Four Seasons Resort Seychelles at Desroches Island

Four Seasons Tenure

• Since 2022
• First Four Seasons Assignment: current

Employment History

• IHG Hotels & Resorts; St. Regis Hotels & Resorts; The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

Education

• Bachelor of Business Administration: Food Business Management and Culinary Arts/Chef Training, Centro Culinario Ambrosia

Birthplace

• Mexico City, Mexico

Languages Spoken

• English, Spanish

Cooking has been synonymous with happiness for Chef Carlos Rodriguez since before he was tall enough to reach the kitchen counter.

His parents met while working in the restaurant where his grandfather cooked alongside his grandmother. As a child, his family came together every week for Sunday supper and young Carlos helped his father prepare pasta from the moment he was old enough. Today, after a lifetime of experience, he brings those same values of joy and togetherness through food to Four Seasons Resort Seychelles and Four Seasons Resort Seychelles at Desroches Island.

Carlos continued to grow his cooking schools through high school, often preparing meals for dates. Later, in a male-only military school, he learned how to hold himself as a gentleman with manners and dignity. When his father swapped the kitchen for medicine, Carlos was encouraged to do the same but he was passionate about becoming a chef. With his mother’s encouragement, Carlos followed his heart.

“If you want to be the best, you should learn from the best,” was the advice of his father - and that’s exactly what Carlos did.

While at culinary school in Mexico City, Carlos began working in hotel kitchens and knew immediately he had found his place. After working with Sheraton and Marriott, he was hired as chef de cuisine at The Club Grill Five-Diamond restaurant of Ritz-Carlton Cancún in 2008. It was here he fell for the concept of combining cooking, plating, and service into a complete luxury experience.

Seeking to expand his horizons and push his comfort zone, Chef Carlos joined the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain in 2012. In this hotel's busy kitchens, he developed skills in cuisines from steak to sushi before rising to executive sous chef in 2015. Over the following three years, Chef Carlos became an integral part of the brand’s catering and resort opening team across the Middle East.

In 2018, at the age of 40, he earned his first executive chef position at the St. Regis Dubai.

Joining Four Seasons Resort Seychelles and Four Seasons Resort Seychelles at Desroches Island at the start of 2022, Chef Carlos has seized an opportunity to continue the work he loves in a destination perfect for enjoying life to the full with his wife Ilianil, who he met in 2004 while opening the W resort in Mexico, and two daughters Regina and Romina.

“I’m enjoying hiking, windsurfing, and diving around these paradise islands and my heart is filled with joy that all the hard work and commitment I have given up to this point has allowed me to share my passion for making people happy through food with my incredible family who I love so much,” says Chef Carlos.

At Four Seasons Resort Seychelles and Four Seasons Resort Seychelles at Desroches, Chef Carlos brings his vast experience from luxury hospitality around the world and his skill for adapting to new cuisines and innovating recipes to help strengthen the restaurant concepts and evolve the menus of both hotels.