Be Our Guest's chef de cuisine started at EPCOT's Mexico pavilion and returned with four suitcases
Gerardo "Jerry" Quijada Gonzalez now leads the kitchen at Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom as chef de cuisine. His Disney story began more than 20 years ago at EPCOT's Mexico pavilion through the International College Program, and after dozens of applications he joined Disney Culinary as a sous chef in 2016.
Gerardo "Jerry" Quijada Gonzalez runs the kitchen at Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom, one of the best-known table-service restaurants at Walt Disney World. His Disney story began more than two decades ago as a college program participant at EPCOT, and a Disney Parks Blog profile published October 9 traces how he made it back.
Key Details
- Chef: Gerardo "Jerry" Quijada Gonzalez
- Role: Chef de Cuisine
- Restaurant: Be Our Guest Restaurant, Fantasyland, Magic Kingdom
- With Disney Culinary since: 2016
From EPCOT's Mexico pavilion back to Florida with four suitcases
His first Disney job came as a student at EPCOT, and getting back to Florida took years of trying.
- Started at EPCOT. More than two decades ago he worked at the Mexico pavilion in World Showcase through the International College Program, Disney's work program for students from abroad.
- Back to Mexico. He went home, finished college and built a successful culinary career there, without letting go of the idea of returning to Disney.
- Four suitcases. When a chance to come back to Central Florida arrived, he and his family left an established career and moved with little more than four suitcases.
- Dozens of applications. It took years of perseverance and dozens of applications before Disney Culinary, the resort's culinary organization, hired him as a sous chef.
The college program is where the idea of a Disney career took hold, and he still describes it simply.
"I fell in love with the company, the vision and everything Disney stood for." Chef Jerry, on his time at EPCOT
Why he calls the menu the easy part
He has worked his way up through Walt Disney World kitchens, and now he spends his energy on the cast around him.
- Several kitchens. Since joining Disney Culinary he has worked at multiple locations across Walt Disney World.
- Opening teams. He helped open new dining experiences at the resort along the way.
- Leadership ranks. He advanced steadily through Disney's culinary leadership ranks over the years.
- Developing cast. His focus now reaches past writing menus to developing the cast members who deliver each meal to guests.
He shares the credit for the move to Florida and for everything since.
"I'm here because of my wife, my kids, my leaders, and my cast. This is not a one-person journey."
On the hardest part of running a kitchen, he points to people rather than plates.
"Creating the menu is the easy part. Having the cast believe in what they do and why they do it, that's the challenging part. The best dining experiences come from teams that feel connected to their work and empowered to bring their unique perspectives to the table."
His mother's kitchen shapes how he builds dishes with his team
Food meant family and culture in the home he grew up in, and he runs his kitchen around the same idea.
- More than a meal. In the Mexico he grew up in, food was a way to celebrate, teach, connect and care for one another, and family recipes carried stories between generations.
- His mother first. He calls his mother his biggest influence: she taught him to cook and sparked his love of food at an early age.
- Beyond the plate. She also showed him that food is about family, culture, honoring the people who shaped you and bringing people together.
- Team-built dishes. He brings his team into the development process and asks them to share techniques, traditions and ideas from their own backgrounds.
His test for a dish in development is a set of questions he puts to the team.
"With my team, I want them involved. What do you think? What does it need? That's how they grow."
Find his kitchen inside the Beast's castle in Fantasyland
Be Our Guest is the Beauty and the Beast restaurant in Fantasyland, and this profile brings no menu or price news.
- Beast's castle. The restaurant sits inside the Beast's castle in Fantasyland and opened in 2012 as part of the New Fantasyland expansion.
- Three dining rooms. Guests are seated in the Grand Ballroom, the West Wing or the Rose Gallery, each themed to a room from Beauty and the Beast.
- No menu news. The profile is a cast story and announces no change to the Be Our Guest menu or its prices.
- Openings unnamed. The profile says he helped open new dining experiences but does not name which restaurants they were.
Our take. Nothing about booking Be Our Guest changes with this profile. What it adds is a name for the kitchen inside the Beast's castle, and proof that a college program cast member at an EPCOT World Showcase pavilion can end up running one of Magic Kingdom's signature kitchens.