Christmas has come early for a Mount Gambier eatery as they recently welcomed a world renowned chef to their team.
After a two and a half year process, Chef Ginaminda “Gina” Wimalasinghe started as a pastry chef at Metro Bakery and Café late last month.
Chef Gina brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience with over 25 years in the pastry industry which has taken him to 13 countries including Sweden, Switzerland, London and India.
Notably, Chef Gina made desserts for the famous Ambani wedding in India earlier this year which turned heads across the globe for its estimated eyewatering $600m price tag.
Chef Gina moved to Mount Gambier from Sri Lanka and prior to that was in charge of a team of around 150 employees for 13 years in Kuwait in the Middle East.
Chef Gina said he is extremely grateful for the support from Metro Bakery and Cafe owner Toni Vorenas and staff and the Mount Gambier community.
“I wanted to avoid the hustle and bustle of cities … so here is good, I just walk around (and everything is) within five minutes, I like this lifestyle,” he said.
“I told Toni that if I am lucky enough to stay in Australia for the rest of my life, I will stay here (in Mount Gambier).
“I have already introduced a couple of things including a Christmas special.”
Ms Vorenas said Chef Gina’s arrival was “definitely worth the wait”.
“It is a very long time and it is an unusually long time but there were queues, there were changes of government, there were changes of law and legislation so all of that meant extended wait times,” she said.
“It is a big change for chef considering where he was working and the huge team he was working to a small bakery in a regional town where we are rebuilding our team.”
Ms Vorenas said as per the labour market testing guidelines, she had to advertise the position for 30 days across four national publications which showed there was no suitable applicants available in Australia.
“I think with COVID, it pushed a lot of people out of the hospitality industry, particularly chefs,” she said.
“The industry is struggling for staff but I think that’s across a number of industries because I hear that from a lot of business people across different industries.”
Currently there are over 55 jobs in hospitality advertised for Mount Gambier on job search engine Jora.
