Mr Stephane Zaharia
With the dedicated and collective restoration work of its several hundred staff members, CuisinArt Golf Resort and Spa reopened for business on Tuesday, October 21. That was four days after the resort’s original scheduled reopening date following the customary slow season break, and the onslaught of Hurricane Gonzalo which shaved its stately palms and other lofty vegetation.
General Manager and Vice President, Mr Stephane Zaharia, expressed gratitude to the employees for their work, and told them about the way forward as the resort entered the 2014/2015 tourism season. “I want you to give a big round of applause to three very important departments that made this day possible for us – Landscaping, Engineering and Golf Maintenance – which were able to get this place reopened,” he stated. “So from the bottom of my heart, and the bottom of the heart of close to six hundred employees, I want to thank all of you for working so hard to make this day possible.”
Mr Zaharia paused to introduce and welcome the Labour Commissioner, Mrs Aunika Webster-Lake, who was at the reopening event. “I came specifically to welcome you back for the 2014/2015 season and to wish you all the best,” she told the staff. She assured them that they should always feel welcome to visit her department for any reason after following the proper protocol. The Labour Commissioner continued: “We are not going to turn you back. We heard a lot of good things about the CuisinArt staff and we don’t hear many complaints, and that is commendable…All the best to you again.”
In continuing his remarks, Mr Zaharia said: “We had a few challenges related to landscaping damage, power and water availability and other matters as well. I think that we have overcome all of those concerns and issues, and right now our close to six hundred employees can really focus on the customers. One thing that Gonzalo left us with is an absolutely beautiful beach which is better than ever, and I know our customers are going to be very happy to see a really white and really nice beach…”
He said that despite the state of the world’s economy and other problems, including outbreaks of disease and violence, CuisinArt was expecting a good tourism season, “with things getting better”. He disclosed that “our bookings for November and December are looking well, up to the second of January, so that’s very encouraging – and we are going to have a lot of new customers.”
Mr Zaharia also stated that the resort would soon be hosting a group of international chefs – in collaboration with other partners – providing exposure to local chefs at CuisinArt and publicity for Anguilla.
He went on: “Once again, things are starting to turn around and I encourage you to focus on your customers; your self-improvement and assisting your managers and colleagues to do better. I said that before we left on the break. This is a pivotal moment at the resort. We are in the final stages of finishing our new resort – the Reef by CuisinArt at the golf course. This is due to open in November 2016 and we have started to implement some very important decisions that would affect our opening of the Reef.”
He also spoke of the relocation of the Reservation Department and the Human Resources Department – and the combination of the security services – as plans continue for the expansion of the property. “All those changes will be extremely important to us, moving towards our expansion and growth and the additional eighty new rooms that are coming very soon to the resort,” he stated. “This is only one step. We are going to take a few other steps to ensure that there will basically be a very smooth transition.”
Mr Zaharia added: “One very important thing for me to say, today, is the fact that as we are adding eighty more rooms all of our people will have more opportunities. You will have opportunities to grow, to become team leaders, supervisors, managers and so forth. All of that depends on you; your eagerness to learn; your discipline, coming to work on time, and doing what your managers and supervisors ask you to do…This is the place to be because we are continuously growing this business.”
