A Swiss hospitality education provided the essential ingredients for alumnus Omar Khalil’s culinary journey
20th January, 2025

How a passion for food, a hunger for learning and a razor-sharp focus on the detail has enabled BBA graduate Omar Khalil to find his calling.
From an early age, Les Roches Crans Montana alumnus Omar Khalil has been captivated by restaurants, food and the many different, often luxurious trappings of the culinary world.
It’s an interest that has been nurtured through childhood visits to fine dining establishments, countless sessions helping his mother prepare family meals and many hours spent working in entry-level roles in commercial kitchens. There is a strong family connection with agriculture and food production too, which has also fed Omar’s passion for the industry.
Originally harboring ambitions to become a chef, Omar nevertheless opted for the all-round hospitality education offered by the BBA program at Les Roches rather than training at a high-end culinary school. It’s testament to his forward thinking and some timely advice from his father that he chose the latter. And it’s thanks to this decision – and a willingness to try different options – that Omar discovered what really makes him tick.
Sage advice
“At the outset, I really wanted to be a chef,” he explains. “I grew up in the UAE in the 1980s and 1990s when it was much less developed than it is now and I remember we used to go to Asia and Europe a lot during the holidays. There, we would visit the restaurants and I was mesmerised by the uniforms, the China, the service. Everything about restaurants fascinated me.”
When Omar moved to Canada, he worked as a commis chef in Montréal, where he would always be looking over the shoulder of the head chef to see what he was doing and where he was introduced to the glitz and glamor of celebrities dining out at the restaurant.
“When I told my father I wanted to be a chef, he advised me to keep my passion as a hobby, not as a profession. I remember him saying: ‘If you are cooking for 10 hours a day, six days a week, you’ll slowly fall out of love with it.’ That’s when I decided on a more general hospitality education.
“My father also advised me that, if I was going to enter this highly demanding industry, then I should learn from the best. From that point onwards, the choice of Les Roches was a simple one. My application was successful and I started in 1999.”

Perfect preparation
It was while at Les Roches that Omar discovered his intense thirst for knowledge about all things related to the hospitality industry.
“Having already worked in restaurants, I found the practical aspects of the program fairly straightforward,” he says. “I wasn’t really interested in the accounting or marketing courses while I was attending business school in Canada, but when they related directly to hotels and restaurants, sustainability and tourism, I was inspired to learn more.
“My professors recognized this and started to give me extra work on the side, which I believe helped immensely and really pushed me to achieve more. And I’m delighted to say I graduated with first class honours, about which I’m immensely proud.
“Aside from the academic aspect, I think my time at Les Roches helped me focus on my future career. Previously, I’d been a little bit lost, moving between part-time jobs and unsure what I really wanted. My Les Roches experience gave me a clear purpose and direction, especially thanks to the internships, which enabled me to really focus on my passions.”
Designing food moments
Fast forward more than 20 years and Omar is now General Manager of Hospitality for Al Tayer Insignia in Dubai. This role sees him overseeing a portfolio of around 40 restaurants that includes six international and home-grown brands and managing the food program for two renowned international department stores.
“It’s essentially a dual role,” he says. “On the café and restaurant side, we’re custodians of some international brands such as Caffè Nero from the UK, Magnolia Bakery from New York and Emporio Armani Caffe from Milan. I look after operational, financial, marketing and business development functions while also working with the franchisers to create growth, leasing and HR strategies.
“In the department store world, where it’s probably a lot more exciting for me thanks to my background, we operate two small cafés for Harvey Nichols and Bloomingdale’s. In a first for its kind in Dubai, I’ve introduced a rotating calendar of activations with some renowned brands such as Coach Café, Marc Jacobs, Kate Spade, Missoni, Jo Malone and Pangaia. This is essentially a platform to create food moments and menus that revolve around their product launches with a view to improving the customer experience and ultimately increasing retail sales.”
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Charting a course
Although not his first choice of career, the position reflects the journey Omar has taken since graduation, one that has seen him acquire a broad range of skills while simultaneously putting his passion for food and what he learned at Les Roches to good use.
“When I graduated, I was tempted into a role as Restaurant Manager for Beach Rotana Hotel Abu Dhabi,” he says. “I was convinced I should join the hotel world in F&B and that it was a wise career move to build a track record with a strong brand. I think within the first two weeks, I recognized what a fundamental difference there is between restaurants and hotels. Our terminology, the way we handle and analyze the business, the way we plan and take ownership. In the end, I don’t think I lasted more than six months in that role.”
From there, Omar joined a restaurant consultancy – something much more in line with his interests – where he spent the next couple of years. While it allowed him to put into practice what he had learned at Les Roches, it did not offer Omar the opportunities to excel that he was seeking.
“That’s when I heard from a Les Roches acquaintance in London, who told me about a potential opportunity with Harrods,” says Omar. “Initially, it was to learn all about the brand before exporting the concept to Dubai, but that deal never went through.”
At the time, Harrods was Europe’s second largest F&B operation with 30 restaurants under one roof. Among these were some of the growing number of retail-inspired cafes and restaurants that began being introduced in Europe around 2006.
“I ended up staying for four years and that’s where I found my niche,” adds Omar. “I became a restaurateur who understands operations and couples it with the commercial side and, in my experience, that’s a fairly rare skill.”

Recipe for success
Omar was lured back to Abu Dhabi again during the financial crisis where he worked for the government’s asset management firm developing key food and beverage sites in Abu Dhabi’s key hospitality portfolio. Following this, he went back into the Swiss hospitality education system, this time at what was then the École Hôtelière de Lausanne.
“I did my MBA there instead of Les Roches mainly because I wanted to develop a wider network of contacts,” he says. “But I often went back to my old school for social events and to stay in touch with my old teachers there, having enjoyed warm memories of my time in Bluche.”
For Omar, the hospitality education he received in Switzerland has been a significant factor in his successful career to date.
“Something that’s stayed with me since my time at Les Roches is that it’s all about the basics,” he says. “Whether it’s customer experience and the way we communicate with our teams, the way you plan for business, the way you look at the numbers. What was drilled into us was zero deviation from the standard and attention to detail. That’s really the Swiss way. It becomes your second nature, from your own personal grooming standards to what you expect of your team.
“A hospitality education in Switzerland teaches you that luxury is truly about consistency, precision and attention to detail. And I can’t tell you how important that has been throughout my career.”
Appetite for instruction
Having enjoyed all the benefits a Swiss hospitality education with Les Roches has to offer, Omar now hopes he can give something back to his former school.
“I’ve recently reached out to Les Roches in Abu Dhabi,” he says. “Teaching has always been one of my passions, so I’d love to be able to keep the connection with Les Roches going and perhaps share some of my experiences with students there. It’s early days yet and I’m still highly committed to my current role, but it would be great if I can help other hospitality students find their purpose and direction.”
As for his own future ambitions, Omar still has his sights set on pursuing his culinary dreams.
“Further ahead, I’d like to get more connected with food producers and purveyors,” he says. “That’s really where my love is. I’ve already started flirting with the idea of potentially opening up my own small restaurants focused on the products I adore. My biggest challenge being in Dubai is seasonal availability, so I’m not sure if that’s a realistic dream currently.
“What may be more viable is following up on a plan I’ve been hatching with my old Les Roches room mate to create an agri-tourism farmhouse in Italy. We’ve already started looking at some potential farms we can take over. It will take a little while to develop, but when complete, it will allow me to indulge my culinary passions and ambitions to grow my own produce and create hyper-seasonal menus in a welcoming environment.”