CaterEssence Ltd, the food company within the Vassallo Group has announced two new senior management positions.

Raphael Cauchi has been appointed general manager (retail) responsible for all retail food activities of the company, while Mario Mallia has been appointed executive pastry chef, responsible for CaterEssence’s pastry division.

Mr Cauchi has 29 years’ experience in the hospitality and destination management industry. He has held senior management posts in five-star international hotel chains and food and beverage franchises, mainly within the Island Hotels Group and the Costa Coffee franchise. Mr Cauchi was also a director of a number of companies.

Mr Mallia was executive pastry chef at the Hilton Malta for the last nine years. He previously worked in a number of countries including the UK, Italy, Germany, Togo, Tunisia and South Korea where he gained a lot of experience in pastry related work. Mr Mallia participated and was placed among the top pastry chefs in a number of national and international competitions namely Salon Culinaire, World Association of Cooks Society and Hotel Olympia. He also formed part of Malta’s National Culinary Team.

CaterEssence executive chairman Alex Tranter said: “These two latest appointments at top management level within CaterEssence reflect the strong investment the company is making in attracting top quality talent to join our dynamic team. I have no doubt that Raphael and Mario will further strengthen and increase the focus on our growing retail food activities and The Cake Box outlets, as well as promote increased innovation and higher quality food products for all our customers to enjoy.”