Christian GradnitzerJumeirah Group has appointed Chef Christian Gradnitzer as the Corporate Culinary Director of the recently launched Restaurants and Bars division (RnB). In this role, Christian is responsible for the future development of the culinary offering and innovation of the global luxury brand’s food and beverage portfolio. Christian’s career started in his native Austria and nearby Switzerland which prepared him for subsequent roles in London as Junior Sous Chef at The Dorchester Hotel and later Chef de Partie for Cunard Cruise Lines. In 2000 Chef Gradnitzer joined Jumeirah Group and the team of Burj Al Arab as Sous Chef. He soon became the Chef de Cuisine and progressed to Executive Sous Chef of the world’s most luxurious hotel where he supervised the operations of 175 chefs and 60 stewards. In 2006 Chef Gradnitzer became Executive Chef for Jumeirah Essex House in New York before returning to Dubai to serve as Executive Chef at Jumeirah Emirates Towers. He was appointed to Madinat Jumeirah in 2009 to operate the resort’s culinary and stewarding operation. This led to his promotion as Resort Executive Chef of Madinat Jumeirah where he managed outside catering requests, the Conference and Incentive culinary team and Jumeirah restaurants housed in Al Qasr, Mina A’ Salam and the Souk at Madinat Jumeirah . As Corporate Culinary Director, Chef Gradnitzer will be part of the core team responsible for driving the RnB division forward. The aim is to create and operate highly desirable restaurants and bars in order to maximise revenues and establish the Jumeirah Group internationally as a leading operator of successful food and beverage venues.