Aaron Kalenda-Boza

Ever since I was young and could be in the kitchen with my Ma I knew I wanted to cook as a profession. The first moment I could get into work in a professional kitchen I took it and was enamored. Washing dishes, prep, i was obsessed, the moment I graduated I committed my self to growth and experience. I was given my first leadership roll at 19 in a high volume upscale kitchen and I haven’t looked back, I am forever grateful to all the associates and chefs that have taught me and grown with me throughout the years and am eager to continue to grow myself and career. I took my first executive chef role 5 years ago and was recently the opening executive chef of Bungalow Downtown, a high end steak-forward restaurant. Currently I am the executive chef of Koya Houston in Midtown, and have been for the last 6 months. Since I have been there we (myself and my team) have streamlined business goals, and focused the menu down to its core concept which is Mediterranean-Asian Fusion, and overall improved the quality and performance of the kitchen. I am always eager to grow myself in this industry and with the Michelin guide finally in town, I am hungry to make an impact on the food scene in houston, weather its giving back to the community, going for zero-waste sustainability, or having an meaningful impact on my associates as my chefs have before me. Food is my passion, service is my lifeline, my business goals and achieving them are very fine tuned, and my culinary skills and hunger to grow them are getting better everyday. My background is very strong in Latin Flavors, and seafood-centric, that being said I am comfortable with Mediterranean and Asian flavors as well and classic southern and Cajun styling. 

12 years of experience in restaurants , worked all aspects from FoH to BoH, catering and banquet services as well.

8 years in management, started off as service manager and kitchen manager, then moved into sous chef roll. 
 

5 years as an executive chef, ended up with operations trainer for my last company where all kitchens adopted my organization and kitchen systems as well as recipe management and training. Very comfortable with vendor relations, inventory systems such as R365, Compeat, Margin Edge; POS Systems: Toast, Aloha, Maitre’D, Micros; and reporting and scheduling as well.

High School Graduate, 2 years in career technical education offered by high school in culinary arts (Miller Career and Technology)