Professional Certification:
ServSafe certified through April 2016.
Professional Resume:
Profile
My life has been filled with professional and personal accomplishments. As I seek new food industry opportunities, I know I will meet the challenges ahead and find success. Teaching is my gift, and food is the tool I use to share the good things in life. Teaching cooking classes is my priority.
Summary of Qualifications
Have catered part-time since 2004 and have produced banquet-quality dinners for up to 250 people.
Shown leadership skills in every aspect of life.
Speaker at more than 100 workshops for leaders and personal health.
Two years of teaching in high school classroom.
Food writer and copy editor for Bay Area News Group for 7 years.
Relevant Skills ? focus on teaching and ministry skills
Have managed kitchen staff of 8 and serving staff of 10 for catering events.
Two years of teaching high school English taught me the importance of long-term lesson plans and having the humility to improve what didn?t work.
Education studies taught me the value of daily addressing multiple learning styles.
Spent 15 years doing ministry in the local church with single adults, mainly single parents and single men, focusing on character and integrity issues. Wrote curriculum.
Communicate appropriately and calmly with students so that my expectations are understood. Constantly encourage students and give lots of positive feedback.
Facilitation skills enable everyone in group to participate, enjoy classes, and learn.
Creative menus include various American, Mexican, Creole, French, Italian, Irish, Mediterranean, Jewish, seafood, Hawaiian, barbecue, and vegetarian.
Experienced in procuring produce, meat, poultry, fish, and shellfish from large-scale purveyors to local farmers markets.
Able to supervise every aspect of clean-up, from daily cleaning of my own station to thorough routine maintenance of entire kitchen.
Have an abundance of resources in the culinary field for guest-teaching.
Fluent in Word and Excel computer programs to track food budgets and staff reports.
Personal Characteristics
Honest
Patient
Mentor
Loving
Empathetic
Certifications
ServSafe certification through April 2016.
First-aid and CPR certified.
Work Experience
2008-current ? Doug Mead Catering, Concord, Calif. Owner & Chef
Lead part-time kitchen staff of 6 and serving staff of 8 to cook 6-8 monthly meals. Duties include menu planning, food testing, procuring meat and produce, hiring and managing cooks and food servers, and supervising clean-up. Will begin doing weddings in summer 2011. Use Word and Excel programs for record-keeping.
2007-2009 ? Berean Christian High School, Walnut Creek, Calif. English Teacher
Developed English curriculum and diverse lesson plans for English classes. Coached golf team for 4 years; team won 2009 league title; 2 individuals were league champs.
2001-2006 ? Bay Area Newspaper Group, Pleasanton, Calif. Copy Editor and Writer
Collaborated with designers, writers, editors and photographers to design, edit and write features and food packages. Wrote fun food stories from community events.
2004-2005 ? Awesome Salsa & Guacamole Co., Concord, Owner and Chef
Ran catering company featuring authentic Mexican food. Catered dinners for as many as 175 people. Staff of 3 prepared 300 daily dishes for local art and wine festivals.
Jan. 1996-Dec. 2003 Single-Parent Network, Concord, Founder & director
Founded and directed parachurch organization that designed seminars, retreats, leadership training and mentoring programs. Speaker at more than 50 workshops & conferences. Wrote 18-week Bible study based on Sermon on the Mount.
1990-1998 ? San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, Calif. Sports Page Designer
Supervised copy desk of 8; coordinated special sections for pro sports, 3 Super Bowls, 2 World Series, NBA playoffs and U.S. Open Golf events.
Food Demonstrations
July 2005 ?? Alameda County Fair, Pleasanton, Calif. Cooking Demonstrator
Presented cooking demonstrations on Salsa and Chile Rellenos to 100 viewers.
Achievements
2010 ? Rimz & Ribs Chili Cookoff, Livermore, Calif. Contestant
Authentic chili recipe was chosen winner by panel of judges and viewing audience.
2005 ? San Jose Tamale Festival, San Jose, Calif. Contestant`
Mushroom tamale recipe earned 2nd place in the commercial category.
Education
Liberty University Online, Lynchburg, VA, 2008-current
Anticipated Bachelor of Science in Education, Summer 2011
University of Arizona, Tucson, 1980-1983
Journalism major, English minor
Community Outreach
Started Feast With the King Ministries in January 2010 with a mission of ?using good food to share our faith in God.? Writing 2 books using Biblical principles as evangelism tool for churches. Have given 5 trial workshops at Cornerstone Fellowship in Livermore, Calif., and Fair Oaks Baptist Church in Concord. Gave 3 faith and food workshops at BASS Convention in Castro Valley, Calif., March 4. Did trial taping in May 2010 with KTLN- Channel 25 in San Rafael, Calif., to develop faith-based cooking show.
Participated for 1 week in rebuilding of orphanage in Leogane, Haiti in August 2010. Long-term goal is to plant 2 community gardens and start a culinary school. Read about my trip on my blog at http://foodparables.blogspot.com.
Volunteer on food-distribution team once a month with Serve the City in Livermore.
Team leader that prepares monthly meal for homeless people for Serve the City.
Company Description:
My food passion comes from growing up on a farm in Arizona. Across the road from my house were 20,000 head of cattle (imagine the smell!). I can tell you most everything about raising beef cattle (I had the grand champion steer at the county fair in 1975), from birth to the dinner plate. I have prepared virtually every cut of meat from tongue to tail. That farming background also taught me the value of using fresh, local ingredients. The best cantaloupe I have ever eaten came fresh off the vine out of the field that was my backyard.
In January 2010l, I started an organization called Feast With the King, which works with local churches to help feed the needy in our communities. One of my tenets is to be a good neighbor through food. Another is to plant community gardens in foreign countries (working on Haiti, summer, 2011). I speak regularly and continue to write two books about food and faith, one of which has 100 recipes from my 13 years as a single dad (no publisher yet).
The majority of my culinary experience has come from catering on my own (part-time since 2004), and I am a self-trained chef. My team and I have done banquets for as many as 250 people. For the past two years, I have been perfecting recipes as a caterer with the hope of expanding my business into weddings. Being a private chef and giving cooking classes in the home is the next step in my growth as a chef because it exploits my cooking, teaching and communication skills.
In 2006, I left the newspaper business, in part, because I was having more fun writing about fascinating food events in the community. Along the way, I won a few prizes in local food contests (see resume). Teaching cooking classes in your home is just one more fun thing for me to do.
Hire me, and you and your group of friends will have a blast learning to cook with me.
References upon request.
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