Bootland will oversee the culinary teams at each of the eight hotels in the group, including Crieff Hydro Hotel and Peebles Hydro Hotel. He will mainly be based in Crieff but will regularly visit the properties in the Borders, Dundee and Glencoe in order to support and lead the teams.
He joins the company having worked at sea onboard cruise liners, with previous roles including executive sous chef at Royal Caribbean International and more recently executive chef de cuisine at Seabourn Cruise Line.
“I am delighted to join Crieff Hydro Family of Hotels. They have approached me on a few occasions, but this felt like the right time to make the move and I’m enjoying having a better work/life balance being located closer to my family at home, rather than spending months at sea,” he says.
“Recruitment has been very challenging across the industry so one of my main objectives will be to hire some fantastic talent into chef vacancies we have across the group.
“I want to create a friendly and supportive culture across all of the kitchens in our hotels and will be looking at ways we can invest in our team’s development.
“While the head chefs at each of the hotels will continue to be responsible for creating their own menus, I will be on hand to develop concepts that fit the personalities of each of the hotels. I’m already working on exciting ideas with the team and would love for us to work towards putting one or two of our restaurants forward for AA Rosette Awards.”