1. FREE-FLOWING PROGRAM ON BALMORAL
food+beverage
Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Winter 2014/2015 89
ith a smaller ship, Executive Chef
Alexander Saxon is able to run things
more like a hotel on Fred. Olsen
Cruise Line’s Balmoral.
“We serve a good variety of food over
a voyage,” said the chef. “We are doing
exciting new concepts. I’m not restricted
by guidelines. I can go to a market in
port and do a theme for dinner. We have
the freedom to be creative over the course
of a menu plan with special items and
themes.”
With a 32-night sailing roundtrip to
Canada/New England from Southamp-
ton, Saxon’s menu plan was drafted some
three months in advance in the form of
a gigantic Excel spreadsheet.
Working on the menu plan with the
line’s head chef back in England, Saxon
said the ship was provisioned for the
entire voyage in Southampton, with the
exception of perishables, and that he is
now buying mostly American beef.
“It’s more consistent and a good
value,” he noted. And with a more tra-
ditional, older British crowd onboard,
the cruise line can estimate consumption
patterns well.
“We feel the food costs rising, al-
though we have a good budget to play
around with, adding more expensive as
well as cheaper items,” Saxon said. “We
have to monitor the cooks and what they
are doing, but food cost is more about
what’s going to waste.”
Galley Keys
Coming off a strong U.S. Public Health
inspection performance in Boston,
Saxon noted that the inspections were
tough but were good for the industry.
“They are all about eliminating risk,”
he said.
Meanwhile, his focus, including in-
spections, is to keep the galley running
as well as possible while meeting food
cost targets.
“The key to running an efficient gal-
ley is the crew, and putting in the time
to train them and to understand the cu-
linary philosophy. I was always taught
that all the little extra efforts we make
are a big part of the final result.”
Energy consumption efforts include
paying careful attention to turning equip-
ment off when not in use.
And with all the pressure on good
inspection grades, Saxon said it was
important not to lose focus.
“It sometimes diverts our attention
away from the culinary aspects of the
job,” he explained. “It is important to be
able to balance priorities and goals be-
tween high culinary standards, public
health, training and managing crew.”
Among experimental items is a new
hand smoker, which Saxon referred to as
the smoking gun.
“We are experimenting with it … it
gives a very unique flavor to cooked
foods.”
Trek
Recruited by Royal Caribbean Inter-
national while working for a hotel in
Australia, Saxon went to sea in 2004 and
hasn’t looked back. He grew up spending
his time in the UK, Miami, the Bahamas
and Australia, and now calls the latter
home.
“I did my training in Australia in the
first Conrad Hilton, which had 12 food
and beverage outlets,” Saxon said.
“Royal offered me a position and three
months later I rang them and they sent
me a ticket, and off I went. I like the
romance of travel and became addicted
to the service. Catering for large volume
numbers is exciting.”
Starting as a sous chef onboard in
2004, Saxon said it was very similar to
a major hotel, but more challenging.
“We were serving 3,000 people a night,
it was like ‘wow,’” he recalled.
Making the transition to Fred. Olsen
a couple years later, he called the eight
weeks on/four weeks off contracts fan-
tastic.
Saxon warned, however, that some
executive chefs turn into managers and
lose focus on the food.
“Being a good chef is about being
passionate about your food,” he continued.
“I think in some bigger operations the
executive chefs are managers and they
aren’t hands-on anymore. It’s important
to keep your skills and be involved in
creating new dishes and presentations.
You also have to teach your team to ex-
ecute these dishes to a good standard.”
– Monty Mathisen
W
Chef Alexander Saxon
Mediterranean Prosciutto Rolls
Duck Rillette