Supporting Belmond Hotels prepare for a data-driven season

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Over seven days, Bradley worked closely with the operational, culinary, purchasing and finance teams to strengthen processes, improve data integrity and ensure that both properties are fully prepared for the upcoming season.

Cap Juluca: Building Strong Foundations for Operational Visibility

At Cap Juluca, the focus was on embedding Kitchen CUT into daily kitchen operations and creating greater transparency across purchasing, inventory and food cost management. Due to the nature of the island, procurement has significant and specific challenges to overcome to ensure the guest experience isn’t compromised.

The Culinary senior team and purchasing managers completed comprehensive training covering market lists, purchase orders, goods receiving, product management and wastage tracking. The property’s primary objective is to gain greater visibility of stock movement and food waste, allowing the team to make more informed operational decisions.

A key milestone was establishing a structured process that will ensure all outlet orders are managed through Kitchen CUT before purchasing teams are introduced to the workflow.

This phased approach will provide both departments with clear visibility into product usage, stock requirements and associated costs, while strengthening collaboration between the kitchen and purchasing teams.

Significant progress was also made on product data management. Working closely with Bradley, CAP Juluca appointed a lead for the Workday-to-Kitchen CUT product relationship. Together, they identified duplicate purchase items, removed redundant purchasing data and began aligning product information with actual kitchen usage. Weight and volume measurements have been standardised as the primary units of measure, creating a more accurate and scalable foundation for future reporting.

The team also introduced Kitchen CUT’s buffet analysis functionality, enabling more effective monitoring of breakfast service costs and providing greater visibility into profitability and operational performance.

With kitchen ordering now underway and recipes being built across all outlets, Cap Juluca enters the next menu cycle with a strong operational framework and a clear roadmap for further improvements.

La Samanna Goes Live After Three-Year Project Journey

A major highlight of the trip was the successful launch of Kitchen CUT at La Samanna.

Following a lengthy onboarding process due to legal and legislative challenges, the property is now fully operational on the platform. Product data was imported, system configuration completed and comprehensive training delivered across kitchen, food and beverage, purchasing and finance teams.

Bradley worked closely with Executive Sous Chef Bertrand, and the wider team to establish products, recipes and sub-recipes, while introducing buffet analysis processes to support future cost-management initiatives.

Training sessions were also delivered to purchasing and finance stakeholders, ensuring clear ownership of the relationship between Workday and Kitchen CUT and establishing procedures for ongoing product management and data governance.

To support system alignment, Kitchen CUT has been configured in euros to match Workday. Additional development work relating to Silverware POS data conversion is now being scoped, paving the way for future integration and enhanced reporting capabilities.

With the system now live, the focus shifts to recipe creation, buffet management, purchasing alignment and future technology initiatives, including POS integration, digital recipe management and  live allergen visibility via QR-code for operational teams.

Preparing for a Successful Season Ahead

Both properties demonstrated exceptional engagement throughout the visit, with teams embracing the opportunity to strengthen processes, improve data quality and build greater visibility across their food and beverage operations.

By combining operational expertise with accurate data, both Cap Juluca and La Samanna are now well-positioned to maximise control, improve profitability and enter the next season with confidence.

Bradley Cross, Solutions Consultant at Kitchen CUT said, “It was a pleasure to finally meet in person many of the teams I’ve worked with remotely for such a long time. The engagement, commitment and hospitality shown throughout the visit were exceptional. Both properties have made significant progress and I’m confident they are in a fantastic position to have everything in place for the start of next season. While the onsite visit has finished, I’m continuing to support both teams remotely with refresher training and ongoing guidance as needed.”