Passion. It oozes out of Garry Kindred and you can't help but get swept up by his enthusiasm for food.
The Executive Chef at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre gets visibly excited when he talks about his job running the main kitchen and 12 satellite kitchens at Broadbeach.
"Being a chef is more than liking food," he said.
"It's creating something out of nothing. Working with your hands and mind - thinking outside the box and thinking more creatively.
"The rush of the service, the camaraderie of the team, the product you produce and the feedback from the guests. They're all the rushes that I get," he said.
Garry is a perfectionist who is particular about working with clients of the Gold Coast Convention Centre.
"We pride ourselves on creating memorable moments for our guests," he said.
"The menus are always evolving depending what's on trend. If we see something we like, we grab it and see how we can work with it.
"A lot of what we offer depends on our clients. People are more educated about what they want. We like to work with clients to create what they want."
Garry joined the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre team in 2004 as the Sous Chef and has worked his way up.
His key team is made up of Sous Chefs Adam Hall and Alicia O'Brien. Together they plan and create fresh, fragrant and flavoursome dishes using more than 700 ingredients.
"We do everything from sandwiches, hot buffets and table grazing to cocktails and fine tapas and everything in between," he said.
Garry and his team particularly like the challenge of themed dinners and events. They had fun creating strawberry fields for a Beatles theme and recently created food acrobatics - launching hundreds of tiny macaroons attached to parachutes from the ceiling in one of the Centre's main halls down to convention guests below.
"If the guests are happy, I'm happy," he said.
This article was written in partnership with the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.
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