I was born into the restaurant business.  My grandfather had a big desk chair in his office upstairs of The Iron Kettle in East Aurora, NY, and I can remember him offering me a letter opener to find the coins that had 'accidentally' fallen in between the cushions.  I must have been no older than four, yet the memory of that time comes to me as if it were yesterday.

For years, the only open-faced roast beef sandwich I would eat was from The Iron Kettle.  The same held true for Cole slaw, which is a salad I can honestly say I didn't even like!  But I liked my grandfather's.  It was perfect.

Over time, I became much more willing to at least try my favorites elsewhere, but the emotional charge just wouldn't diminish.  There would never be an open-faced roast beef sandwich or an order of Cole slaw that would ever succeed in taking the place of that which I knew and loved as a child.  It was about family.  It was about nourishment.  It was about good food served by people who loved me.

It should be of no surprise that my first job at the tender age of 16 was at the concession stand of a movie theater.  A few years later, it was a fine dining establishment.  During college, it was a pizza place.  In my early twenties, I spent the summer working in a restaurant on the boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ.  In my mid-twenties, I was blessed with the opportunity to work for a 5-room banquet facility that served over 1000 people per shift...and most days, I got to see 2000 of them!  Those week-end doubles taught me just about everything I needed to know about stamina and perseverance, not to mention what it meant be a hard worker.  While I had mastered the server/waitress position through years of experience in the industry, it was that banquet server's position that also added hostess, bartender and cocktail waitress to my Food & Beverage resume, one that seems to have been born with a life of its own!

When I reached my thirties, I vowed I would never work in a restaurant again.  For those of us in the Food & Beverage industry, we intimately understand what that means and WHY I would vow something so severe.  Ridiculous hours, exhausting work, disrespectful people, belligerent co-workers, management who couldn’t manage much less lead, dirty kitchens and lack of integrity are only a few of the reasons why I thought I would leave the industry and never return.

For a while, I succeeded.  But it was during my position as the Assistant General Manager of a local hotel that I got catapulted into the industry yet again.  As the AGM, my primary area of responsibility was the Food & Beverage department. Go figure!  To say that it was a nightmare would be the understatement of the century.  It was my laser-focused intention to clean up an abhorrent mess and create a successful operation that I was introduced to the owner of a local catering company here in Albuquerque. He showed up with his staff, served my guests and helped me get the kitchen into functioning order.  It was the first time in the history of the hotel that the F & B scores were 100% on its annual review.  While my employment with the hotel lasted only four short months due to the specific reasons I’ve already identified, my new position as a Catering Director for the chef lasted four years.  It is here that I pay tribute to William B. Keller, Executive Chef.   At 70 years old, he put us all to shame.  His 15-hour days, 7-day work weeks taught me something meaningful every day, some of which I sought to emulate, others I definitely did not.   He became my mentor, my friend and a member of my family.  I was his Princess and he was my Huckleberry.  Bill passed away just before his 75th birthday.  It's been two years that he's been gone, but he lives in my heart forever.  Bless you, my friend, for all that I’ve learned about taking care of those who take care of you.

I've been out of the industry for the last year, healing from the losses of the last couple and breathing life into a new direction for my work in the world.  Interestingly enough, while my work in the world has brought new people and new opportunities into my life that have nothing to do with the Food & Beverage industry, the tapestry that has been woven throughout my life always does.

After a recent professional meeting at a local hotel, our group had booked a room off of the dining area for our informal gathering, our social time to spend together.  There were about twenty of us.  There were three other tables in the dining area that were full.  There was one server.  As much as I try to mind my own business, I find that when I'm in a food or beverage-serving establishment, it's always my business!  It was automatic.  Say hi to the server, ask her permission to help her and get to work! Drink orders got taken, water & glasses were placed on the tables and the order was given to the server.  Bar napkins were put down, drinks were served, food orders got taken and given to the server.  Food came out from the kitchen and all was well.

While it was second nature, or more accurately first nature, for me to do what I did, it took my group by surprise.  It was a side to me that they hadn't seen.  They didn't know that I was in my element.  What I was doing was in my blood, but it got me thinking about what that meant.  What, exactly, was in my blood?  I will be 44 in September.  What had I learned in the forty years since I pulled coins from my grandfather's chair?  What is it that being raised in the Food & Beverage industry has taught me?

Every restaurant that I've worked in since the age of 19 has been a family owned establishment, every single one.  Coincidence?  I think not!  While I was taking care of my people that night after the meeting, I became intimately aware that what I was doing was literally taking care of my people.  They were, in essence, like my family.  I helped our server because I know her job as intimately as I knew I was taking care of my people.  She immediately became a member of my family as well.

One of my team members made mention to how weird it was for me to do what I was doing.  For him, I was an associate of an organization we both belonged to, each of us emerging as team leaders within the organization.  There didn't seem to be a place in his paradigm for me to be setting up tables and taking drink orders.  I stood before him and said, "It's my pleasure to serve you."  While there was a slight undercurrent of sarcasm, it was only added to ease his discomfort.  I meant it.  And in making that statement, I got it.  I got the message of the consistent, ever-present tapestry that has continued to weave its way throughout my life and around the Food & Beverage industry.

I was born into the restaurant business.  I serve and I nourish and I take care of my people.  It's in my blood, passed on through generations of restaurant owners, servers, bartenders and chefs.  It's who I am, how I live and WHY I do things the way I do.  For that, I am eternally grateful!

At this point in my life, it's time to share my story and tell the stories of others who serve, nourish and take care of their people.

I welcome your thoughts, responses and most importantly, your engaging discussion about that which matters most to you as you weave the tapestry of your life in the Food & Beverage industry.  It's in your blood and it is your story.

Welcome home!