Thandi Dlamini
Executive Chef & Pre-Opening Specialist
- Based
- Cape Town
- Works across
- 2 regions
- Languages
- English, Zulu, Afrikaans
- Experience
- 16 years
Eleven openings in nine years, across resorts, city hotels and a 400-cover beach club. Dlamini's value is in the ninety days nobody enjoys: equipment schedules that survive procurement, a recruitment plan that fills a brigade in a thin labour market, and a training programme that gets a room full of first-time hotel staff to a soft opening standard on a fixed date.
“An opening date is not a target. Everything else on the plan is negotiable; that is not.”
Chef Score
Scored from verified history.
Seven axes, each built from confirmed employment, scope and references — not from self-assessment. The composite is the mean of the seven, shown for comparison rather than ranking.
88
/ 100
- Culinary
- 87
- Leadership
- 95
- F&B Management
- 90
- Cost Control
- 85
- Menu Development
- 83
- Pre-Opening
- 98
- Sustainability
- 81
Expertise
What Thandi is brought in for.
Every tag here is a filter in the directory, so a business searching for exactly this work will find this profile.
Cuisines
- Modern European
- Mediterranean
- Pan-Asian
Specialities
- Pre-Opening
- Kitchen Design
- Team Management
- Training & Development
- F&B Operations
Positions
- Executive Chef
- Culinary Director
Available for
- Pre-Opening
- Executive Chef Role
- F&B Consulting
- Culinary Consulting
Locations
- Cape Town
- Dubai
- Mauritius
Services
Engage Thandi directly.
Pre-Opening Culinary Package
Concept to grand opening across seven phases, including kitchen design review, equipment schedule, recruitment and training.
from €45,000 / project
Kitchen Design Review
Flow, capacity and equipment review before the drawings are frozen — the cheapest point to fix a kitchen.
from €7,500
Opening Brigade Recruitment
Full brigade sourced, assessed and trained to soft-opening standard.
from €22,000
Career
Where the score comes from.
- 2020
PresentGroup Pre-Opening Chef
Aurora Resorts Group
Cape Town, South Africa
7 openings delivered across 3 markets
- 2016
2020Executive Sous Chef
One&Only Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa
Recognition
- 2023Hotel Opening of the YearAfrican Hospitality Awards
What we confirmed
Aurora Resorts Group
Group Pre-Opening Chef · 2020–Present
Position and project list confirmed with Group Director of Operations
One&Only Cape Town
Executive Sous Chef · 2016–2020
Employment dates confirmed with HR
Employment is confirmed with the employer directly rather than with a contact supplied by the candidate, and qualifications with the awarding institution.
Work
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