Todd Rogers, Executive Chef, Sea Island (Ga.) Resorts

For the past seven years, Executive Chef Todd Rogers has been at the helm of Sea Island Resort’s food operations, which now include four dining venues at the property’s famed grand hotel, The Cloister, as well as two world-class restaurants at the Lodge at Sea Island. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who previously worked at Ritz-Carlton properties and at The Nemacolin Woodlands Resort &?Spa, Rogers has advanced Sea Island’s award-winning distinction, with The Georgian Room at The Cloister being selected as a Best New Restaurant by Esquire magazine in 2006, and The Lodge being rated “#1 for Top Dining” by the Zagat Survey, in 2004 through 2006.

Rogers will draw on his experience directing the resort’s 13-outlet, 180-person culinary operation, which requires 17 kitchens totaling 40,000 sq. ft. and includes a 24-hour pastry operation, butcher shop and a general commissary, to cover design-related areas that will include:

• How chefs should get involved- before, during and after- with major renovation or new construction projects
• Kitchen design/layout for maximum functionality
• Optimal kitchen design: a la carte, banquet, satellite
• Making the best equipment buys
• “Chef’s table” setups (in the kitchen and elsewhere) – what to serve, how to market, how to price, what special touches to include