When Thomas Ottke plunged into the world of work at the age of 17, he was interested in the world of bits and bytes. The native of Brandenburg thus became a network administrator at a young age. A responsible job. It could have continued like this, but things took a completely different turn.

In his early twenties, he followed his gut feeling and started something completely new: his training as a chef took him to the Rhineland, to the Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel in Düsseldorf. Here he quickly realised he had found what he was looking for: manual skill, learned from the ground up.

Passion and creativity, expressed in food, enjoyment, and ever-new flavour compositions. This excited him. This enthusiasm and love for cooking led him to Sylt. For none other than Jörg Müller recognised Thomas's special talents and hired him. The years on the North Sea in gourmet gastronomy as Chef de Partie were formative.

Inspired by star cuisine, full of drive and with a clear head, blown fresh by the North Sea wind, he was drawn back to the Rhineland. But this time to the right place: to Cologne. Right into the thick of it with Kirberg Catering, who are considered one of the most creative caterers in the country.

At just 32 years old, Thomas Ottke is becoming Head Chef at Flora. One of Cologne's premier venues for upscale events. Now he's arrived in the rock ‚n‘ roll of cooking: a 300 m2 kitchen, a team of 10, hosting a major event with up to 2,000 guests every 3 days on average, all at the highest culinary standard. Now it's rocking. It's a good thing that Thomas Ottke, his Brandenburg

has never thrown away his roots. On the contrary, his friendly nature, his humility and his calm lead his team to top performance again and again. By the way, this also applies to the Dank Augusta, Flora's garden restaurant, which is also run by Kirberg Catering and Thomas Ottke's team.