Meet our new academic lecturer, Xavier Mouche

Le Cordon Bleu Australia recently welcomed lecturer Xavier Mouche to the School of Business team. This month we sat down and got to know the man behind the suit.

After completing high school in Canada, a young Xavier returned to his homeland in Switzerland to study hospitality, not knowing where his career would take him at the time.

Soon enough, he found himself working halfway around the world in New Zealand for luxury hotel, Regent of Auckland. It wasn’t long before he was transferred Down Under to Regent of Sydney (now Four Seasons hotel) where he fell in love with the country’s lifestyle, and decided to call Australia home for 30 years.

But his thirst for the industry didn’t stop there. After almost two decades as a chef, Xavier decided to further his knowledge by studying hotel management back in Switzerland, followed by architecture, hospitality design and pedagogy.

“For the last 15 years, I operated mainly as a consultant assisting hospitality operators, developers and architects with new and existing projects,” he says. “These included restaurants, hotels and resorts, tourism, and other commercial projects.”

His career took a new turn in 2014 when he undertook a four-year lecturing role at the Hotel Institute Montreux in Switzerland.

“It was during these years I realised I have a passion for sharing my experience with students starting out in this exciting industry,” Xavier says.

From being a private chef for the Sultan of Brunei (the richest man in the world at the time), to working in Michelin and Three Hatted restaurants across the globe, Xavier has had a colourful career that Le Cordon Bleu Australia students can now benefit from.

“So far in my teaching career, I have really enjoyed teaching event management, culinary design, sustainable hospitality design and practices. Also teaching about what makes a kitchen efficient and run smoothly interests me,” he says.

I love interacting with students, drawing spontaneous arty diagrams on the whiteboard to illustrate a concept, and sharing firsthand scenarios from my career with them.

“I am very excited and looking forward to partaking in subject planning and design under the expert guidance of Professor Alan Bowen-James, Professor Julien Marechal, and the talented Academic Team at LCBA.”

He says to be successful in the fast-paced and ever-changing hospitality world – whether it be as a chef, restaurant manager or hotelier – a genuine interest and passion is essential.

“I believe that initially you need to be genuinely interested and passionate in your professional area of choice,” he says.

“Interestingly, for me it did come a little later in my career, after continuously being exposed to talented and passionate chefs and operators.

“The other advice: Begin your career working with the best in their field of expertise…that could save you years in your professional development.”

And when Xavier isn’t standing behind a podium lecturing students, you can find him unleashing his inner artist, painting abstract urban landscapes.

“As a creative outlet, I’ve also studied fine arts and been a practicing artist (painter) exhibiting and selling works in Switzerland and Australia,” he says.

“Either that, or you’ll catch me having a flat white on the terrace of a café with a book, or quietly watching the world go by.”

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