REFEREE LETTER 1

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to share with you the context in which I met Adriana Marquez de Avelar, the person I had the pleasure of working with for six months and whom I hereby recommend for your Culinary School.

In January 2011, I asked Erika Mesquita – a dear colleage and owner of a renowned wine store inside the Uai Tchê Food Complex in the city of Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais – to immediately hire someone to prepare a last minute dinner for 12 business executives scheduled at eight o’clock that night.

On this occasion, Erika instantly reminded me of Adriana, a young chef who had just arrived in the city and had already become one of our regular customers at the wine store. Erika then offered this job to Adriana at around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and by six o’clock Adriana showed up at Uai Tchê, where we had the opportunity to meet each other.

She impressed me immediately, so I asked her to help me choose the dinner menu and also make all the necessary arrangements for the scheduled event.

The dinner Adriana prepared was ready at exactly eight p.m. and was superb in every respect: all the business executives were fully satisfied; in fact, they were enchanted by the flavor of the food from that charming young chef. The feedback confirmed my initial feeling of having found a unique professional.

At the end of that night I invited Adriana to accompany me to São Paulo on a business trip in order to help me acquire all the necessary kitchen equipment to assemble her workplace inside the kitchen of Uai Tchê. Adriana’s acceptance marked the beginning of our successful association.

Her duties varied from introducing the salon to new clients to managing all “backstage” procedures, such as planning and coordinating the services in dinner preparation, as well as supervising the buffet.

Other important responsibilities at Uai Tchê were as follows: (1) buy ingredients and prepare the “mise en place”; (2) deal with specialized kitchen equipment; (3) supervise the other members of the kitchen and food service team; (4) hire cook helpers; (5) discuss with colleagues the flow and quality of service; (6) care for the maintenance and hygiene of food preparation work area; (7) resolve issues related to shortage of food items, service mistakes and problems in the food-production budget.

In addition, Adriana played a crucial role in one of Uai Tchê’s most special dinners ever. In my open gourmet kitchen, she cooked for the world’s most famous soccer player: Pelé. On this occasion, Pelé, who had come to Uberlândia to take care of his sports businesses, invited to dinner at Uai Tchê the political and economic elite of the city, a group of approximately forty people. The event was a tremendous success – everyone was delighted by the quality and presentation of the dishes chosen and prepared by Adriana with the help of our staff that night.

Thus, from my experience with Adriana, I enthusiastically affirm that she is blessed with great culinary skill and creativity, along with the innate ability to make a kitchen work perfectly. I have no doubt that she possesses in abundance the necessary attributes to be part of your Culinary School.

Best regards,

Alexandre Santana

Churrascaria Uai Tchê

Av Rondon Pacheco, 2978 – Bairro: Saraiva Uberlândia/MG- BRAZIL;

www.uaitche.com.br