PHUKET, 19 February 2013 -- Christoph Berger, the General Manager of the new Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort, has appointed Roberto Conrad as Executive Chef and Anders Olesen as Pastry Chef. The 255-key absolute beachfront holiday resort opens 15 March.

As Executive Chef, Roberto will take overall responsibility for innovative new restaurants such as Locavore, which specializes in locally-sourced ingredients with an emphasis as much as possible on seasonality, sustainability and traceability through education and a close relationship with farmers, fishermen and suppliers. He will also be responsible for Edgewater grill, The Club (an exclusive lounge for Club room guests), and other services including in-room dining.

Roberto joins Outrigger at the height of an illustrious culinary career that has seen him work as Executive Chef at five-star properties in Beijing, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok with brands such as InterContinental, Kempinski, Regent, and Westin. An Italian native speaker with Swiss nationality, Roberto also speaks English, French and German. His formative culinary years were in Lugarno, Switzerland. Since then he has created magnificent food in kitchens in Switzerland, France and Saudi Arabia and across Asia.

Outrigger has also appointed Danish national, Anders Olesen, as Pastry Chef. Anders has three years' of five-star hotel experience in Asia, specifically Macau, Vietnam, Thailand and Uzbekistan. His passion is artisan bread making. He specializes in training and producing world-class breads, pastries and dough-based favourites by following traditional artisan techniques.

"Roberto and his team will play a key role in creating mouth watering and innovative flavours for the global audience that we expect here," said General Manager, Berger. "The culinary experience is a major part of a successful holiday. I believe our Outrigger food and beverage offerings will meet with much acclaim when we open in mid March."

Apart from great dining, the Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort will have many leisure amenities for guests to enjoy, including extensive water features and slides, a resort pool, a fully equipped gym, tennis, badminton and squash courts, a kids' club, meeting and conference rooms.

About Outrigger Enterprises Group
Outrigger Enterprises Group is one of the largest and fastest growing privately-held leisure lodging and hospitality companies in the Asia-Pacific and Oceania regions and continues to expand its presence throughout the area. A family-owned company with 65 years of hospitality experience, Outrigger runs a highly-successful, multi-branded line of hotels, condominiums and vacation resort properties, including Outrigger® Hotels and Resorts, OHANA® Hotels and Resorts, Embassy Suites®, Holiday Inn®, Best Western®, and Wyndham Vacation Ownership®. Currently, Outrigger operates and/or has under development 45 properties with more than 11,000 rooms located in Hawaii; Australia; Guam; Fiji; Bali; Thailand; Vietnam; and Hainan Island, China. Outrigger Enterprises Group also operates and develops hotel properties and hospitality-related retail and real estate opportunities for partners in Hawaii, the Pacific, and Asia. For on-line information, log on at www.outriggerenterprisesgroup.com and www.outrigger.com.