Growing up his interests gravitated toward electronics and enjoyed playing percussion instruments such as Congas and Timbales, in Rock and Texas Country bands.
After graduation in 1988, he moved to Irving, TX to go to college, and majored in electronics/technology. While acquiring his degree he started working at a Chili’s. The more he worked in the Chili's kitchen, the more he found a joy for cooking.
After graduating he opened an electronic repair shop in Tyler, TX. The shop was successful, but as time passed his desire to cook became overwhelming. In 1991, he moved to South Florida with some friends and started working in kitchens again. However, he preferred TX so moved back in 2001 to find a 'cooking' position at “Willow Brook Country Club”, where he met Chef Joseph, the previous Executive Chef at Remington Park.
In 2007 a phone call from Chef Joseph offered Roland a job as the Silk’s Chef at Remington Park. He gladly accepted the position and moved to Oklahoma City. To this day Roland is grateful to Chef Joseph for the move and the opportunity to have become the Executive Chef upon Joseph's acceptance of a very prestigious position in his home state.
Work Ethic - Stamina - Attitude - Reliability
Since the first of October he has averaged 75 hours per week. At one point he worked 30 of 31 days. This doesn't include the time at home receiving and responding to email, texts, phone calls and unexpected hiccups. His demeanor is always upbeat and balanced, all the while carrying, essentially, two separate operations. His direct involvement in transitioning out of Remi's and into BTB has been extensive. His crew was shrunk in June in anticipation of opening BTB in July.
Performance
Oklahoma Derby, Red Earth Day, Breeder's Cup, numerous internal functions, changing from one Prime Vendor (Sysco) to another (Ben E Keith), day-to-day operations, personnel management, not to mention our Catering volume which is more than 30% up from previous years ... this is just to name some of the events and other functions that he is a key player in ... He always understands the mission, sets his priorities, creates his plans, disseminates and oversees the execution of the plans ... all with tons of input but very little in the way of oversight, steering or direct supervision. His commitment to Remington Park and his belief in our goals is exceptional. This past week all the food in Remi's had to be cooked in the Mezzanine kitchen and transported downstairs to Remi's to allow BTB to practice. The usual organization of the Remi's operation was torn asunder and he simply "adapted" to it. Many in his role would have struggled mightily or simply cracked under this load. Not Roland.
One other note: He and his wife have three small children, and the usual spate of illness, issues at school, and just "missing Daddy" come up all the time ... hospital runs, you name it ... he just plows right on through. He was physically too ill to work for about a week of this period, but persevered.
Roland is exceptional and we are lucky to have him as an integral part of the team!
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