Expertise and intense passion for the hospitality industry are just some of the driving forces behind Redmako trainer Ali Orchard, who since the age of 21 was already managing several restaurants, cafés and nightclubs in and around Brisbane.
Since entering hospitality at the tender age of 16 and completing her Diploma of Hospitality Management at South Bank TAFE in 2002, Ali has climbed her way up the ladder and through the ranks successfully, indeed making a name for herself as an industry influencer.
Ali’s extraordinary career, which has seen her featured in numerous articles for Gourmet Traveller, The Courier Mail and The Queensland Times, was motivated by an apprenticeship she undertook at a brewery in Brisbane City, where she learnt to master the integration of traditional brewing methods with cookery.
Her knowledge gave way to limitless opportunities and she soon found herself at two Brisbane craft beer venues as their executive chef, where she took a positive advantage to explore more with brewing; it was there that her creative flair gained media attention from newspapers and online publications, and she could share her experimentations with the broader public.
Ali’s imaginative combinations between beer and food (smoking whole trout over fresh hops flowers and using liquid wort to glaze lamb ribs as just one example) proved popular and she soon began selling out beer and food matching events at the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne Good Beer Weeks since 2013.
She has explained previously that her approach to food and beer integration is taken element by element – the best beers on the market are torn apart with each ingredient evaluated to work out how to use in food, and she relishes in that there are no rules to experimentation.
Her crafty culinary skills landed her a place on the Good Food and Wine stage at the Ekka in 2015, and Ali’s expert insights into innovative partnerships between food and drink landed her a food writing job for Brew News and guest segments on ABC talkback radio.
Since moving into consulting, venue fit-outs, design assistance and drafting in 2014, Ali has seen the growth of some of Queensland’s most impressive breweries and bars, including Fortitude Brewing Company, Bacchus Brewing Company, 4 Hearts Brewing Company, Lester and Earl, Tipplers Tap, The Oxford Taphouse, The Mill on Constance, Tomahawk Bar and Backbone Bar.
Today she continues her astonishing career not only as an industry leader in consulting and building design, but as a hospitality trainer with Redmako Learning, passing on her incredible wealth of knowledge to all those who want to succeed in hospitality and attain lucrative and rewarding careers.
According to Redmako Training Manager Andrew Schlaer, who has worked on both a state and national level, Ali sets a benchmark for others to aspire to with her ability to inspire and motivate not only trainees, but other students.
“She has demonstrated in depth knowledge of the hospitality industry, and it’s reflected in her consistent and professional facilitation methods to which other trainers and assessors learn from,” he says.
Ali’s commitment to a strong work ethic along with an enriching curiosity about unusual flavour combinations between food and beer has led her to share her expertise with others and ensure that the restaurants, cafés, bars and breweries she helps build have quality trained staff to keep the industry thriving.
With Ali as a Redmako trainer, you can be assured to gain exceptional knowledge in your own journey to hospitality ingenuity through her professionalism, innovative practices and inspiration.