With a Royal Resorts career spanning almost 20 years, Pablo Chuc, The Royal Sands Restaurant Manager is a familiar face for many members.
Originally from the village of Sucila in neighboring Yucatan, Pablo moved to Cancun in 1991 and joined Royal Resorts in 1993. His first position was bartender at The Royal Mayan and he soon worked his way up the ranks in Food and Beverages as a waiter, staff trainer at the new Cayo Largo Restaurant in The Royal Islander, head waiter at Tradewinds and then in 2002 as Restaurant Manager at Cayo Largo.
After four years at The Royal Islander he was promoted to the post of Restaurant Manager at The Royal Sands where he has been ever since.
Pablo manages a team of 177 staff in the resort’s restaurants and bars and shares the responsibility for running the kitchen with the chef. He says, “We recently recruited a new chef and he is bringing fresh ideas, creativity and enthusiasm on board. Together we are redesigning the lunch and dinner menus and the goal is to unveil them before the year is out. I hope that our members will like the new dishes we are incorporating and of course they will still find many of their all-time favorites. There will also be an Eating Healthy section with vegetarian and low calorie options and even before we launch our new menus, we are going to offer a Juice Bar for the breakfast buffet. Diners will be able to select their own combination of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs and have them blended to order.
Pablo has a love of gardening and the land and has a 40-hectare ranch in Yucatan that he has reforested with thousands of native trees such as cedar, guayacan and ciricote. He made the Chef’s Garden project at The Royal Sands his own and has plans to extend the plot next to La Veranda with the chef in order to grow more herbs and vegetables. Right now all the basil, chives and mint used in La Veranda is picked fresh from the Chef’s Garden.
The changes will be wide-ranging, Pablo says, “Sidelines Bar will soon be renovated to include a larger kitchen. This will give us more scope to offer a more elaborate menu and members should watch this space as we will have plenty of mouthwatering surprises in store for them.” He adds, “We are also opening a new Beach Bar below the terrace in Phase II and I’m sure that it is going to be very popular with members and guests.”
Throughout the year, the Restaurant Division has been focusing on staff training and The Royal Sands is no exception. Pablo says, “Training has been constant and has included a diploma course on wines, Portuguese classes, food allergy seminars and most importantly the implementation of Four Diamond standards in customer service. The Restaurant Managers from all the resorts have participated in the creation of the training manual and we are ready to put it into practice, with our hallmark hospitality of course. By the end of the year, our guests should begin to notice the difference.”
Since the REFINE All-Inclusive program was introduced at The Royal Sands 34 new employees have been hired and are being trained. Pablo notes, “It takes time to train new recruits to our high standards and make sure that they understand how important the “Royal” treatment is. However, we are getting there.”
Pablo says, “Many members know me from the days when I was at The Royal Islander and its sister resorts and there isn’t a week that goes by without one or two visits from people who come to La Veranda to say hello. I love it when they do; after all they are the reason we are still here today. I like to think that we have grown together.”
On the subject of Royal Resorts Pablo adds, “To me Royal Resorts has been like a second home, it has nurtured, educated and helped me to improve, always encouraging me to aim higher every day.”
