Nimish Bhatia

Nimish Bhatia, popularly known as Chef Bhatia, is known for his expertise in food and beverages. Besides being a chef, he also works as a consultant providing valuable advice to businesses on menu development, recipe management, kitchen design, strategies for food, and beverage and operations development.

Bhatia was born on September 7. He attributes his success as a chef to his mother, who encouraged him to pursue his passion. He was a foodie since childhood itself. In his own words, he was so curious to taste different flavours that during a family trip to Kashmir, he was the only one to order all kinds of new dishes.

He studied at Maharaja Harisingh Agri Collegiate School. The eminent chef pursued a Bachelor’s in Hotel Management at Srinivas College of Hotel Management under the Mangalore University in 1990. After completing the course, Chef Bhatia worked as a kitchen management trainee with Choice Hotels International, whereby he got exposure at kitchens in and outside the country.

Later, he joined Quality Inn Kensington Terrace, Bangalore, and then relocated to Dubai, where he oversaw airport and hospital restaurants. He then returned to join the Le Meridien Hotel in Bangalore, working as a senior sous chef. He switched to The Everest in Nepal in 1999, where he worked as an executive chef. Two years later, he joined The Fort Radisson, working for two years. While working there he also studied and taught at a hotel school affiliated with the Oxford Brookes University. After that, the chef worked in Muscat for some time.

In 2003, he became an executive chef at The Grand Hotels, Bengaluru. In 2007, Bhatia served as the regional executive chef for The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group. During his stint there, he managed the food and beverage operations of the Mumbai, Bangalore, Bekal, and Goa branches. His duties entailed managing restaurants and bars, planning the menus, cost management, and banqueting.

After working for five years, Bhatia was elevated to corporate executive chef, where he was responsible for managing eleven hotels, resorts, palaces, and other eateries. He was also involved in the planning of soon-to-be-launched hotels.

In 2015, he co-founded his own firm Nimish Bhatia Consultants, where he worked as a consultant chef. The chef assists in the developing restaurants, eateries, hotels, and cloud kitchens. He also provides training and turnkey solutions for the industry, in addition to establishing and renovating the businesses to make them successful.

The chef has the credit of introducing changes to the famous cold kebabs. He has also been a part of Foodistan, a cooking game show aired on NDTV Good Times in 2012. He has won accolades from La Chaine and IFCA. He bagged the Culinary Greatness Award 2012 by the World Chefs Society. He also secured the Culinary Leadership Award 2015 for contributing to the Gastronomic Society. He is also the member of La Chaine de Rotisseurs.