Sands China and M.U.S.T. Host Celebrity Chef Lan Minglu

Master of Sichuan Cuisine shares expertise with team members and students

(Macao, Dec. 11, 2020) – Sands China Ltd. recently hosted two talent development activities featuring celebrity chef Lan Minglu at The Venetian^® Macao and at M.U.S.T., geared at helping elevate the continual learning of Macao's food and beverage talent and driving Macao's further development as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.

Sands China has over 3,100 team members working in food and beverage related departments. The training initiative was one of the company's professionalism training efforts, and served as a way of facilitating interaction within the region's food and beverage industry. It had the aim of promoting the inheritance of traditional food culture and exchange among industries, while increasing the pride of practitioners and inspiring the interest of the younger generation toward culinary careers.

"Sands China is very pleased to have brought Chef Lan Minglu to Macao to share his expertise with our team members and with M.U.S.T. culinary students," said Wen Hongyan, senior vice president of human resources for Sands China Ltd. "Activities like this are part of our company's ongoing efforts to provide professionalism training to our team members and to help nurture local food and beverage talent. It is our wish that Chef Lan's visit inspired the participants of his seminar and demonstration, and that it can help support the development of culinary talent at Sands China, in Macao, and in the wider region."

For the morning activity, Sands China and Macau University of Science and Technology (M.U.S.T.) co-organised a cooking demonstration by Chef Lan at the university. He shared insights from his professional culinary career with students and professors, Sands China team members, and participants from Sands China's diversified talent development programmes. The celebrity chef demonstrated his culinary skills, making two of his signature dishes, Kung Pao Shrimp Balls and Foie Gras in Sichuan Style. He also tasted dishes cooked by some of the culinary students and offered his invaluable feedback and encouragement, and presented his culinary books as a gift.

The delegation from Sands China was warmly welcomed by Ben K. Goh, the dean of the university's Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management (F.H.T.M.); Amy Chu, vice dean of F.H.T.M.; and Brenda Yang, program director of F.H.T.M. Goh delivered a welcome speech and thanked Sands China for its continued support of F.H.T.M., expressing that he looks forward to more exchange and cooperation in the future to create more learning opportunities for students.

In the afternoon session, Chef Lan held a seminar at The Venetian Theatre, where he shared his expertise in the art of Chuan cuisine and its inheritance with Sands China team members and participants from Sands China's diversified talent development programmes. Between the two activities, more than 150 participants in total attended.

Chef Lan is considered to be one of the foremost chefs of his generation and an authority on Sichuan cuisine. Having started his career with an apprenticeship under Sichuan master chef and culinary legend Shi Zhengliang, Lan developed his masterful culinary expertise in key positions at starred-hotels in mainland China. He has won numerous awards, and was named the Master of Sichuan Cuisine in the third season of the Chinese documentary television series "A Bite of China" in 2018.

Photo caption: Celebrity chef Lan Minglu speaks to Sands China team members at The Venetian Theatre (top) and demonstrates his cooking techniques at M.U.S.T. (bottom), as part of two recent talent development activities hosted by Sands China Ltd., geared at helping elevate the continual learning of Macaos food and beverage talent and driving Macao's further development as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.