Jorgen Petersen
brings twenty years of experience and complete
commitment to the culinary field. Jorgen has a background in hotel and
restaurant management. In the last five years, Jorgen has served as the
"Chief Culinary Officer" and visionary for Seasons. He has been responsible
for the implementation of Seasons menu development, corporate recipes, café
and catering practices, as well as the development of Seasons as a
corporation.
Previously, Jorgen has held
various positions within the industry. Jorgen was the Regional Executive
Chef for
Sodexho
,
USA
, bringing culinary guidance to over fifty
operations in the metropolitan area. He also led a corporate support team of
twenty-five chefs and cooks. Jorgen has a well-rounded knowledge of all
types of food service including café and catering operations. Prior to
becoming an Executive Chef, Jorgen excelled as a Chef Manager at various
other accounts, including the College of Preachers, The World Bank,
Scandinavian Cuisine, Inc., The Royal Danish Embassy and two hotels in
Denmark
. These roles gained Jorgen the skill and
culinary talent needed to attain his current status. In addition, Jorgen is
proficient in food service management, payroll, food costs, labor costs,
inventories, catering, sales, training, menu development, production and
purchasing.
Jorgen co-founded Seasons in 1998
and began his Seasons career as Executive Chef/Manager of the NEA location.
Jorgen also fine tuned Seasons corporate strategy, set the corporate
culinary standards, developed purchasing programs, assisted accounting
functions and initiated staff development.
Jorgen is the anchor behind the
culinary focus of Seasons. However, in his current role, Jorgen serves as
the Corporate Financial leader. Corporate responsibilities include budget
development, cash management, business strategy, contract negotiations and
corporate accounting. Jorgen's vision, sound operational expertise and
positive people skills will continue to lead Seasons to success.
Mary Kate shares nineteen years
of food service knowledge. Mary Kate spent eight years in restaurant service
and the last ten years in various roles within the contract food service
industry. These roles have included management, operations, catering, sales
and marketing. As co-owner of Seasons Culinary, Mary Kate has performed the
daily tasks of operations within the company as well as direct management of
the individual café and catering operations.
Mary Kate moved to the
Washington
area from
Connecticut
in 1988. Shortly thereafter, Mary Kate began a
career with
Sodexho
,
USA
as Director of Sales. This role entailed
developing marketing plans, promotions, sales opportunities, and food
service management. Mary Kate also sharpened her catering skills by
developing catering programs and served as Director of Sales for Heart’s
Delight Creative Catering. This role served as the training ground for menu
development, catering systems, conference and event planning.
Mary Kate co-founded Seasons in
January of 1998 and began her Seasons career as manager of the NEA location.
Mary Kate also began formulating corporate strategy, accounting processes
and positioned the company for future growth.
Mary
Kate’s focus with Seasons will continue to be cultivating new business,
corporate strategy, contract negotiation, client relations, market research
and corporate level accounting. Mary Kate will also share her love of
customer service at the account level via marketing action plans,
merchandising, customer service and systems training.
Art grew up locally in
Bethesda
,
Maryland
. He graduated from
Cornell
University
's School of Hotel Administration in 1991. Art
went to work with Morrison's Hospitality Group and continued to work for
Gardner Merchant, Sodexho, and Sodexho-Marriott through a series of mergers.
Art quickly moved through the ranks from Assistant Operations Manager to
General Manager of a 3.5 million-dollar property. Art's many operational
responsibilities included profit and loss management, branded concepts,
inventory control, sales, and accounting. Art gained added experience via
district appointments to the human resource department and as a financial
mentor for the region. Art's next move was to ARAMARK as General Manager of
another high profile, high volume account.
Art came to Seasons in
February of 2000 and is co-owner of the corporation. Art brings an upbeat
approach to all aspects of operations, financials and human resource
development. Art has compiled a "best practices" approach to operations by
taking the best of his experience and tailoring these to make Seasons a
sound corporation. Art’s serves as the Human Resources leader for Seasons.
He has developed our corporate handbook, served as Seasons training expert
and outlined Seasons corporate benefits strategy for the future.
Art is as personally well-rounded
as he is professionally well-rounded. Art has a true zeal for athletics,
with a special fanaticism for golf. Art is a certified PGA Pro and can boast
a published book on golf, titled "Golf's Little Instruction Book". He has
won the Washington Waiter Race on two occasions and participated in numerous
Marine Corps Marathons. Art has also given back to the community by
participating in the Big Brother Program. Art is a motivated leader who
brings continuity, financial control and stability to all Seasons accounts.
Claus Nielsen brings a
true passion for fine food and a belief in creating "staff restaurants".
Claus has nineteen years of culinary experience and has incredible culinary
finesse, high energy, and a fresh perspective on contract meals.
Claus began his career cooking in
restaurants along the Danish coast, where he fell in love with local
seafood. Claus longed for broader culinary horizons and left to work the
stoves at
London
's famed Ritz Hotel and
Washington
's Ice House. Two years later, he headed to
top-rated Kendrick's on sunny
St. Croix
. Claus returned stateside and became an
executive chef with Capital Restaurant Concepts (
J.Pauls
,
Georgia
Browns, Paolos, Georgetown Seafood Grill).
Claus has been a featured chef in a James Beard Foundation publication and
received special recognition from the
Baltimore
Sun.
Claus joined the Seasons Culinary
team in February of 2000 and is co-owner of the corporation. Claus brings
Seasons the restaurant panache and culture that Seasons has incorporated
into daily operations. Claus heads up the company purchasing department and
is also responsible for many of the culinary standards of the company.
These responsibilities include menu design, recipe development, culinary
standards consistency and purchasing procedures.
Claus is a trend setter and will
be active in expanding his staff restaurant concept and implementing new and
ever-changing ideas to all Seasons accounts.
