Four Seasons Hotel Alexandria at San Stefano, Egypt

Four Seasons Tenure

• Since 2018
• First Four Seasons Assignment: Current

Employment History

• Four Seasons Hotel Casablanca; Kempinski Saint Petersburg; Waldorf Astoria Trianon Palace Versailles; Restaurant Azimut, Courchevel, France; Auberge de la Poutre, Bonlieu, France; La Table de Stéphane, Cap d’Agde, France; Lameloise, Chagny, France; Restaurant Jean Paul Jeunet, Arbois, France; Royale Palace, Evian Led Bains, France; Eduard Hirsinger, Arbois, France; Chateau de Rigny, France; Restaurant du Casino, Niederbroon le Bains, France

Education

• BTS and BAC Hôtellerie & Restauration, Culinary Arts, Lycée Hotelier Hyacinthe Friant Poligny, France

Birthplace

• Gray, France

Languages Spoken

• French, Spanish, English

“Our aim is for our customers to travel at the table,” says Christophe Laplaza of his role shaping an array of international dining experiences as Director of Food and Beverage at Four Seasons Hotel Alexandria at San Stefano. From inspiring the front- and back-of-the-house teams at 11 outlets, to sourcing fine ingredients, and dreaming up enticing promotions to draw guests through the year, Laplaza touches every aspect of culinary programming at the Hotel and its Residences.

Key to the dining success of the seafront address is Laplaza’s strong focus on marketing. The Hotel’s customer base is primarily local, so he strives to stay on trend to ensure that guests look forward to what is coming up next. “I’m always playing with creative ways to attract new customers and to encourage our regulars to return,” he says, adding that everything is a team effort. “It’s important for our chefs to be conscious of the dishes they prepare and our waitstaff to be knowledgeable of what they serve. Guests respond to authenticity.”

The Hotel’s restaurants and lounges were conceived to transport diners primarily to Europe, but also to various regions of the Mediterranean and other corners of the globe. There is Italian cuisine at Stefano’s Restaurant, Egyptian at Shisha Lounge, international and seafood specialties at Beach Restaurant and Lounge, and Mediterranean and Asian served through the day at Blue Lounge.

Laplaza is especially excited about the Hotel’s newest offerings: Byblos serving trendy Lebanese and Syrian favourites, and easy-going Fresca Mediterranean Bistro and Lounge, which was reconceived and renovated with a sunny ambiance in 2023 to pair with flavours both familiar and less-so to guests. The two restaurants have provided a “real spark,” he says. “Both are very modern with new styles all their own. People can’t seem to wait to experience them.”

There are 220 on the food-and-beverage team, with about one-third providing Four Seasons-style service at restaurants as well as the Hotel’s banqueting operation, and the rest creating Four Seasons-level cuisine. Laplaza is very comfortable with operations because he came from a culinary background with extensive work at restaurants across France. “Whether I’m in the kitchen, on the floor, of consulting on fairy-tale weddings and other events, the important thing is that we are all going for excellence together.”

Laplaza grew up in Gray, a small village near Dijon in the Burgundy region of France. His parents worked at a local museum, where he spent a good part of his youth. Another part was spent with his grandmother in the kitchen, where she inspired him with her apple pie. “I fell for cooking immediately: The more I learned, the more I loved it.”

Surely inspired by his grandmother’s desserts, Laplaza started off making the same, following a mentor’s advice that one can’t be a good executive chef without pastry. He spent a decade and a half working his way up the management ladder, including a turn at a hotel restaurant at the Palace of Versailles that tapped celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey as a consultant.

The early focus on pastry later paid off at a five-star address in Saint Petersburg. Leading culinary programming sharpened his management skills, he recalls. “People always told me they came to the kitchen because they didn’t know what else to do. That motivated me to fire their passions.”

Having already spent five years as an executive chef, the move was a step down, but Laplaza was reassured of opportunities to step back up. He became Executive Chef in 2019 and added oversight of the Hotel’s food-and-beverage operation in 2020. The rest is football and hospitality history.

Now in the groove overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on one side and the city of Alexandria on the other, Laplaza is focusing on personal goals as well as his career. The destination has inspired him to rejigger his lifestyle for more positive work/life balance, he says, including eating healthy, participating in sports, and spending as much time as possible with his wife and young children. “This has been a great step for me to validate my objective of moving up in food and beverage.”