"Going beyond": HoReCa Masters by Kurator event gathered restaurant industry leaders to search for new meanings

On April 23, the MHP Culinary Center hosted HoReCa Masters by Kurator — an event that brought together leading experts in the hospitality industry to jointly seek extraordinary solutions for the restaurant business, reports UNN.

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This time, the event was held under the slogan "Going beyond: extraordinary solutions from chefs and restaurant owners", and each of the speakers really demonstrated how creativity, a deep understanding of processes and honesty to oneself and the guest change the rules of the game.

HoReCa Masters by Kurator became a space for exchanging ideas, practices and insights: lectures, master classes, case presentations, new tastes, personal stories — all in an atmosphere of open networking and live dialogue between chefs, restaurateurs and entrepreneurs.

The main messages of the event were voiced by iconic speakers in the industry: Illya Demkovskyi, brand chef of the MHP Culinary Center, and Olena Braichenko, gastronomic researcher, presented the "Taste Through Time" project, which aims to formulate the principles of new Ukrainian cuisine based on authentic taste, modern techniques and rethinking gastronomic heritage.

Volodymyr Obraztsov, Chief Operating Officer of NOVELLA Group, spoke about the change in thinking in the restaurant business: success does not start in the kitchen, but with the team, processes and a new mindset.

Natalia Polyanska, owner of the recruitment agency p2p, focused on approaches to finding and adapting staff: where to look, how to attract and not "break" newcomers in the first months.

Alona Basetska, Olena Zhygun, co-founders of Fiji Group, and Sanella Babovich, brand chef of the same chain, shared their "restaurant mantras", where everything starts with taste — and continues with the energy that the team carries into the hall.

Yevhen Luzan, co-founder of FACE the Service, revealed the theme of a unique gastronomic experience as a tool for WOW-service.

Vitaliy Koshloshyts, a professional pizza maker and artisan baker, immersed the participants in the world of baking and technologies that allow combining the incompatible, rationalizing costs and improving quality.

Vadym Bzhezynskyi, brand chef of the Novella, Biblioteka chain, spoke about how a chef can create his own brand: from internships and content to an honest voice on social networks.

Oleksandr Yourz, founder of Yourz Space Bistro, Yourz Asia Bar and Yourz Galaxy Ice Cream, outlined the values of the Yourz Label team and revealed the secret of how to work with pleasure and results without losing yourself.

In addition to the informative part, the invited speakers also prepared their own dishes during the event, paying special attention to the topic of industrially processed products. They noted their advantages for professional cuisine — in particular, stable quality, reduction of production losses, optimization of preparation time and the ability to scale recipes without losing taste.

In the context of constant changes and high workload in the kitchen, this ensures significant operational efficiency.

Also at this event was the final of the first HoReCa Masters Cup – a competition for young talents. In the third stage of the competition, four finalists took part directly in the HoReCa Masters by Kurator, who created original dishes from the same set of ingredients.

A prerequisite was the use of an industrially processed product from the Kurator brand — this added a technological challenge and brought the competition closer to the realities of modern cuisine. The winner was Anna Romanenko, who impressed the jury with the taste, concept and execution of the dish.

HoReCa Masters by Kurator is not just an event, but a platform for the development of the Ukrainian gastronomic scene. It brings together like-minded people who are ready to transform approaches, expand the boundaries of the standard and move forward together