The untold story of Cross Group Director of Operations

This is the story of Ramneek S. Lamba , our Group Director of Operations at Cross Hotels & Resorts . His journey, all the way from India to Thailand, where he started as an Executive Chef, has been nothing short of inspiring and this is how the journey begins.

#FromDayZero

Ramneek was born and raised in Delhi, India, and that’s where his love for cooking started taking shape. From the early years of his childhood, he was taught to cook basic food so he wouldn’t have to starve when his parent was not around. Something that started out as a life skill, very quickly turned into an interest before he knew it. This budding interest in cooking further evolved when he would travel to different destinations on holiday, and would never miss a chance to visit various hotels and restaurants to explore not only their food but also other services that these places offered. And this was precisely when he first discovered his passion for the hospitality industry.

At the young age of 18, when most people around him were pursuing their degrees in engineering or medical sciences, he decided to step out of the box and pursue his degree in Bachelor of Hotel Management.

#FirstStep

At university, he had multiple opportunities to attempt his major in many front office jobs, but he chose to work at the back of the office, inside the kitchen instead “Only because of my love for cooking” he says. He stepped into the hospitality industry, carrying a suitcase full of dedication towards his work and his passion after completing training with Oberoi Hotels and Resorts. He moved from India to Thailand where he was appointed the Executive Chef of Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel, leading a team of 120 people.

#UnstoppableMan

The journey started by taking up various executive roles for the Accor properties across Thailand. There, he was mainly involved in the pre-opening procedures where his key responsibilities included designing and conceptualizing F&B outlets. Working on these things clearly gave him a rush of adrenaline and the positive results excited him to work even harder. At this point, he was unstoppable. Following this, he was working as an Executive Assistant Manager-F&B for InterContinental Hotels Group, followed by Executive Assistant Manager for Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort, Pattaya, where his experience and talent, were able to reach new heights.

#Passionate #Evolution

After years of hard work and dedication towards his passion, Ramneek is now at Cross Hotels & Resorts as the Group Director of Operations managing all our hotel brands consisting of 28 hotels in total. His more than two decades of invaluable experience ranges from inside the kitchen to planning the pre-opening processes to maintaining good relationships with the General Managers with a mantra of “ Don’t stop evolving”. He believes in bringing up technological advancements, along with differentiated products and services to gain a competitive advantage over our competitors.?

For everything that he strives to do and achieve, he works with great passion and the same energy that he brought to the table when he first discovered his love for cooking.