Current role and career path
My current role is chef/kitchen manager at the Sundog Trading Post in Yellowknife, NT. We are a full-service cafe/restaurant that offers a lunch and dinner service. Our main product is our homemade ice cream that we sell by the scoop (with handmade waffle cones) or in our packaged pints. We also offer a range of catering services from small coffee breaks to large formal weddings.
I have been working in kitchens since I was 14. I started off as a dishwasher and quickly fell in love with the pace and organized chaos of the industry.
We were recently included in Air Canada Enroute article “Food worth flying for” and I was also featured in The Globe and Mail’s 2022 edition of “Canada’s Kitchen.”
I chose to really embrace this career path after I tried a year of university in a business program. I left that year feeling like it was not for me and I turned to the only job I’d ever known: cooking. I worked in the best places I could find in my small town and then I decided to fully pursue this path and that’s what lead me to Niagara College.
Influences and inspiration
My experience at Niagara College was an eye opener to the professionalism that this job requires. Coming from a remote small town, I hadn’t been introduced to that level of perfection. Every minute detail was so much more important than I had been used to. And I loved that.
I loved that the chef professors were so particular with every detail of a dish. I loved the challenge that that presented. I wanted to impress the chefs and get every detail correct. I do my best to carry that same level of quality to my everyday work.
Standout NC experience
I took part in a few events with NC. There was a special dinner event that was a collaboration with the beer and wine students. That was a great experience to be a part of a large format formal dinner.
A few chefs that were instrumental in my time at NC are Michael Olson and Oz Avila.
During our cooking labs, I felt that chef Olson saw potential in me and that was empowering. He helped in getting my coop placement at Jasper Park Lodge, which was an incredible experience.
Chef Avila was a great instructor in our classroom sessions. One of my best memories from NC is when he took a select group of students on a trip to Toronto. We got to enter some of the best kitchens in Toronto, visited all the markets and specialty shops. This was an incredible experience for me and one I won’t forget.
Words of wisdom
Anybody looking to get into the culinary field should work a few years in an entry-level position at the best restaurant available to you. With that experience, then you can decide to attend a culinary school. You need an understanding of this industry before making that kind of commitment.
Once you decide this career is for you, a culinary school is the best way of broadening your knowledge and skills.
Use your time at a culinary school to absorb every single technique and skill from not only your chefs but your peers. They all have something they can teach you.
Connect with them and you will make lifelong friends and coworkers or possibly business partners.
