Santiago Abello Duque
Sydney
Summary
Experienced Chef with strong café and brunch kitchen experience. Skilled in running kitchen operations from open to close, delivering consistent food quality, and leading teams through training and mentoring. Experienced in seasonal menu development, rostering, ordering, stock control, and improving kitchen efficiency while maintaining food safety and WHS standards.
Overview
6
6
years of professional experience
Work History
Head Chef
At Neutral Cafe
09.2024 - 12.2025
- Led kitchen operations, ensuring consistent quality and presentation of menu items.
- Developed seasonal menus, incorporating local ingredients to enhance customer experience.
- Trained and mentored junior chefs
- Streamlined food preparation processes, reducing waste and improving efficiency in kitchen workflows.
- Rostering and ordering
Chef
At Neutral Cafe
09.2022 - 09.2024
- Independently ran kitchen shifts from opening to close of trade
- Planned and completed weekly prep to ensure smooth breakfast and brunch service
- Cooked, plated, and quality-checked all dishes during service
- Organised deliveries and monitored stock rotation and storage
- Supported weekly stocktakes and ordering requirements
- Ensured compliance with food safety, hygiene, and WHS regulations
Cook
Eight Birds Café
01.2021 - 01.2022
- Setting up workstations with all needed ingredients and cooking equipment
- Preparing ingredients to use in cooking
- Chopping and peeling vegetables, cutting meat, etc.
- Prepare and garnish breakfast dishes.
Cook
Abattoir Blues Café
01.2021 - 01.2021
- Ensure ingredients and final products are fresh
- Follow recipes, including measuring, weighing and mixing ingredients.
- Bake, grill, steam and boil vegetables, fish, poultry and other meats.
- Present, garnish and arrange final dishes.
Head Cook
Guzman.Y Gomez Taqueria – Sydney
01.2020 - 01.2021
- Inventory
- Creation of a prep list guide based on sales to adjust the quantities needed to prep to cover the demand.
- Manage and control waste of the kitchen.
- Marinate and cook different kind of proteins by grilled and pans.
- Washed, peeled and cut various fruits and vegetables to prepare for serving.
- Managed opening and closing shift kitchen tasks.
- Verified proper portion sizes and consistently attained high food quality standards.
- Adapted meals based on FOH tickets while maintaining accuracy and speed of preparation.
Education
Certificate IV - Commercial Cookery
Kenvale College of Hospitality Cookery & Events
Sydney, NSW05.2021
Certificate III - Commercial cookery
Kordon Institute
Bachelor - Business Administration
Bogotá Chamber of Commerce
Bogota, Colombia01.2017
Skills
- Food safety
- Kitchen management
- Team management
- Menu development
- Teamwork
Languages
Spanish
Native or Bilingual
English
Full Professional
Timeline
Head Chef
At Neutral Cafe
09.2024 - 12.2025
Chef
At Neutral Cafe
09.2022 - 09.2024
Cook
Eight Birds Café
01.2021 - 01.2022
Cook
Abattoir Blues Café
01.2021 - 01.2021
Head Cook
Guzman.Y Gomez Taqueria – Sydney
01.2020 - 01.2021
Certificate III - Commercial cookery
Kordon Institute
Bachelor - Business Administration
Bogotá Chamber of Commerce
Certificate IV - Commercial Cookery
Kenvale College of Hospitality Cookery & Events