YEATMAN HOTEL, LDA. - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- CEO of the Fladgate Partners
- Investment Banker With NatWest Investment Bank
Adrian Bridge is CEO of The Fladgate Partnership and The Yeatman Hotel. Adrian is the creative force behind the group management.
Born in 1963, Adrian started his career in the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, a British Cavalry Regiment and was awarded The Sword of Honour at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
After leaving the Army, Adrian became an investment banker with NatWest Investment Bank in London in charge of US equity sales.
In 1994 Adrian was asked to move to Portugal to take over running a family business. He has been active in consolidating the Port sector, developed the group's wine distribution businesses and created the first new style of Port in a generation - Croft Pink. He had an active role in the development of The Vintage House Hotel - the group's first venture into luxury hotels.
Adrian is actively involved in a number of charities, plays a leading role in the Young Presidents Organization, enjoys climbing mountains and photography.
Adrian is the creative force behind The Yeatman, a project that he started in 2006.
Elisabete Fernandes has a degree in microbiology from the Portuguese Catholic University School of Biotechnology and a post-graduate diploma in winemaking.
Elisabete Fernandes was born in Santa Maria da Feira in northern Portugal. With a degree in microbiology from the Portuguese Catholic University School of Biotechnology and a post-graduate diploma in winemaking, her career has led her to work in different areas within the field, from the cork industry to wine production and marketing.
Her enthusiam for wine and gastronomy coupled with an interest in the art of hospitality led her to join The Yeatman, on opening in 2010. After obtaining the Diploma of the Court of Master Sommeliers, she became responsible for maintaining the quality and consistency in The Yeatman's wine service, with particular emphasis on the Gastronomic Restaurant, honoured with 2 Michelin stars and also as head of wine training at The Yeatman's Wine School.
Due to the hotel's dynamic nature and concept, in 2016, she became Head Sommelier at The Yeatman, where she was responsible for 100 wine partnerships with the hotel's wine producers and for the most comprehensive Portuguese wine cellar in the world, housing over 1300 wine references and 30 000 bottles. Elisabete Fernandes is also responsible for The Yeatman ‘s wine programme, organising all the wine events and managing the Hotel's award-winning wine lists which have won many national and international awards.
Jan-Erik Ringertz is the General Director of The Yeatman Hotel, whose mission is to manage one of Europe's best wine hotels.
Jan has 25 years experience working in hotels in Portugal where he gained much experience in the luxury tourism sector including in Madeira, where he ran the five star hotels The Cliff Bay, and prior to that the ‘Estalagem Casa Velha do Palheiro', as well as 6 hotels belonging to the Pestana group.
Ricardo Costa is Executive Chef at The Yeatman Hotel and has won the second Michelin Star in 2017.
Chef Ricardo Costa favours Portuguese gastronomy, in keeping with the Hotel's philosophy, showcasing the best of what Portugal has to offer, its local products and traditional recipes prepared with contemporary flair and innovative techniques.
Ricardo Costa received his formal education at the School of Hotel and Tourism in Coimbra and gained his extensive experience in Portugal, Madeira, Spain and the UK. His career has taken him through several top restaurants. He worked as a Chef at El Girasol with Chef Joachim Koerper and later became Sous Chef of the Sheraton Porto Hotel & Spa with the Executive Chef Jerónimo Ferreira. He became Head Chef for the first time at the Restaurant Portal, in London, in 2007, and Executive Chef of the Restaurant Largo do Paço, at the Casa da Calçada Hotel in Amarante, where he earned his first Michelin Star in 2009 and 2010.
In his role as Executive Chef at The Yeatman Hotel, Ricardo Costa is responsible for all gastronomy, including the Gastronomic Restaurant, which has been honoured with a Michelin Star since 2011. Under his leadership, The Yeatman's Restaurant has received several distinctions: Boa Cama Boa Mesa (Jornal Expresso) Golden Fork in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015; and Platinum Fork in 2012; and Condé Nast Johansens Best Dining Experience Europe & the Mediterranean in 2015.
On an individual level, he has been honoured with important prizes such as Rising Chef 2016 from Relais Chateaux, Chef of the Year 2009 by the Portuguese magazine Wine; "Chef of the Future" 2012 by the International Academy of Gastronomy; and Best Chef in Portugal (2013) in the Gastro Arco Atlantico prizes in Spain. He was also a member of the jury on the programme Top Chef in Portugal, in 2012.