Christian Abell

Founder, Craft Hospitality
CO & Founder, Architaste FZCO

With 30 years of hospitality experience, Christian Abell has brought his passion for excellence and creativity to a series of increasingly challenging executive positions. Starting his career as a chef, Abell trained in Michelin starred restaurants in Europe, ultimately earning the accolade of Marriott’s “Chef of the Year” at the JW Marriott Hong Kong. He soon moved out of the kitchen and into hotel operations, eventually working at Marriott’s regional office in Asia Pacific as head of concept development. From there he moves to Marriott’s Corporate headquarters as Vice President of Experience Design, where he continued to make his mark on hotel development. Having recently left his role as Marriott’s Vice President of Food and Beverage for the Middle East and Africa. Chris harnessed his knowledge and decades of industry experience to Found Architaste, a food and beverage development company that builds concepts and implements operational strategies for restaurants and bars. Architaste quickly found its niche market and works with operators, interior designers and owners, developing forward thinking food and beverage across the Middle East, Europe, The Americas and Asia.