Chef at The Still Whiskey Steaks
29 Years Old • Fort Collins
Tell us about yourself, your history and how you came to be where you are now.
I was born and raised in Fort Collins and went to Poudre High School. I picked up work in local restaurants during college, and I moved up to eventually become the general manager at Big Al’s Burgers and Dogs in downtown Fort Collins when I was 22. I then moved on and started something new at a restaurant called The Still Whiskey Steaks. There, I moved up from being a prep cook to becoming one of the two head chefs at The Still.
Explain your career, achievements and professional highlights.
Throughout college, I worked up in the restaurant industry from being a staff member at Big Al’s to becoming the general manager at 22 years old. At The Still, I started at the bottom again as a prep cook and worked my way up through the years to become the sous chef for many years, then chef as of the last year.
In what ways do you give back to the community?
You can say the food we create at The Still is, in a way, giving back to the community by coming up with unique menu items and giving great experiences to everyone who walks in the door. At the same time, The Still donates to local groups around the city. You can usually see me helping out at the annual downtown food walk that gathers donations for the Food Bank for Larimer County.
What do you consider the biggest accomplishment or challenge you’ve overcome, either professionally or personally?
I battled many health issues when I was younger, missing years of schooling. Making it to college on time was my biggest personal challenge and accomplishment. Professionally, restarting a career—having been at the top of one restaurant and moving down to the bottom at the next—was a challenge. Even if it’s a personal choice, there are challenges and learning curves with any new job. To make it back to the top was great.
Tell us something unique about you.
I’m a big fan of going back to my family’s farm north of Fort Collins and relaxing. Working on the farm or hanging out with the different animals is a place of peace for me.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In 10 years?
In five years, I wouldn’t mind the idea of being the sole leader in a kitchen. In 10 years, I’d like to take on a larger role in the restaurant or hospitality industry, maybe by running a whole restaurant or having something of my own.
What piece(s) of advice would you give to your younger self?
I think I would tell my younger self to be more patient in times when I thought things were urgent and take each step in life with a little more thought—but not to second guess what I think is right.
Do you design the menu at The Still Whiskey Steaks? How do you decide what dishes to include?
Usually it’s me, our other chef, Neil, and the owners who give input. There are several things involved with menu creation: whether the dish sounds appealing, whether it’s on brand and whether people would order it. I also ask myself, “What’s the cost of the dish?” Restaurants need to keep a certain percentage of the price of the dish to make it worth it. If you run a high-cost item, it’ll affect the operational cost of the building. The only way to make a high-cost item work is if it brings people in the door. Offering a dish you can’t order anywhere else can do that. You just don’t want to create a menu full of those items.
How did climbing the ranks at different restaurants give you the skills and knowledge to become a head chef?
It helped build who I want to be as a leader. Starting at the bottom, you get to experience all the jobs that go into making a restaurant run. You can decipher which parts were better and which parts were worse. You can look back on how you appreciated being talked to by management. That helps you relate to the staff that’s working for you, and you can inspire them by showing them what they can achieve if they want to build a career in the industry. When it comes to cooking, you can see multiple ways things are done. That teaches you the most efficient way to run a kitchen.
Local business shoutout:
I would like to shout out RE:GEN Fitness Club, a new fitness club owned by Josh and Emily Maranian. It’s a semi-private training gym that works closely with staff at The Still to keep us in shape enough to stay on our feet all day. It has also created a more teamwork-based culture for our staff by showing us how to support each other and work together.
