Our team of experts

Education of the future carriers of the development of the croatian gastronomy and oenology follows current world developments and trends. One of the key predefined characteristics is excellence in every segment of studying, which will result in educating top-quality staff which, immediately after finishing the study program, would have knowledge and skills that meet the highest world standards in gastronomy.

Through modern education students actively work, practice and learn from many reputable chefs, among which are: Andrej Barbieri, Deniz Galić, Dino Galvagno, Antun Nišević, Branko Ognjenović, Zdravko Perić, Braco Sanjin, Zdravko Tomšić, Deniz Zembo, Hrvoje Zirojević and Vincenzo Guarino (the holder of the Michelin star). Students will have the opportunity to participate in their seminars and workshops, and the knowledge and skills they acquire will be applied in modernly equipped kitchens, while they will be able to get special experience of learning about the croatian and world gastro-oenology offer through the field work.

Furthermore, students will learn from the award-winning sommeliers like Siniša Koceić, barman Jure Vojković, bartenders Tomislav Mrdeža and Tonći Drlje, who will introduce them to the current trends in serving beverages. Moreover, world experts in gastronomy, such as the founder and editor of the american magazine Gastronomica Darre Goldstein and many others, will participate as guest lecturers.

Andrej Barbieri

• Top chef, Andrej Barbieri, was born in Zagreb, and after spending his childhood years in Lovran, at a very early age he went to Italy, where he opened a multimedia bar
• He became close with the gastronomic philosophy of the slow food movement, and since 1999 he has been fully dedicated to cookery.
• He managed a number of restaurants all over the world: on Sicily, Sardinia, Crete, in Spain, etc.
• Today he runs the kitchen of a famous restaurant in Opatija, Bevanda, the fourth best restaurant according to the choice of Dobra Hrana – the Chef and co-owner of the bistro Conca d’oro in Rijeka
• Jury member of the culinary show “MasterChef”

– Jury member of the culinary show “MasterChef”

Tonči Drlje

• Specialist waiter by profession, with additional education at the Faculty of Philosophy as a VET teacher
• He completed courses for sommeliers, bartenders, baristas
• He worked as a famous and esteemed F&B manager, as well as the manager in restaurants and hotels, namely: Hotel Park Split, ACI Marina Opatija, Peter Deilmann Cruises, M/S Donauprinzessin, M/S Vistamar, Hotel & Restaurant Promenade, Aqua Solis, Restaurant & Catering Arkada

Denis Galić

• He gained many years of experience in the hotel industry working as a hotel general manager, consultant, corporate food and beverage manager, food and beverage manager, purchase and sales manager, and an executive chef in five-star hotels.
• He developed passion for gastronomy through business and study experience in Italy, Indonesia (Bali, Bandung, Jakarta), South Africa, America, Slovenia and Croatia
• He gained his Master’s degree in Gastronomy in Italy, where he finished a study program for a MasterChef in the high Italian cuisine and a level 2 sommelier. In order to get professional training in the hotel industry, he graduated in entrepreneurial management, and he fulfilled his love and passion in the culinary school Le Cordon Blue in Pasadena, where he completed professional training for chefs.
• He is a certified HACCP lecturer and sommelier with a Croatian diploma. In addition to his regular job as a consultant, he has frequently worked as a guest lecturer – trainer at several business schools, hotels and education centres in Croatia and abroad.

Nikola Eterović

• Nikola Eterović is the head chef of the oldest hotel in Split, Hotel Park, which boasts five stars.
• He gained experience in Europe, mainly cooking in Austria and Germany for business professionals, while remaining loyal to his native Dalmatia.
• He has also prepared culinary delicacies for numerous domestic and international celebrities.

Darra Goldstein

• Professor of Gastronomy at the University of Melbourne (Food Studies).
• She is the author and editor of numerous books, scientific and professional articles, magazines, and websites focused on food culture and gastronomy, such as Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, Graphic Design in the Mechanical Age and Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, Culinary Cultures of Europe: Identity, Diversity, and Dialogue, and Russian Life magazine.
• She actively works as a consultant on several international projects, including the European Union Northern Dimension initiative and AgVANTAGE/USAID project on Georgian agriculture.

Dino Galvagno

• Famous Croatian chef with rich professional experience
• He studied and worked in Croatia, Germany and Italy
• He is the owner of the restaurant ‘Prasac’
• He opened and managed several restaurants in Croatia, and he is known in the general public as a judge in several season of the culinary show “MasterChef”

Vincenzo Guarino

• A famous Italian chef, Vincenzo Guarino holds a prestigious Michelin star as a renowned international chef.
• He studied at the State Professional Institute for Hotel Services and Catering of Roccaraso (Aquila) in Italy and has worked in several Michelin-starred restaurants as an Executive Chef.
• He participates in numerous international competitions and gastronomic events such as Gastronomy Week in Moscow, Italian Cuisine World Summit Dubai, and Gastronomy Week in London.
• Currently, he is employed at Castello di Spaltenna, an Exclusive Tuscan Resort & SPA, as Executive Chef of the Il Pievano restaurant.

Marija Gudelj

• Marija Gudelj is the only Croatian pastry chef with the prestigious French diploma from L’École de Boulangerie/Pâtisserie de Paris, where she earned the title of CAP Pâtissier (a nationally recognized pastry qualification in France).
• She gained extensive experience working in prestigious Parisian patisseries, including La Grande Épicerie de Paris, La Maison Kayser, Le Grand Bistro Maillot St Ferdinand, and La Maison du Chou.
• She is the owner and manager of Miss Délice, a pastry shop in Zagreb.

Siniša Koceić

• Siniša Koceić is the commissioner of the management board at the Croatian Sommelier Club in Dalmatia
• He completed level 2 course for sommeliers at the Croatian Sommelier Club.
• He is the holder of the following licences: Basic program at the Wine Academy; Diploma by Mercuri International for “Professional sales skills for sales representatives”; Certificate by the ASP Consulting Group “Influencing skills in sales”
• He worked as a key account manager in Agrokor wines and the head of regional sales in various wine distributions.
• He is an expert in professional sommelier training of restaurant staff and mentor in lifelong learning training programs in the area of managing food and beverage departments

Michael Noß

• A well-known German chef, currently the Executive Chef at Leonardo Hotels.
• After completing culinary school in 1993, he worked in the German army as a Commis de Cuisine.
• He continued his career gaining experience at Ramada and Hilton hotels.
• In 1998, Michael moved to Ireland, where he worked as a Chef de Partie in various hotels and restaurants.
• In 2000, he returned to Germany, starting as a Tournant and Sous Chef at the Holiday Inn Hotel Neuss.
• After a 16-year career at the Holiday Inn Neuss, Michael became the Executive Chef at Leonardo Hotels, working at Holiday Inn Düsseldorf Airport – Ratingen.

Branko Ognjenović

• Finished Catering School in Zagreb, after which he worked in Hotel Dubrovnik in Zagreb, Gradski podrum, Hotel Esplanada, Interkontinental, restaurant Tiffani and Hotel Arcote
• From 1985 to 2002 he worked in Vienna, where he managed his own two restaurants. Having returned to Zagreb, in the period until 2010, he worked as the chef in the kitchen of the company Emporion Ugostiteljstvo and in the restaurant Bon Appetite
• He has won a number of prizes in various domestic and international culinary competitions – In his career he had the opportunity to cook for all the three Croatian presidents, for the Croatian Embassy and a number of world-famous personalities.

Ivan Pažanin

• A renowned Croatian chef who impressed viewers and fellow chefs with his unforgettable sharp yet professional comments on the TV cooking show 3, 2, 1, cook.
  He gained important experience and skills on elite mega-yachts and in renowned Croatian restaurants such as Don Dino, Passarola, Kadena, Luxor, Marina on Palmižana, Griblja, Galija, and Hotel Diocletian.

Zdravko Perić

• He gained his first experiences in German restaurants, in which he soon was promoted and given the title of Chef de Partie. After seven years of working as Chef de Partie and managing restaurants in famous hotels of the German city Nürnberg, he decided to continue his career in the USA, where he advanced from a Sous Chef to an Executive Chef in a prestigious hotel The Plaza in Las Vegas.
• At the prestigious culinary academy Le Cordon Bleu in Arizona he earned a diploma in Culinary Arts – He worked as an Executive Chef in the following hotels: Grand Villa Argentina in Dubrovnik, Kempinski Hotel Adriatic in Istria, Hotel Croatia in Cavtat, and many others
• He currently works as food and beverage manager in Le Meridien Lav hotel in Split.

Braco Sanjin

• He was born in Rijeka and when he moved to Split he took over the kitchen in the restaurant Kadena.
• Chef Braco Sanjin, a specialist in Mediterranean cuisine, gained international experience of five years working in Madonna di Campiglio in the hotel Ariston, of which he was the kitchen chef for three years and one of the founders of the Union of Mediterranean and European Regions
• In 2002,on the gastro scene in Split, he became the first serious promotor of the Istrian truffle and the advocate of the slow food movement in Dalmatia
• He managed seven restaurants from Istria to Dalmatia, in which he set very high standards and which have been operating successfully.

Zdravko Tomšić

• Renowned Croatian chef with years of experience
• He started his career in the hotel Ambassador, after which he spent eight years working as the kitchen chef in the restauran
• He opened his own hotel and restaurant Draga di Lovrana, which was included in the most famous European restaurant guides.

Jure Vojković

• The best Croatian barman, innovator of over 130 cocktails
• After finishing Catering School he did a course in carving and decorating fruits and vegetables in Switzerlan
• On Cuba he finished master training course in making cocktails.
• He competed in regional, state and world tournaments. He won a number of international honours and awards
• This year he represents Croatia as the best Croatian barman in the world competition of the top 70 world barmen in Tokyo.

Hrvoje Zirojević

• Croatian award-winning chef who passionately creates new dishes and presents them in the restaurant Laganini in Hvar.
• He began his career in top restaurants in the 90s in ACI in Split, and before taking the present job as chef and manager of the exclusive restaurant Laganini in Hvar, he worked and trained in the restaurant Stari mornar, the fish restaurant Boban, Noštromo, the restaurants Giaxa and Passaroli in Hvar, and he spent some time working as a chef on luxurious boats.
• He has won a number of recognitions in the international culinary competitions.