Speaker Profile

Julian Cincotta has had plenty of experience over the years in the kitchen. He discovered his insatiable passion for food and cooking at his parents' café at the tender age of 15. Julian honed his knowledge and skills under Chef Neil Perry at Rockpool on George Street, and was given the opportunity to be a part of the first kitchen teams at Rockpool Bar & Grill (both Sydney and Melbourne). Soon after, he headed abroad to gain further experience and stage at some of the top restaurants in the US such as Charlie Trotter's, Alinea and Blackbird.

In 2013, Julian moved over to Nomad as Sous Chef, before winning the prestigious Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year award in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2015. Later that year, Julian created the menu for Thievery Restaurant in Glebe, which in its first year, received overwhelmingly positive reviews from both customers and critics.

A six-month stint overseas in late 2015 as part of the JP Young Chef Award saw Julian immersed himself in various European cuisines, staging at Saturne (Paris), Lyles (London) and Bror (Copenhagen) to name a few.

On Julian's return to Sydney in 2016, he once again paired up with the team from Thievery for some exciting and innovative new projects. The first of those new projects was Butter, the world’s first hybrid sneaker, fried chicken and champagne bar. From the very beginning of its operation, Butter gained amazing recognition both in Australian and internationally for its innovative approach to dining and the merging of distinctly different cultures. In the words of the publication Concrete Playground “Butter is the ridiculous palace of fried chicken, sneakers and champagne Sydney deserves”

Butter takes part in many food oriented events such as Taste Festival and Carriageworks Markets, to name a few where. As well as leading these events for the group, Julian has also been a part of the likes of Electrolux Taste Theater, Sydney Seafood School, Simon Johnson Providore Eat Drink Play series, where he has done cooking demonstrations and Q&A’s. Also he has appeared on segments for The Living Room Channel 10 with Miguel representing the ultimate fried chicken for Butter Sydney.

Julian is also passionate about sustainability within the hospitality industry. At Butter he has reduced waste levels significantly and initiated a source separation of waste program, which not only does right by the planet but has also reduced waste management costs within the business. He has presented to the Future of Food panel discussion in April 2023 and demonstrated the versatility and environmental benefits of Impossible Foods products on Channel 10’s live Studio 10 program.

He also has a number of other sustainability projects in the works. These range from attempting to solve the linear, disposable issue of food packaging within hospitality, to the creation of a framework of actionable steps that all hospitality businesses can undertake to make their businesses more sustainable, to creating an association of like minded hospitality businesses to start to change the hospitality industry as a whole from the inside.