Chocolate is a magical substance that's good for the soul, and working with it every day — at Disney, no less — makes for quite the aspirational career. Well, if you love chocolate and Disney, you're about to meet someone with the ultimate dream job. When Amanda Lauder started her journey with the Walt Disney Company as a Disney College Program participant in 2002, she had no idea the journey she was about to embark on. From landing a coveted role as a college program student at The Grand Floridian to now being the only "chef chocolatier" at The Walt Disney Company, she's got some sweet stories to tell. Ahead, find out more about what it's like to have this dream gig and the hard work that led her there in Lauder's exclusive interview with POPSUGAR.
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When Lauder started her Disney College Program her sole purpose was to end up working for Disney one day. "Disney recruiters were always at my culinary school, and I decided to take a leap of faith and apply. Unlike now, new CPs (that's Disney speak for College Program students) didn't know what their assignment was going to be when they showed up." Lauder ended up getting her dream assignment working at The Grand Floridian Bake Shop at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.
Lauder ended up working at The Grand Floridian for 10 years and being mentored by Disney's master pastry chef, Eric Herbitschek. "After my time at The Grand Floridian, I worked a temporary assignment as a pastry sous chef at Epcot, where I was making desserts for the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival that happens each Fall. I was also a collaborator on the gingerbread house that's displayed in the American Adventure Rotunda."
Soon after her temporary assignment at Epcot was complete, Lauder was moved to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge where she was in charge of all pastry and desserts for each of the main dining rooms, Boma, Jiko, and Sanaa. "I liked to call myself the gate keeper of the Zebra Domes, which are served at Boma. I was in charge of making them, making them perfect each time, and keeping up with guest demand."
While at Animal Kingdom Lodge Lauder made all of the decisions with the head chef. "This was such an educational period. I was working closely with the head chef of the resort to make decisions daily."
When The Ganachery opened, Lauder was tasked to hire every cast member. Now three of her chef assistants that were hired in 2015 are still working there. The store is run as a family team, which is what Lauder says makes The Ganachery stand out among its competitors. "The cast that works here is 100 percent the team that make the shop the way it is."
Guests will notice how knowledgeable each person who works at The Ganachery is. "Each of the 12 chocolatiers that work there are trained to do every task, from checking someone out to making the homemade s'mores The Ganachery has become known for over the past year. We switch tasks every once in a while so no one gets bored and it keeps our jobs fresh."
In a small factory in Valrhona (Valley of the Rhone) in Tain-l'Hermitage, France, Lauder got to take part in creating the custom blend of chocolate that is proprietary to The Ganachery. "The blend is called Dark 65, and The Ganachery uses 3.5 tons of the chocolate per year! It's a single bean origin from the Dominican Republic, meaning all of the beans are from one specific area."
While creating the flavors of the ganache squares for The Ganachery, Lauder spend about a month and a half taste testing and reworking flavors to get each one perfect. While the salted caramel ganache square is the guest favorite, the mint ganache squar is the one Lauder is most proud of. "The mint was added by taste test, so we knew when we had it just right."
While her assignment for the Disney College Program was pure luck, everything else leading up to her role as the only Chef Chocolatier within The Walt Disney Company was hard work and making the right connections. "As a chef and teenager this is where I wanted to work. I worked a lot."
"I love my local library. I usually have a rotation of five or six books I'm reading or listening to." Lauder mentions listening to books on the way to work gets her focused for the day. She also likes to listen to podcasts, and loves a podcast about women in the chocolate industry when there's some more tedious tasks to be done around the shop.
