Hospitality Leadership Course

The business skills
culinary school
never taught you.

A practical hospitality leadership course for chefs ready to understand the numbers, lead teams with confidence, and step into management without losing their identity in the kitchen.

Built by Hemant Dadlani — 25+ years across Shangri-La, Rosewood, Marriott, and independent F&B consulting. Written in language chefs actually understand.

Hemant Dadlani — Executive Chef and founder of Chef to Leader
57 Practical Lessons
11 Leadership Chapters
25+ Years Industry Experience
Lifetime Access
100% Hospitality-Specific
The gap nobody talks about

You already know how to run a section.
But no one taught you how to run the business behind it.

Culinary school teaches you to cook. Experience teaches you to execute. But the commercial side of hospitality leadership — the numbers, the conversations, the strategy — that's left to chance.

You can execute service flawlessly, but P&L conversations still feel uncomfortable — like you're speaking someone else's language.

You manage people every day, but nobody trained you for difficult leadership conversations, disciplinary moments, or team accountability.

You're technically the strongest person in the kitchen, but commercial confidence is what's holding back the next promotion.

You want the role above you, but you need to speak the language of owners, GMs, and executives — and nobody has taught you how.

That is exactly what Chef to Leader was built to fix.

The transformation

From excellent chef to commercially confident leader.

Before

Avoids financial conversations — leaves them to the manager

Reacts to labour and food cost issues after they appear on the report

Leads through pressure and instinct — effective in crisis, but unsustainable

Waits to be recognised — assumes performance speaks for itself

Struggles in boardroom conversations — feels out of place with owners and investors

After Chef to Leader

Reads and interprets kitchen financials with confidence and clarity

Understands margin, labour, and profitability — proactively, not reactively

Leads conversations with structure, empathy, and commercial awareness

Builds a 90-day leadership action plan tailored to their operation

Communicates fluently with owners, GMs, and executives as a strategic peer

What's inside

What you'll learn inside Chef to Leader.

Eleven outcome-focused modules built in sequence — finance first, leadership second, strategy last. Each section is practical, hospitality-specific, and immediately applicable.

01
Introduction to Culinary Leadership
After this: You'll set clear leadership goals and understand the trajectory from kitchen execution to commercial leadership.
02
Costing, Margins & Profit for Chefs
After this: You'll calculate food cost accurately, understand where margin is being lost, and use the Chef to Leader Costing & Finance Toolkit.
03
Kitchen Finance 101
After this: You'll read a P&L with confidence, understand Gross Operating Profit, and know which financial levers you actually control.
04
Strategic Thinking for Chefs
After this: You'll apply strategic frameworks to real kitchen challenges and think beyond service into the commercial outcomes of your decisions.
05
From Cook to Leader: The Mindset Shift
After this: You'll understand what changes — psychologically and professionally — when you move from chef to leader, and how to navigate that transition.
06
Change Management in the Kitchen
After this: You'll lead change — new menus, ownership, concepts — without losing your team, by handling resistance and communicating effectively.
07
Managing Up
After this: You'll influence owners, GMs, and investors — making the business case for your kitchen decisions in language they respond to.
08
Crucial Conversations in Hospitality
After this: You'll handle performance conversations, conflict, and feedback using the 3P Framework — Prepare, Practice, Perform.
09
Building & Leading a Rockstar Kitchen Team
After this: You'll hire for attitude, onboard effectively, and build a team culture that doesn't collapse when you're not in the building.
10
Entrepreneurial Thinking for Chefs
After this: You'll think like an operator — understanding risk, ownership mindset, and what it takes to build beyond one kitchen.
11
Your Chef Leadership Blueprint
After this: You'll leave with a personalised 90-day leadership action plan you can start implementing in your next shift — not something to file away.
Enrol in Full Course – AUD $249

Want to preview first? Access free lessons before you commit.

About the founder

Built by someone who has actually stood where you stand.

Hemant Dadlani spent more than 25 years working across luxury hotels, independent restaurants, and F&B consulting — building and leading award-winning kitchens with Shangri-La, Rosewood, and Marriott before moving into consulting.

He has navigated the exact transition Chef to Leader is designed for: from technical operator to commercial leader. That move is harder than anyone tells you — not because the knowledge is complicated, but because nobody translates it into language a chef can actually use.

Chef to Leader is the course Hemant wishes had existed when he made that transition. Every module draws directly from real operations — the financial frameworks he used in real hotels, the leadership conversations he had to learn the hard way, and the strategic thinking that separates a head chef from a hospitality executive.

Shangri-La, Rosewood & Marriott

25+ years luxury hospitality

International F&B strategy

Kitchen finance & P&L leadership

Team culture & change management

Consultant to hotel groups

From chefs who've completed the course

What early cohort graduates are saying.

These testimonials come from chefs, sous chefs, and exec chefs in our founding cohort.

"The leadership tools are practical — not theory. I applied one of the communication techniques from the course the very next shift, and the difference in team flow was immediate."

Ashutosh
Head Chef, Melbourne

"It was incredibly valuable, and I learned a lot about leadership, costing, and running a profitable kitchen. This course is one of the most practical and impactful training I've taken in my career."

Kamal Bahadur RM
Sous Chef, Amora Hotel Sydney

"Amazing and easy to understand — P&L, costing, waste management, training, hiring, rostering, and how to build confidence to coordinate with other departments. This course leads me toward my professional growth for sure."

Sudip BK
CDP, ICMS and Amora Hotel Sydney

"Course is very useful and the way you explain it makes me more confident and easy to understand. It's very impressive and inspiring work."

Shriya S
CDP, Amora Hotel Sydney
Free Resource
Chef Finance Cheat Sheet
  • The food cost formula every chef needs to know
  • GP basics explained without the jargon
  • The 4 numbers every kitchen leader should track weekly
  • How to read a kitchen P&L without panic
  • A simple framework for ordering with margin in mind
One page. Printable. Immediately useful.
Not ready to enrol yet?

Start with the free Chef Finance Cheat Sheet.

Download a simple one-page guide covering the financial fundamentals every chef in a leadership role should already know — but usually doesn't.

No spam. One email with your resource. Unsubscribe anytime.

Invest in your leadership

Choose how you want to start.

All prices in Australian Dollars. One-time payment. Lifetime access.

🎉 Founding Cohort Offer — Enrol now for AUD $249 (save $50). Offer ends 31 July 2026.
Entry Module
Kitchen Finance Starter
Start with the numbers before committing to the full course.
AUD $79
One-time · Lifetime access
  • Costing, Margins & Profit module
  • Kitchen Finance 101
  • Costing & Finance Toolkit download
  • Upgrade to full course anytime
Start with Kitchen Finance
Hotel & Group
Team Enrolment
For hotels and operators developing future leaders internally.
AUD $149
Per seat · 5+ seats · Lifetime access
  • Full course access per seat
  • Group pricing from 5 seats
  • Centralised enrolment
  • Invoice & PO available
Enquire for Team Access

Want to preview the course before purchasing? Access the free trial here.

Built on 25 years of real kitchen experience — not theory, not shortcuts.

Every module in Chef to Leader comes directly from operational reality: the financial frameworks Hemant used running kitchens for Shangri-La, Rosewood, and Marriott; the leadership conversations he had to learn the hard way; the strategic thinking that doesn't get taught in culinary school. If you have a genuine concern after enrolling, contact us directly — we're a real operation and we take every student seriously.

Questions before enrolling? Reach out directly.

Common questions

Before you enrol.

Chef to Leader is built for chefs, sous chefs, CDPs, F&B supervisors, and any hospitality professional who wants to move from kitchen execution into commercial leadership. If you're technically strong but commercially uncertain, this is for you.
No. While the course language and examples are kitchen-first, the frameworks apply across F&B operations — front-of-house supervisors, event managers, and hospitality team leaders have all found it relevant.
Most students complete the full course over 4–6 weeks at one to two hours per week. It's designed to work around shift patterns — not against them.
None whatsoever. The course starts from first principles using hospitality-specific examples throughout. If you can calculate a food cost percentage, you're already ready to start.
Absolutely — this is the ideal entry point. Building commercial awareness before you're in a head chef role gives you a significant advantage and makes the transition smoother when it comes.
Yes. Group enrolment is available from 5 seats at AUD $149 per seat. Invoicing and purchase orders are available. Contact us directly to discuss your team's needs.
Yes. Every lesson is pre-recorded and available on demand. You learn at your own pace, on your own schedule. No live sessions, no deadlines, no pressure.
Chef to Leader is hosted on Thinkific at learn.dadlani.consulting — a professional course platform. Once you enrol, you'll create an account to access all lessons, tools, and downloads.
Yes. Pay once and access the course forever — including any updates or additions Hemant makes over time. You can revisit any module as your career develops.
Chef to Leader is built on real hospitality experience — we stand behind its quality. If you have a genuine concern after enrolling, contact us directly at hello@dadlani.consulting and we'll work something out. We're a real operation, not a faceless platform.
Your next step

If you know you're capable of more,
this is where the next step starts.

Chef to Leader gives you the commercial, leadership, and strategic skills to move beyond execution and start leading with confidence — in the language the industry actually uses.