Kasbah Events Chefs

Christopher Hajji
Executive Chef & Co-owner
Originally from Morocco, Christopher graduated culinary school in 1968 from Ecole Hoteliere De Nice in France. He has worked in some of the finest European restaurants in Monte Carlo, Switzerland, Spain & Morocco. Chris moved to California in the early 80′s, where he worked in kitchens for very distinguished establishments. He then moved to Hawaii and in 1987 he incorporated France-Hawaii Catering, the top catering and event planning company in Honolulu.
Christopher has also owned & operated the famous Moroccan restaurant Hajjibaba, located in Honolulu.
In 1997, he headed to the Desert, where he currently owns and operates Gourmet Celebrations specializing in exclusive off premise catering and in flight catering for private air craft
Christopher’s passion is modern cuisine and brings new twists on classic recipes.

Holly and Moumen
Married couple and business partners Holly Hadsell El Hajji and Moumen El Hajji grew up in separate cultures, but both of them have been in the world of food their whole lives, though raised on separate continents, both were born into families in the restaurant business.
Holly’s first job while still a Punahou student was at the island’s first gourmet kitchen store, aptly named the Complete Kitchen. Part of her job description was to setting up the weekly cooking demonstrations at the store, and that was the beginning of Holly’s journey into fine food preparation and gourmet cooking. Holly went to University of Hawaii, and then went to France to attend the La Varrene cooking school in Paris. While at La Varrrene, she learned from the best French chefs, explored the markets and travel the country, and her love of cooking was solidified. She went on to work for a catering company where she met her soon to be husband, Moumen. They married, and in 1992 together opened the award winning restaurant Beau Soleil, where they also taught weekly cooking classes that sold out consistently. After the closing of Beau Soleil, Holly and Moumen carried on with their passion for cooking, running the very successful company, Pacific Catering, feeding just about all film crews, actors and movie stars on location in Hawaii.
Moumen grew up in the culinary mecca of Morocco where he was surround by delectable cuisine and a family that loved to cook. He left Morocco to attend college in Hawaii where his uncle, a successful chef, owned Hawaii’s top catering company. Long story short, cooking won out over plan to attend medical school. He met Holly in his uncle’s catering kitchen, soon after that they were married and opened their first restaurant. Moumen is Hawaii’s largest cater to the film industry and has travel all over the islands and even back to Morocco to cater to TV and film.