Managers, supervisors, receptionists, line cooks, waiters and waitresses
Dining Concepts

Maximising on the tourism boom in Hong Kong, Dining Concepts is opening a new Italian restaurant in Central as part of a steady expansion this year, and is hiring across the board.

The 5,500 square foot restaurant with a 2,500 sq ft terrace will open under a licence agreement with celebrity chef Mario Batali, who has 25 outlets in the United States. The restaurant will start serving the public in the last week of March and will host its grand opening on 12 April, when Batali visits Hong Kong.

"With four restaurants opening this year, I'll be looking for 200 to 250 staff," says Dining Concepts managing director Sandeep Sekhri. "We need managers, supervisors, receptionists, waiters and waitresses. We already have chefs, as the celebrity chef is sending his own team, but the vacancies for line cooks are still open."

While four members of Sekhri's team are now in Las Vegas training with Batali, a five-member training team - three to administer front-of-house training and two for the kitchen - will come to Hong Kong from Batali's stable to provide staff with a one to two month-long training.

"Batali runs some of the most successful restaurants in the US. We hope to give everyone a vision of Mario Batali and how he likes to handle business," Sekhri says, adding that this is a great opportunity for staff to learn from the best and brightest in the industry.

Dining Concepts strongly supports its staff's career development, he adds. And with four restaurants opening this year, the opportunities for promotion are plentiful. About 30 per cent to

40 per cent of the staff at the new restaurant will take up their positions via promotion transfers.

This means that those who are promoted will also need replacing, creating plenty of job opportunities with the company.