Native New Yorker from Washington Heights born to Dominican parents, Thais Rodriguez’s first memory with food was with her late grandfather cooking rice with butter basted eggs and devouring while watching the Yankees. Rodriguez began her culinary career at her mom’s Dominican restaurant in New Jersey. At the time, Rodriguez was taking AP Psychology courses to pursue a career in Criminal Psychology, but after the opportunity to create a dish and witness the guests’ reaction, there was no going back. After realizing that the kitchen was her home, she went on to study Pastry Arts at the French Culinary Institute in NYC.
Rodriguez landed a job at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in Miami as a Pastry cook where she trained under renowned Pastry Chef Hedy Goldsmith and James Beard Award Winning Michael Schwartz. After just eight months of working there, she was chosen to be part of the opening team for Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in Grand Cayman as the Pastry Chef.
After moving and traveling through Europe, Rodriguez moved on to the Grand Cayman Marriott as executive Pastry Chef and worked her way up to Chef de Cuisine leading the hotel’s culinary team. Rodriguez was actively involved in the concept design and creation of the first ‘Great Room’ in a resort property within the Caribbean and Latin American region, creating the now well-known Anchor & Den restaurant and its various concepts. This led to Rodriguez receiving the Rising Culinary Star Certificate in 2015.
Thais moved to Cusco, Peru, where she was the Executive Chef & B at the JW Marriott El Convento Cusco. She placed the hotel restaurant on the map by changing both outlet menus, room service menu, and the bar cocktail menu with the focus on local produce, holistic experiences, and sustainable operations. As a result of these changes, they were chosen as Peru’s 4th best restaurant in the country by Trip Advisor’s Traveler’s Choice Awards in 2016.
Rodriguez became the Senior Culinary Manager for Pure Grey, a NYC-based F&B design company owned by Marriott International. Globetrotting her way to working with other chefs within Marriott’s luxury segment brands and boutique independents, Thais played a role in everything culinary from full concept, menu and recipe development to training BOH staff within overseeing 27 F&B outlets from NYC to Mexico to Dubai.
During the pandemic, Rodriguez returned to the Cayman Islands and joined the team at Tomfoodery Kitchen as their Senior Culinary Manager, where she oversaw various hospitality consulting projects & Private Chef caterings alongside Chef & Owner Thomas Tennant. With Thomas, she helped evolve their product offerings, grow their clientele, and provide lasting business strategies, all while working with local products, building and maintaining local relationships, and pursuing sustainable initiatives on the island.
Rodriguez is now the Director of Culinary for Marriott’s Caribbean and Latin American region where she leads the development of culinary programs, tools and resources, F&B sustainability, and food safety. Supporting Marriott hotels in the region through culinary programming, leadership development, menu development and initiatives to drive quality, guest experiences and financial performance.
Passionate about sustainability and food waste reduction, Rodriguez has spoken on a panel for Tales of the Cocktail discussing how to create and maintain a true sustainable program within hotels and restaurants. Additionally, she was a guest on the Currency Exchange Podcast hosted by Lauren Paylor of FOHealth to speak about how to create sustainable practices in establishments in a post-covid world.