At the Cayuga Collection, we work with local talent only and in order to keep up with the expectations of our guests, we need to continuously invest in training.  Especially in culinary training.

Last week, we brought together the culinary teams from the different Cayuga Collection Hotels in Costa Rica at Arenas del Mar in Manuel Antonio for an intense week of pastry training. 

Chefs Monica Phillips and Laura Orozco from Crème Caramel trained 14 of our local chefs and even a few waiters and participants from other departments. 

Many of our smaller hotels like Aguas Claras, Kura and Pasha don’t have dedicated pastry chefs so this was a great opportunity to learn and “up” the level of desserts at those hotels.  The areas covered were general pastry techniques, product knowledge, some theory, and last but not least “chocolateries”. 

While the first days were filled with theory, techniques, and prep work, on the last day, the team was encouraged to get creative and come up with their own desserts.  And the management and concierge team at Arenas del Mar had to sample all of those desserts.  What a tough job.

Everybody received a diploma for their participation and Chef Monica even invited some of the Cayuga chefs for further training at Creme Caramel in San Jose.

The next pastry master class will take place at Cayuga Collection’s Senda Hotel in Monteverde in September and in August we will have another training session at Arenas del Mar with a focus on vegan pastry, which is in high demand among our guests.  Stay tuned…