge boy, barman, cellar boy
Ireland
Pot wash and kitchen porter first, then front of house and cellar. Every level of a hospitality operation from the bottom of it — which is why I design systems for the people doing the work rather than the people describing it.
Evidence level: Documented
Qualifications
2019
NZQF Level 5 Diploma in Culinary Arts
ARA, Christchurch
Recognition of Prior Learning — assessed against existing professional practice. Among the first in New Zealand by that route.
2007–08
BTEC — CAD, Architecture & Building Services
Further education, Ireland
Qualification family confirmed as BTEC; exact level/title retained conservatively until the original certificate is recovered.
2004–06
Computer Science (two years, not completed)
University College Dublin
2026
Ships Cook Certificate
Maritime NZ, Wellington
2026
STCW Basic Safety Training
Vertical Horizons, Wellington
2026
Food & Hygiene Level 3
Food Safe NZ, Auckland
2026
ENG 1 equivalent (unrestricted)
Onslow Road Medical, Wellington
Named references from Compass Group management and the wider industry are available on request, along with the signed Whistler Blackcomb reference.
Short biography
Ciarán Keogh is a chef, culinary operations leader and systems designer with about 25 years across hospitality, progressing from entry-level kitchen and front-of-house work into professional cooking, culinary leadership, high-volume production, multi-site hospitality, premium events, private dining and digital culinary products. His work focuses on turning fragmented knowledge and complicated workflows into practical systems supporting financial control, compliance, consistency and employee confidence. He is developing a practice spanning professional kitchens, food businesses and custom chef-first systems built around individual operations.