A desire to satisfy the palates of every foodie who would dig their forks, spoons, or even their hands into her delectable dishes and a passion for changing peoples’ moods with a delicious meal are the reasons that have kept Rochelle Grindley committed to her career as a well-decorated chef.

Grindley is no stranger to a life in the public eye. She has used her talents to top numerous culinary competitions both locally and internationally, but quite possibly one of her most notable wins in her career is carrying the mantle of the first female executive chef for the Sandals and Beaches resorts.

Assigned to oversee the food preparation operations at Beaches, Ocho Rios, Grindley assumed her new post in December 2023. This promotion represented self-actualisation for her, as being named executive chef was her ultimate goal since she started working in the industry some 14 years ago.

“I am where I’ve always wanted to be in my career. My focus now is on doing my best in the role but also realigning my professional direction to incorporate mentorship into the mix and possibly food and beverage finance,” said Grindley.

She pointed out that her greatest goal is to help other women in the industry.

“It’s about breaking the barriers in an often male-dominated role and showing other females that it can be done and they can do it as many times as they want,” added Grindley, who was the first female executive sous chef with the company before her recent promotion.

Now, food and beverage was not a happenstance for the epicure, it was a true love affair with making her own meals, especially cooking for other food lovers, that blossomed into a career.

So much so that this love led her to subtly defy her parents’ dream of her going into the medical field. Young Grindley started by incorporating food and nutrition into her subjects chosen at Hampton School to completing a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and tourism, majoring in culinary arts, at Knox Community College and the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech).

“I am a very picky eater, so I had to learn how to make my own food or be forced to eat what was prepared. I started cooking from I was seven years old and this included baking birthday cakes for friends and family,” she shared.

Grindley took this cooking prowess from the confines of her home kitchen, catering to kith and kin, to honing her craft in school and later managing a team of cooks, chefs, and stewards in major hotels, restaurants, and also on the international competition stage.

Experiencing profound loss during her college years, Grindley left Knox and headed to the Corporate Area where she completed her culinary degree at UTech.

“After losing my father in 2006, my family decided it was more cost-effective to move to Kingston, where my older brother was, and finish school,” said Grindley.

With an impressive final GPA, she got the opportunity, through a 2008
Jamaica Observer Food Awards scholarship, to join a management training programme working with Sandals. Her first stint with the top hotel brand would begin in 2009, where she worked for a year before moving back to Kingston as a sous chef.

Her return to Kingston came with a lot of media attention, as the talented gastronome represented Jamaica in international competitions from WorldSkills to Taste of Jamaica and Taste of the Caribbean. She has been in competitions where she was the only female participating and copped top awards.

From Chef of the Year for Jamaica at WorldSkills to winning gold in the Taste of the Caribbean competition, she was a force of nature, a well-known face associated with female power in the world of culinary skills.

As her medal collection grew, Grindley also played a key role in developing franchise documents for the opening of top restaurants across Jamaica and in London, handling recipe development, menu costing, and team member training.

Her decision to step back from the spotlight was one she made following the passing of her mom in 2013. Her mother was her main support throughout all the events she participated in and would travel with her to many of the competitions. In fact, the last competition she did was at the behest of her mother, and though she believed that was her least impressive showing, she won a bronze medal, which she gave as her final farewell to her mom.

Grindley’s move from the limelight meant she wanted to be somewhere she could focus her energies more on being in the kitchen than in front of a camera.

“I did 13 interviews with 13 companies, trying to find the right one that would allow me to be creative in my space and without too much publicity.”

During the time of her making the decision, a food and beverage director from one of the Sandals resorts called and told her it was time she returned “home”.

In September 2014, Grindley decided to go back to the company where it all started. She joined the Beaches Negril family as a senior sous chef. This was the beginning of a fulfilling, record-breaking and impactful journey with the brand.

Grindley received numerous promotions and worked at various Sandals resorts across the Caribbean. She was also a part of the team that opened Sandals Royal Barbados and AC Hotel by Marriott in Kingston.

The promotion to executive chef came as no surprise to Grindley, who had been focusing a lot of her energies on training cooks, chefs, and other people who were interested in culinary arts.

“Being an executive chef was the big life goal for me and I am finally there. But I believe that to be a leader, no matter the title, it is important to bring along persons with you. I want to leave a legacy of training as many persons as possible to get to the highest level they want to get. I want to see more females being executive chefs but also more persons overall seeing their dreams being realised,” shared Grindley.

As a creative chef, Grindley says she has no favourite dish but cooks solely based on what people want and puts a twist to it to satiate their taste buds. She enjoys combining the different styles of cooking and changing up traditional ways of preparing a particular dish as often as she can.

Now that she is at the pinnacle of her own journey as a chef, Grindley hopes to bring as many people into the fold as she possibly can and then transition into the realm of finance in food and beverage where she can do more of another thing she is good at, managing money.

For Ricky Duquesnay, corporate director for food and beverage at Sandals Resorts International, “Rochelle has consistently shown grit, talent, admirable leadership skills, and a passion for her job that makes her such an amazing and inspiring chef. I am excited to have her on our team and I am even more excited to see her grow and make an even bigger impact in her new role.”