Dean is the Chef Instructor for our Cook Advanced Program
Chef Dean's role with the Liaison College Kitchener Campus is to coach, teach and provide wholesome nutrition. He received his training at George Brown College and the Rainbow Centre, apprenticed at the Ritz Carlton in Montreal, and was the personal chef for Joanne Kates, food critic for the Globe and Mail. His experience as a chef also extends to Arowhon Pines in Algonquin Park, various restaurants in Niagara-on-the-lake (his home town) and Whistlebear Golf Club.
The accomplishment that Chef Dean is most proud of, however, is the restaurant he opened and grew. He now shares this knowledge with the Advanced students as he teaches them to manage the lunch@liaison restaurant.
"I bought a restaurant that really didn't have a lot of good will. By building it step-by-step with some strong fundamentals and creating a popular restaurant destination, I saw a 260% increase in sales over a period of two years."
As well as working for Liaison College, Chef Dean is a family man and team player. He spends some of his time volunteering at the Downtown Community Centre and is also a hands-on person proven just recently by being recognized/acknowledged as President of the Region of Waterloo branch of the CCFCC (Canadian Culinary Federation/Fdration Culinaire Canadienne).
As a child Chef Dean Michielsen was a restaurant "brat" and even back then saw himself as a chef. Now, this same passion keeps him motivated and his experience moves him forward.
"My main interest is in culinary instruction, in all areas of food, and I want to see higher acceptable standards. I want to see chefs taken more seriously, because the minimum competence standard has been raised.
"Now, I don't see myself as a superstar, but I am passionate and that passion will allow me to inspire and motivate. And who knows, maybe someday I'll develop a cooking show for TV or open my own combination school/restaurant."
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