My calling to food service started as a teenager in my neighborhood Italian restaurant, Dante Benedetti’s New Pisa, in North Bean. Now many years later, I’ve been working at San Francisco Unified School District since May 2024 as the Culinary Manager for the Refresh Menu program. We provide about 11,000 meals per day across 20 school sites serving middle and high school students plus our standalone EED centers and an allergen meal program for those with special dietary needs. My longest duration for educational food service was at UC Berkeley’s Cal Dining for 9.75 years as the GM for their Campus Restaurant and Retail operations and a short stint as GM at their Foothill Residential Hall. I’ve worked for Sodexo and Chartwells, serving San Francisco State University and Mills College at Northeastern University, respectively. Over the years, I’ve managed casual dining concepts for Chili’s, Elephant Bar & Grill and Tony Roma’s, and the BurgerMeister chain in SF. I graduated from the Hospitality program at SF City College and San Francisco State University.