Cenko was born in Bitonto, a small city near Bari in Italy’s Puglia region. Hospitality entered his life through his father, a chef who often brought him into restaurant environments as a child. Watching the pace and discipline of professional kitchens showed him that the industry demanded sacrifice, while sparking his fascination with service. “My father worked very hard, and when I watched him, I began to understand the passion behind this work,” Cenko said. “I saw that hospitality was not only about food. It was about commitment, responsibility and taking care of people.”
After hospitality school, Cenko began where many successful professionals start: in small, family-run operations. He traveled north by train to work in a modest hotel, taking on responsibilities that built practical knowledge. His first major step into luxury hospitality came at Villa Crespi, where he joined the team as and learned the importance of details, standards and consistency. “At Villa Crespi, I learned what great hospitality really meant,” Cenko added. “I started at the bottom, but I was surrounded by managers and professionals who had worked around the world. They showed me how small details could change the entire guest experience.”
After four years, Cenko moved to Paris. The transition required him to leave family, friends and his native language behind. At Cheval Blanc Paris, he entered a larger luxury operation, where different departments, outlets and management structures exposed him to a broader view of food-and-beverage leadership. He began again in an entry-level service role because he did not speak French, then advanced as his language skills and operational understanding improved.
Cenko later joined Pavillon Ledoyen, home to multiple Michelin-starred restaurant concepts, including Alléno Paris. The environment was intensely competitive. He saw a contrast between Italian and French service cultures. Italian hospitality, in his view, often communicated warmth and instinctive generosity, while French service emphasized technical rigor, structure and exact execution. “In Italy, the service could feel warmer and more flexible, while France taught me to be extremely precise,” Cenko continued. “Neither approach was better by itself. The important lesson was to understand the culture, respect its standards and use those lessons to become a more complete professional.”
That ability to adapt became even more important when Cenko moved to New York in 2025. He saw the city as a place to study not only hospitality, but also the business of restaurants: volume, table turns, guest expectations and the demands of serving one of the world’s most diverse dining markets. After sending out résumés, he joined Dinex Group, founded by Chef Daniel Boulud, and worked at Café Boulud.
For Cenko, adaptation is not defined by abandoning standards. It means understanding when a standard supports the guest and when rigid execution can interrupt the experience. A server might traditionally present or clear from a particular side, but the guest’s comfort, conversation and personal space still mattered. The best service professionals learn when to speak, when to explain and when to step back. We need to know every ingredient and every service rule, but we also have to recognize the right moment. The guest comes to relax, connect with other people and enjoy the experience. Service has to support that moment rather than interrupt it.”
The international path also carried personal costs. Cenko left his country, learned new languages, rebuilt professional networks and faced potential uncertainty. Each move required courage and patience. Yet he believed those sacrifices created lessons that could not be learned in a classroom alone.
His advice to young hospitality professionals is to leave their comfort zones, remain curious and treat every workplace as a school. Studying, he emphasized, meant more than earning a diploma. It meant listening to chefs, managers and colleagues, observing how each operation worked and accepting that every restaurant had its own standards.
The larger lesson of Cenko’s journey was that international experience did not simply add famous names to a résumé. It changed how a professional listened, communicated and responded to guests. Italy taught him warmth, France taught him precision and New York taught him speed, cultural awareness and commercial adaptability.
