Esther Ha and Steven Dougherty have joined The Cabot Collection as Executive Chef and Director of Food and Beverage, respectively.
The pair will be based at Cabot Collections’s first U.S. development, Cabot Citrus Farms in scenic Central West Florida, with global responsibilities for all destinations in the portfolio, including the award-winning:
- Cabot Cape Breton in Nova Scotia,
- Cabot Saint Lucia in the Caribbean,
- Cabot Revelstoke in British Columbia, and
- the most recently added Cabot Highlands in Scotland.
Esther Ha – background
Ha brings years of experience working in internationally acclaimed restaurants across the globe, including Café Boulud in New York City, Restaurant Den in Tokyo, and Restaurant Ester in Sydney.
Most recently, she served as Executive Chef at Momofuku Ko, a two-Michelin star restaurant guided by the Japanese kaiseki tradition in New York City. As Executive Chef at Cabot Collection, Ha will create food and beverage dining concepts and oversee menus for all Cabot properties.
Her responsibilities also include building the food sourcing strategy, hiring and training culinary staff, and working with each property to ensure the strategic vision of Cabot Collection is executed to the highest standards.
Ha was named Rising Star Chef 2023 by StarChefs and awarded Steelite’s Art of Plating Award 2023 for New York City. Outside of her culinary expertise, Ha is an avid golfer who played competitively in high school and college.
Steven Dougherty – background
Dougherty joins Cabot Collection as the Director of Food and Beverage with over 10 years of hospitality experience, most recently at Room 11 Hospitality Group as Corporate General Manager and Wine Director for Box House Events and MADRE, which earned a Michelin Plate Award just one year after opening.
He spent his early career at Hermann J Wiemer Vineyard and later served as an assistant winemaker at Cornell University. Dougherty will execute food and beverage concepts, build menus, and ensure exceptional hospitality, service, and dining experiences for Cabot guests.
From a cocktail program that will pay homage to the classics while incorporating innovative flair to a wine list that will feature the great regions of the world and the roads less traveled, there will be something for every occasion.