Over 12 years, Park has worked his way up the ladder in hotels from Taupo’s Wairakei Resort and Hilton Hotel to Queenstown’s Crown Plaza, Swiss-Bel resort and more recently The Rees Hotel, before moving to Dunedin and the Grand Casino.Įxecutive chef Leo Park / Photo Supplied. Park has always dreamed big-picture visions - visualising himself designing restaurants and working in hotel management. The year was 2012 and his pathway to becoming a chef began in Auckland, earning a Level 5 qualification. Not only did he aspire to become a chef, Park left Korea with his wife and two daughters to study cookery in New Zealand. This was the encouragement he needed to make a dramatic change in life. He worked at the Park Hyatt, Westin Josun in Korea for three years, meeting celebrity chefs in various situations. Much of Park’s work there involved big department stores, project managing the improvement of large food court and entertainment areas.

“I worked for a big architect company in Korea for around 20 years (until) there was an economic crisis and it was recommended by the company that I retire early.”

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