Michael Katz

I graduated early from CPP with a degree in Hospitality Management and a minor in Regenerative Studies, which dealt with sustainability from all aspects.

During the summer of 2023, my occupation was as the sous chef of an exclusive, ultra-remote fishing resort in Southern Alaska. Our operations consisted of 3 meal services 7 days a week with constantly changing menus depending on available provisions, in addition to locally foraged ingredients.

Breakfast was standard rotating 5-8 piece menu depending on available product and leftovers. Lunch was nothing special but always hearty and dense for the guests going fishing. Dinner was usually a choice of composed meat or fish dishes, starting with daily rotating appetizers and desserts.

The team was leas by an Executive chef, myself, two cooks, and a baker. We worked and lived very closely with the FoH team, commuting less than 100ft to work from our beds.

In this position, I was the opening kitchen manager of a large food hall in Los Angeles, working with 22 different vendors. As kitchen manager, I organized employees in daily prep work for each vendor/food seller, after which the product would be made and sold at the people-facing side of the dining area.

Each day I supervised the work of 50+ employees of various ages and skill levels, speaking Spanish, English, and Russian in order to better communicate.

This was a very large operation and involved a great deal of adaptation in the opening months, in addition to other opening challenges.

Uley's Cabin, famed ski-in restaurant in Colorado, was my occupational home for the 21-22 ski season. It was here that I opened the restaurant, created a menu with the chef, and worked each day to a very high standard, upholding our reputation as one of the finest mountain restaurants in Colorado.

We worked with local game, meats, cheeses, etc and were sold out almost every day.

My duties included opening and closing, prep, line cooking, organizing and cleaning.