Chef-led hospitality consultancy

Every detail tells your story.Except the menu.

Food and menu design for boutique hotels and independent hospitality businesses that compete on story, not price.

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Brand Foundation· Menu Design· Food Content· Boutique Hotels· Hospitality Brands· Brand Foundation· Menu Design· Food Content· Boutique Hotels· Hospitality Brands· Brand Foundation· Menu Design· Food Content· Boutique Hotels· Hospitality Brands·
01.

A menu as distinctive as your property

Food that belongs — to your place, your story, your guests. Not a supplier's suggestion. Not a template from the last hotel they worked with.

02.

Food guests remember after check-out

The meal is often the most intimate moment of a stay. Design it like it matters — because when guests tell the story of your hotel, the food is usually in it.

03.

A brand touchpoint that finally works

Your food programme — aligned with your identity, expressed through the menu, and built to last well beyond the opening rush.

0
New hotels opened in 2023 alone. Most of them have the same menu.

Competing on price from here is a race you will not win. The properties that survive are the ones that build something nobody else can copy.

The market

The hospitality industry is more crowded than it has ever been. Story is the only durable differentiator — and food is the most under-used way to tell it.

Your brand

You have spent years building something distinctive — the architecture, the service, the details. Then guests sit down for dinner and the menu could belong anywhere in the world.

The truth

Food is memory. Guests forget thread counts. They remember what they ate, where they ate it, and how it made them feel. That moment should not be an afterthought.

What we do

Three services. One direction.

Brand Foundation
Foundation

Brand Foundation

For properties that haven't fully articulated their story — or whose identity lives in the design but hasn't found words yet. Positioning, target guest, brand voice, and the narrative your menu will express.

Required before menu work begins. Brought by the client, or built together.

Delivered remotely
Menu Design
The Core

Menu Design

Dish development, menu architecture, copy, naming, and recipe documentation — all grounded in brand story. Not just what tastes good. What belongs here, at this property, for these guests.

The primary engagement. Everything else orbits this.

Remote or on-site
On-site Implementation
Full Programme

On-site Implementation

A 2–3 week residency at the property. Staff training, recipe standardisation, and full menu rollout — embedded with the kitchen team until the food programme runs as designed.

For clients who want the result, not just the document.

On-site — travel scoped separately
See packages & pricing →
The Plate Stories Guarantee
5

Dishes on your new menu that cannot be found at any other property in your market.

Every engagement includes a minimum of five dishes developed specifically for your property and brand story — dishes that don’t currently exist anywhere else in your competitive set. If we can’t achieve that, we don’t stop until we do.

The Work

Properties I've worked with. Here's what the menus said.

Ashburnham Estate — estate eggs and tea-crusted tuna
Hill Country · Near Kandy · Heritage

Ashburnham Estate

A colonial bungalow set inside a working tea estate near Kandy. I wanted the estate to lead — tea as a real ingredient, not a garnish, woven through the menu from breakfast to dinner. Everything elevated, but warm and unfussy. The kind of food that fits a bungalow at altitude.

Sample dishes
  • Estate eggs with burnt butter hollandaise and garden herbs
  • Tea-crusted yellowfin tuna with lime oil and local greens
  • Cowpea risotto with coconut cream and estate-grown aromatics
Gal Oya Lodge — jungle salad and river fish
Jungle · Gal Oya Valley · Eco-lodge

Gal Oya Lodge

A jungle eco-lodge on the edge of Sri Lanka's most remote national park. Guests come for the safaris, the wildlife, the feeling of being completely surrounded by nature. I wanted the food to match that — every dish a reason to feel closer to the jungle you're already in.

Sample dishes
  • Jungle salad — foraged greens, wild herbs, and local seeds in a tamarind reduction
  • River fish with fresh pineapple and ginger
Viceroy House — crab curry tortellini and jackfruit tartare
Between Kandy & Colombo · Colonial · Luxury

Viceroy House

Ten rooms. Luxury rates. A private colonial residence midway between Kandy and Colombo — the kind of property where guests have stayed everywhere and expect more than a meal. I worked the Sri Lankan pantry with the precision of European fine dining. Not performing heritage. Elevating it.

Sample dishes
  • Crab curry tortellini — Sri Lankan mud crab in hand-rolled pasta
  • Jackfruit tartare — raw technique applied to a local ingredient
  • Curd and treacle with beeswax caramel
Partners & guests

What they say.

“
He also created the concept and menus for our new luxury hotel near Colombo, where he created unique elevated dishes showcasing local ingredients and flavours in new ways. Derrick's creativity and passion for food shone through. He was always looking for new ideas to set our group apart and take our menus to the next level.
Tim Edwards Director, Wilde & Co Group · Gal Oya Lodge, Sri Lanka

“Chef Derrick is one of the few who understand the treasures of the island and maneuvers them so dexterously that it truly is a marvel to behold.”

@peckishme Uncharted Spice Route, The Sun House, Galle

“This is not just a dinner for your tastebuds and tummy, but something for the body, mind and soul too. The choice of ingredients showed the deeper connection he has with how food is interconnected with people.”

@makanwarrior Conversations, Singapore

“He had an incredible impact on the quality of our menu and service. He has an enthusiasm for cooking that I rarely see in young chefs, and his positive energy rubbed off on everyone else in our kitchen.”

Marc Lepine Chef & Owner, Atelier, Ottawa

“He makes it a point to make every dish that goes to diners to the best he can. This made our customers feel special and gave us recurring business.”

Chef Ace Tan Head Chef, 1-V:U Restaurant, Singapore
Past work
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Dining
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Dessert
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Derrick Kwa
The guide

Derrick Kwa —
Chef & Brand Strategist

Most food consultants make food that tastes good. Most brand consultants write positioning documents. I do both — and that combination is what makes the work different.

Professionally trained chef with experience across fine dining, menu development, and food-led storytelling. Ten years in brand strategy and growth marketing across hospitality, DTC, and experiential businesses. Based in Sri Lanka. Available globally.

✦Professional culinary training — fine dining, menu development, pop-ups
✦10 years in brand strategy, paid media, and growth marketing
✦Sri Lanka–based with on-site residencies available globally
✦Remote-first — most of the thinking work travels well
Work with Derrick →
How it works

A clear path from where you are
to where you should be.

1

We understand your brand story

Either we build it together through Brand Foundation, or you bring an existing identity. Either way — we need to know who you are before we design what you serve.

2

We design your menu around it

Every dish, every description, every decision made in service of the story. Menu design that expresses exactly what your property stands for.

3

Your food becomes a brand asset

The menu works for you — distinguishing your property, deepening the guest experience, and creating memories that outlast the stay.

Investment

Honest scope. Honest pricing.

Remote

Foundation

Brand strategy — delivered remotely

$1,500+

Scoped per engagement

  • Brand positioning document
  • Target guest profile
  • Brand voice & narrative framework
  • Discovery sessions included
  • Yours — take it anywhere
Remote or On-site Recommended

Story to Plate

Brand foundation + full menu design

$3,500+

Scoped per engagement

  • Everything in Foundation
  • Dish development & curation
  • Menu architecture & flow
  • Menu copy & dish naming
  • Full recipe documentation
  • Two rounds of revisions
On-site

Full Implementation

2–3 week residency at your property

$7,000+

Plus travel & accommodation at cost

  • Complete menu design
  • On-site with your kitchen team
  • Staff training & standardisation
  • Operational rollout support
  • Soft launch presence
Add-ons available Scoped during your discovery call
Food Photography
Social Content Production
Event & Launch Support
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Who it's for

This work is for certain kinds of properties.

Plate Stories works with properties that compete on story, craft, and experience — not price. If that sounds like you, we should probably talk.

✦Boutique hotels with a genuine point of view
✦Independent restaurants with a story to tell
✦Resorts and villa properties entering the F&B space
✦Private members clubs with strong brand identity
✦Properties opening or relaunching their food programme
✦Businesses where the experience is the product

Start here

Your brand has a point of view.
Your menu should too.

Tell us about your property. We will figure out together whether this is the right fit — and where to start.