University of Gastronomic Sciences - Pollenzo

Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts

The University of British Columbia

Food Business Strategy Consultant, Culinary Nutritionist, Event Catering, Food Waste Consulting

As a part of the outstanding Events Experience Production team at TED Conferences, my role is to drive the creative vision of all food and beverage related experiences at the conference, designing one of a kind experiences in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, and producing each experience onsite.

- Design unique food and beverage experiences and pop-up concepts at all parties and events
- Source partners and vendors for custom experiences (coffee bar, tea bar, juice bar activations, food trucks, innovative exhibits) 
- Stakeholder management, communications, and contracting for all partners and vendors
- Coordinate the operational and logistical aspects of all internal and external stakeholders using TED's internal systems and processes 
- Budget management and negotiation with all stakeholders, both for in-kind partnerships and contract service providers
- Provide ongoing support to each partner and vendor, mapping out operational details to prepare for onsite execution 
- Provide direction and oversee health and safety, quality control, and permit logistics

TED Conferences

Experiential Designer and Producer, Food & Beverage

Our Mission: To support and empower food entrepreneurs through one-on-one business coaching services. 

http://www.food-connections.com/foodstartups/

Food Connections Consulting Inc.

Food Business Consultant

- Assist with various aspects of the Love Food Hate Waste Campaign 
- Strategize outreach, measure effectiveness and scout out new ideas
- Design educational materials and resources for event marketing to maximize exposure
- Create recipes using "food waste"
- Media appearances as food waste expert
- Prepared all recipes needed for large outreach events and demos at Farmer's markets, Safeway, and other outdoor engagement
- Engage and educate the public on the topic of food waste reduction
- Regularly contribute tips and strategies to improve the program

Metro Vancouver

Food Waste Consultant

- Manage a social enterprise cafe serving the marginalized and vulnerable in the Mt. Pleasant community. Serve 200 guests weekly, on Mondays and Tuesdays.
- Oversee all logistical aspects of running the cafe and kitchen, weekly menu planning, ordering inventory, and managing kitchen cooks and servers
- Hire and manage staff for the social hiring program, providing coaching for hard and soft skills hospitality training to those with barriers to employment to excel in tasks in the kitchen and dining room
- Develop food waste reduction strategies to reduce food costs by creating weekly recipes utilizing items on hand 
- Coordinate procurement of weekly food donations from farms and businesses to connect surplus donated food to our program
- Establish partnership with other organizations for cross collaboration in order to better serve our guests and the neighborhood
- Provide coaching and counselling to employees in soft skills training including teamwork and communication strategies
- Manage crisis, emergencies, incidents and risks for all staff, volunteers, and guests
- Provide care and relational support when needed to employees, supporting their mental health as able
- Review and implement policies and procedures, program evaluation, budget and finances, and reports.
- Lead and empower core leadership team to execute strategic plan implementing the goals and vision of the program

Oasis Cafe - Tenth Church

Program Manager

Scrapless is a Food Redistribution App across UBC Campus that increases business operational efficiencies and predicts accurate forecasting to redistribute surplus food and mitigate wastage costs.

Scrapless connects hungry students on a budget with great deals from suppliers with excess food, preventing food waste and creating a sustainable campus environment.

https://www.scrapless.ca/

Scrapless: Food Waste Redistribution Mobile App

Co-founder & Advisory Consultant

www.food-connections.com

Services: 
- Menu Nutrition Labelling & Consulting --> http://nutritionlabelling.ca
- Recipe Development and Menu Reformulation
- Strategic Restaurant Marketing
- Food Business Product Launch Consulting
- Food Waste Consulting
- Event Marketing for Food Businesses 
- Food Experience Event Curation for Charities and Social Causes 
- Cooking Classes
- School Nutrition Presentations
- Video Storytelling

Founder & CEO

See portfolio of videos here:
https://www.food-connections.com/portfolio/#eventstorytelling

Food Experience Curator / Storytelling Event Planner

- Oversee the brand "YVR Foodies", a community of 2000+ food bloggers and foodies in the city
- Manage and execute high level monthly events for restaurant promotion and community building

YVR Media Group

Director of Restaurant Event Marketing & Food Blogger Recruitment

Piloted the first Feeding the 5000 Food Waste Awareness event in Canada. 

- Develop event’s vision and goals, liasing with UK founder organization
- Relationship building to seek out and gather stakeholders 
- Cast vision and chair the steering committee, hosting regular meetings
- Identify gaps and strategically execute a plan to fill leadership roles in the team
- Manage regular communications with team leads and stakeholders
- Provide guidance for event execution and team training 
- Develop marketing strategic plan with the marketing team
- Oversee and support all in-kind partnerships
- Create and manage online platforms for engagement 
- Oversee onsite flow and support operations and logistics team
- Manage post-event follow-up and engagement

https://globalnews.ca/news/2018888/rescued-food-on-the-menu-at-feeding-the-5000-event-in-vancouver/

Feeding the 5000 Vancouver

Event Organizer Lead

Recipe development modifying Jamie's recipes to be culturally and accessibly appropriate for the low income population of Stratford.
Curriculum assessment and research on best teaching practices
Teaching team-building, confidence and empowering life skills through cooking workshops to the community of Stratford
Conducting classes to at-risk prison youths, students on learning assistance, and children 
Marketing and business networking

Food Academy UK, former Jamie Oliver Ministry of Food

Cooking Class Instructor and Recipe Development

Specialization: Food Representation, Meaning and Media
- learning approaches to community-based project management, education, marketing and public relations

University of Gastronomic Sciences

Master in Food Culture & Communications

Create nutrition menus for restaurants in BC through nutrient analysis and provide assistance for menu item reformulation and nutrition consulting where needed

Provincial Health Services Authority

Recipe Nutrition Analyst, Informed Dining Program, Healthy Families BC

Conducted adult cooking classes educating participants on adapting new methods of cooking to make existing recipes more nutritious by reducing fat, sodium, and sugar.

Canadian Diabetes Association

Healthy Cooking Educator, 'Cooking for Your Life' Program

- Developed nutrition education curriculum for Pre-school, Kindergarten to Grade Seven 
- Plan and conduct interactive nutrition workshops, and adapting to each age range based on proficiency levels
- Travelled to over 60 schools across Greater Vancouver and the Lower Mainland

Kins Farm Market & COBS Bread

School Nutrition Educator

- Assist the Health Check National Director and Program Manager in business development, marketing support and evaluation with restaurant operators who wish to enrol in the program, ensuring deliverables are attained within the budgeted funds, and deadlines are met for document submission to provincial government
- Provide support and functional expertise to restaurants through staff training, audits, recipe nutritional analysis and nutrition/culinary consulting

Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon

Program Assistant, Health Check BC Dining Program

Trained and managed kitchen staff and servers on sanitary food preparation practices, service, and food quality.

Fortune House Seafood Restaurant

Customer Service Manager

Prepared dinner in large quantities, according to a 4-week menu cycle, for patients in a 200 bed facility

Holy Family Hospital

Dinner Cook

Worked closely with Corporate Chef to complete menu nutrition analysis and provided nutrition expertise and recommendations where needed.

Boston Pizza

Nutrition Anaylst and Consultant - Corporate Services

Completed menu nutrition analysis and provided nutrition expertise and recommendations where needed.

Elaine Cheng