National Arts Centre appoints Nelson Borges as its General Manager of Food Services
Ottawa (Canada) – The National Arts Centre (NAC) is delighted to announce the appointment of Nelson Borges as its General Manager of Food Services, effective today.
Mr. Borges has more than 20 years experience in the food and hospitality business. For two years prior to his appointment to the NAC, Mr. Borges was Director of Food and Beverage at Toronto’s Sheraton Centre, an annual $35 million operation where he lead 240 employees and was responsible for two restaurants, 138,000 square feet of banquet space, as well as room service to 1,400 bedrooms. During his time at the Sheraton Centre, Mr. Borges contributed to a significant increase in revenues.
From 2006 to 2009, Mr. Borges was executive chef at The Westin Ottawa before taking on the Director of Food and Beverage position from 2009 to 2011. He also taught part-time at Algonquin College and has catered many private parties for Ottawa’s diplomatic community.
Nelson Borges will work in tandem with NAC Executive Chef John Morris, who was hired last June. With these two appointments, the NAC returns to its traditional Executive Chef/General Manager management model for its food services, a system that worked well for many years under the late Chef Kurt Waldele and Ashok Dhawan.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to re-invent the NAC’s food and beverage experience in a way that will complement its reputation for excellence in the Canadian performing arts,” said Nelson Borges. “I am proud to have been chosen to lead a talented team of professionals and I look forward to helping them make the NAC a leading dining and catering destination of choice.”
“In Nelson Borges the NAC has found a proven leader with a human touch and a tremendous business sense,” said Peter Herrndorf, CEO of the National Arts Centre. “We believe
Nelson Borges and John Morris will take the NAC’s Food and Beverage operation to the next level of success.”
The NAC Food and Beverage Department generated revenues of $7 million last year, making it one of the largest operations of its kind in Eastern Ontario. It includes le café Restaurant, a major catering operation and a number of intermission bars. Every year, the NAC hosts 800 events such as weddings and conferences, and serves more than 56,000 guests at le café.
Biography: Nelson Borges
Born in Portugal, Nelson immigrated to Canada at the young age of three. His passion for food and entertaining came from his mother who spent all of her free time cooking. His European influence and Canadian culture have been the foundation for his flavourful and regional cooking style. Nelson was raised in Leamington, a small town in southwestern Ontario with a very small population but rich in agriculture.
Nelson attended the St. Clair College’s hospitality program in Windsor, Ontario, and apprenticed at “The Other Place Restaurant” under master chef Emilio Salamone. He worked as a chef in Atlanta, Toronto, Lisbon and Windsor before making the move to Ottawa and accepting the position of sous-chef at the famous Chateau Laurier Hotel. In 2000, he accepted the position of executive chef at the Ottawa Marriott Hotel. He joined the Ottawa Westin Hotel in 2006 and the Sheraton Centre Toronto in 2011. Nelson donates numerous hours to local charities and is past president of the Ottawa-Gatineau chapter of “Les Toques Blanche International”.
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For more information, please contact:
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Carl Martin |