Chef in Vancouver, British Columbia

Currently in consulting project. Executive chef and creator of Forkhill House Irish Bistro January2017 – June 2018 (restaurant on market) Developed all food and most drink menus. Responsible for all aspects of the kitchen, labor and costing. Kept up with trends and seasonally changed menu. Hired and trained all staff and made a small tight team cross trained for greatest efficiency. Helped with marketing and reached out to various food bloggers, radio shows and magazines to spread our name. Executive Chef Al Porto Ristorante August 2015 – Sept2016 (restaurant sold) Efficiently runs one of Vancouver’s top fine dining Italian restaurants. Standardized recipes and fixed costs. Became very experienced with executing multiple multi course parties in different parts of the restaurant at the same time. Head Chef and Kitchen Manager, Hotel Cocktail Master, Abode @ Blue Horizon Hotel March 2014 – August 2015 Designed and executed new top selling menu items. Raised dinner food sales 47% over prior year’s sales. Designed cocktail menu and entered Vancouver Foodster’s 100 mile cocktail competition and took 1st place in people’s choice 2014. Created canapé menu for catering. Worked with sales and marketing and raised our social media awareness. Dropped food cost immediately by 5%. Dine Out Menu successful and written about by some of Vancouver’s toughest bloggers who I’ve grown closer to during my stay at the Blue. Created and regulated a prep program and eliminated all production inefficiencies and 86’d 86ing. Raised check average by just over $2. Started social media team and trained a marketer for the new position created. Trains and developments management, departments, and new positions created for the hotel. Reports directly to owner Executive Chef Heather Hospitality Group May 2013 –February 2014 I ran and organized 9 businesses that supply and catered to each other. The restaurants range from full service gastro pubs, bakery, deli, tapas wine bars, brunch cafe and lounge. I was in charge of all BOH operations of menu development, ordering, labor/scheduling, catering/transfers, large event catering and organizing. Throughout the holiday season we successfully executed up to and around $10k in food sales a day for 2months. I have developed strong sous chefs and a dynamic team. I take pride in knowing the restaurants would be stable and it would be a smooth transition when decided to move forward and explore my passion. I've learned many valuable skills here and want to further develop and challenge my culinary knowledge in the restaurant industry. 2013 Work- Consulting management work Worked in short term projects with restaurants around Vancouver including The Speakeasy Group(Kitchen Management), The Blarney Stone (Menu & Food Program Development), and Kaisereck Deli on Granville Island (Looking for purchase) Falconetti’s Restaurant / Meats and Eats Retail Specialty Butcher Shop 2012 Chef, General Manager. Was hired to help with the business boom that appearing on “Diners, Drive Ins, & Dives” would bring. I handpicked a full kitchen team on their request as set them up with a professional working kitchen. Organized outdoor food and beer gardens for Italian Days and Car Free Day (which was during the Euro Cup) which was a huge success. Did all of the ordering, inventory, recipe creation, pricing, scheduling and main training. On top of this, Falconetti’s had a dream of opening a retail butcher shop attached to the restaurant and I opened it for them. Trained all the staff in the arts of sausage making, smoking, brines and cures along which other forms of minor butchery. Helped build a loyal clientele on Commercial Drive. Cellar Jazz Club and Restaurant 2011 Executive Chef. Walked into a restaurant that needed to completely recreate its culinary image and completed that with great success. With help of owner and a p/t consultant we completely overhauled the menu, trained a complete new kitchen staff, and redesigned the kitchen in a week. Immediately, I brought in the reviewers and set up social media to get the word out. The changes were appreciated by the reviewers, guests and regulars. Since being there I have also introduced and created an inventory system that tracks Food Cost, variances, and usage. I’ve set up a GFS deal account and also advertise that we pick up most of our produce from local organic markets. White Spot Limited 2008-201.... (Oakridge Mall, YVR, Cambie, West Georgia) Kitchen Manager. Regional Trainer. New restaurant Opening Team Leader. Pride myself on taking on “work-in-progress” kitchens/restaurants and raising the bar in areas such as Food Cost, Systems, cleanliness, Staff Moral and Teamwork within the restaurant. Moving myself up in KM “rankings” I believe I am ready to take on new challenges and explore different areas of running a hospitality business. I was able to pick out invoicing problems that slipped through; lead the company in controllable costs and food cost, and White Spot currently uses some of my systems and “cheat sheets” companywide. I was handpicked to be a Lead Kitchen trainer for the YVR White Spot opening. White Spot Limited. (Marine and Byrne location) 2008-1 year Kitchen Manager. Opening of new White Spot prototype store. Revising and creating crib notes and manuals to be used company wide. Training, re-training, and cross training ALL employees. Training new Kitchen Managers to work in other units. Setting up kitchen for commercial shoots and media attention. Attending award banquets and other media events as a White Spot representative. Attending Management training seminars .Scheduling, food ordering, hiring, food costing, etc. Moxies Classic Grill Davie St. (also at on Robson / Davie / W.Georgia / W. Broadway) 2006 200... Senior Sous Chef. Reports to Chef and General Manager. Duties : Writing schedule, in putting data for DLC and projections, manager par levels and prep charts, teach the entire restaurant staff when a "roll out "menu would arrive seasonally. I proudly prepared the Kitchen for David Wong's media event to promote the Bocuse D'or and was honored to work beside him. Controlled costs and worked and created “Daily Specials” and was in charge of creating menus and meals for tour groups. Executive Hotel Richmond Bar and Grill Kitchen Manager. Duties : Food and Bar orders , re- training all employees , creating new systems within kitchen to manage food cost and labor, organizing kitchen and computer, schedules, inventory, supervising kitchen productivity, keeping maintenance and sanitation up to top level. Had control over menu development and was able to experiment with products and new ideas to successfully raise our food sales. Boston Pizza Broadway Kitchen Manager Training Program. Duties: Restaurant orders, creating new ways to improve kitchen productivity, organizing kitchen and computer, schedules, setting up computer program to improve productivity. Taught owners how to use Excel and new ordering system. Created new labor system and food ordering system that they still use. Skills: • Medium to Fluent in most computer programs. • Works well on teams. I am able to motivate and stay motivated. • Pays attention to details and completes projects in a timely fashion • Fast learner, always excited to pick up new skills. • Easily multi-tasks and can take on more than one project at a time without stress. I am considering this move with great passion. I am currently consulting Chef in a small health focused slow cook-fast service catering startup in Yaletown. I work there with great pride and respect for what I do, but always strive to learn more. I have extensive experience in catering, large volume event coordination, day to day restaurant operations, menu development and costing. In my current position I've strengthened my weaknesses and challenged myself more than ever in my career and am excited to move on and see what's next. I look forward to meeting you and exploring what we can offer each other for the business. As indicated in the enclosed resume, I am highly skilled in inspecting food items, planning and developing menus(from small independent to large banquet), food purchase specifications, recipes, presentation standards and pricing for all menu items and specials. Moreover, I am well versed in developing techniques for food preparation and presentation and able to assist in establishing menu prices. In addition, I have a demonstrated ability to train line cooks on technique and utilization of products and able to ensure that inventory is stocked with fresh ingredients. I have trained foh on bar, presentation, cost and customer interaction. Furthermore, I possess a professional appearance, and capable of maintaining high standards of sanitization, health and safety. Over and above, I am extremely capable of evaluating food products to assure freshness and quality standard are attained, and inspecting supplies, equipment, and work areas to ensure compliance to established standards.