Exclusive Interview with the Newly Elected President of the Pattaya’s Chef Association

Pattaya Times sat down with Mr. Surasak Punklaub the newly elected President of the Pattaya’s Chef Association where he told us his plans to improve the quality of skilled chefs in Pattaya. With experience as a chef both domestically and internationally over 20 years mixing with creative minds and always developing new ways to improve the food service business, it is easy to see why Mr. Surasak Punklaub was chosen to be the President of the Pattaya’s Chef Association.

Mr. Surasak is also the head chef at the boatshaped hotel, the A-One Royal Cruise Hotel.  As a new president of the Pattaya’s Chef Association, Mr. Surasak is planning to “hold a ten-course training course for the chefs in Pattaya and Eastern Seaboard where he will teach them useful skills such as how to choose the best raw materials, how to present food on a plate so that it looks  appetizing and how to offer service like a professional.”

Mr. Surasak said, “As a President I am going to start doing projects that have not been done before by the Pattaya’s Chef Association such as creating a magazine and a website. I want the magazine and website to be the place where we can connect with our members and try to get more hotels to join up, plus release our news and reports. I am going to increase the benefts to our members and organize more events for the members as well as help out the community. In addition, I am going to hold events that will improve tourism in Pattaya as well. I will represent Pattaya and the Eastern region to connect with the Chefs association in other provinces. My aim is to increase the standards of food and at the same time strengthen our food service quality. I want us to stand out, be better known to customers and make Thai food go even more international.”

With a day time job at a busy hotel in Pattaya like A-One Royal Cruise Hotel, Mr. Surasak guarantees that he will not let his new position get in the way of his current job.

“I have a great boss, Mr. Somchai Rattanasopas, Managing Director of A-One Royal Cruise Hotel. He allows us to think for ourselves and is always encouraging us to fnd ways to improve our work. He strongly supports my position as the president of the Pattaya’s Chef Association. It is a non paying job that I must sacrifce my own time to do. I believe that I can make a difference to the chef community without it affecting my day time job at all," said Mr. Surasak.

Not only does Mr. Surasak want to improve the quality of the chefs in Pattaya, he is also aiming at improving the overall tourism standard.

Mr. Surasak said, “There is a strong link between tourism and the food service industry. When we think of travelling somewhere, we think of frst of where we are going to stay and where are the good places to eat. Hotels compete with each other to have the best facilities while restaurants compete to have the best quality food and excellent service. Chefs in the past would just stay in the kitchen and cook but now chefs are coming out and talking to the guests as well. Getting feedback from the customers right away is good because we can use that to improve ourselves and our business. If customers see that we care about them they will be willing to come back which can make Pattaya become more popular.”

Mr. Surasak also to revealed us his plans for this year’s upcoming food and beverage exhibitions and events.

“The previous food and beverage exhibitions that we held in the past four years have all been very successful. This year I am planning on making it even bigger. We will have the exhibition in a place that can hold more guests. There will be more booths offering a variety of food and other services.

The previous cooking competitions consisted of chefs from just Pattaya, but this year I will invite chefs from all over Thailand as well as overseas to compete. It will be international event,” Mr. Surasak confdently said.  “With the contestants coming from all over the world, the competition will be even more challenging and the chefs will want to develop themselves to win,” added Mr. Surasak.

Mr. Surasak shared with us a few tips about how to succeed in a competitive world, he said, “To be the best in something, the food industry for example, you have to constantly be changing and adapting to the new environment to satisfy the customer; whether it’s the promotional campaign you use, the product you sell, or the even the price. Take the A-One Royal Cruise Hotel Pattaya for example, we offer high quality food that is equivalent to that of fve-star hotels but at a cheaper and affordable price. At the A-One Royal Cruise Hotel we are regularly modifying ourselves to keep up with the constantly changing world. At the moment we are the only hotel in the Eastern seaboard with a Halal restaurant that has been approved by The Halal Standard Institute of Thailand.”

Mr. Surasak Punklaub will be the president of the Pattaya’s Chef Association for two years and we with his experience and abilities, he will develop the quality of the chefs in Pattaya to of a high international standard and overall improve Pattaya's tourism.