Our CW Magazine Contributors

Andrew Brown

A bit about me. I’ve been with The Chefs’ Warehouse for 3 years. Before that I spent 13 years as an executive chef, cooking in professional kitchens in Italy, Boston, New York, and San Francisco. This career has allowed me to satisfy my penchant for travel. I’ve lived in San Francisco for over 5 years now, and I am fortunate to call this place home!

Bruce Luong

Growing up in a traditional Vietnamese culture, I learned at a very young age to appreciate food. Every weekend our families would get together and enjoy what other families were cooking, trying new dishes or discussing what to make with what someone had caught or picked from a nearby farm. I wanted to try everything and loved the taste of all of the flavors. That brought me to working for my Aunt’s restaurant when I was 16 years old. I used my work in restaurants to pay for my expenses in high school and college. Knowing that I wanted to work around food or for a food company, I started working in the food distribution business right after college in Accounting. I have stayed in this field for 23 years. I consider working for CW as the pinnacle of my career. The Chefs Warehouse gives me the opportunity to engage with the most elite people, producers, and restaurants in the world.

Chris Pappas

Francois Mellet

I have been around pastry and chocolate for over 30 years. I grew up in the region of Lyon, France and learned my craft and graduated there with the best pastry shops. When I moved to the U.S., I worked in all different areas of the food business, retail, catering, high-end hotel, upscale European market and wholesale. Although very challenging at times, these various professional experiences gave a better understanding of our food world language and needs of our customers. Today, I’m proud to be a part of The Chefs' Warehouse and to bring innovative solutions to our sales team and customers. My biggest accomplishments so far have been to hold a Chocolate Guinness World Record and being voted one of the Top 10 Pastry Chef in the U.S. in 2017. My mojo is very simple: “I know what I know and I don’t pretend to know what I don’t.”

Harry Lorusso

Kelli Colaco

Ironically, I was one of those kids who strangely collected the early food magazines and glossy large gourmet food books with lush sprawling images of al fresco feasts in Provence and Spain. etc. As a longtime struggling actor and writer in NYC, I worked in more restaurants and waited on more tables than I can remember. After reading Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential way back when, I began to see clearly how food, restaurants and bars are at the center of all things vibrant, delicious and human about being a live; full of endless stories and flavors. So, in 1997 when I was offered the opportunity to work as Head Copy Writer for The Chefs Warehouse, NYC (then Dairyland), I literally jumped at the chance. My work with CW from NYC, to London/Europe to San Francisco/Bay Area has provided me with some of the most savored 'ingredients' of my life. Grateful to be a part of the complex recipe after all these years.

Kristine Jannuzzi

Mike Behan

At the young age of fifteen, someone told me you could make ' a lot of money as a busboy' so I applied for my first restaurant job and fell in love. I spent close to 20 years working every aspect of the restaurant business from parsley chopper to Executive Chef, from busboy to Sommelier. I was privileged to work and learn from some of the greatest restaurateurs in the Chicago area, highlighted with time spent at The Kingston Harbour Yacht Club and the legendary Café Provencal. After moving to Indianapolis I took a chance and left the restaurant business to try my hand at being a food salesman at Rykoff Sexton. I found I really enjoyed helping restaurateurs and chefs achieve their goals. I rose quickly through the ranks at Sexton becoming the top salesman in Indiana before accepting a position at Michael's Finer Meats and Seafoods. I quickly became the Sales Manager for Michael's in Indiana and Illinois and was their leading salesman for well over a decade before relinquishing most of my accounts and accepting the job of Director of Specialty Sales for the Chef's Warehouse. A role I have apparently been training for, for over forty years because it has allowed me to use my knowledge, passion and skills, to continue to do what I do best - help restaurateurs and chefs create an incredible dining experience for their guests.

Michael Moore

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. Started his career as a territory sales rep for Michael's Finer Meats and Seafoods out of Columbus, Ohio in 1997. Was promoted to regional sales manager, overseeing Cincinnati, Louisville and Nashville. Later became the Director of Sales for Michael's. With the purchase of Michael's by Chefs Warehouse He became the Director of Sales for CW Midwest. Most recently, He took a promotion to Center of the Plate Protein Director for Chefs Warehouse Midwest.

Nikki Thomas

There is a touch of irony to my lifelong love of cheese, having grown up in the Philippines where 50% of the native population is lactose intolerant. I’ve sold cheese to Joe Montana, cooked at Michelin-starred restaurants and have a degree in genetics. I’ve been at The Chefs’ Warehouse for two plus years, and prior to that sold cheese for seven years to chefs all over the San Francisco Bay Area. I have two young children, one who loves cheese and one who claims he doesn’t like it but eats it anyway. I live in Napa and am fully on board with the wine and cheese culture.

Pat O'Callaghan

Sean Jeremy Palmer

Tina Roberts

Vince Licata

I consider myself a veteran of foodservice but it goes much deeper than that. My family background in the seafood and Italian food business began in the early days of North Beach in San Francisco. My grandfather was a crab seller and his father before him. “Four crabs for a dollar” they used to say and then gave away the left over crabs at the end of the day. Our family enjoyed 45 years of success in the restaurant business in the SF Bay Area. Vince’s Italian and Seafood was the name and it was an icon of the San Francisco Peninsula at the time. But when my father asked me to join the family business in 1987, I passed. It was then where I started my foodservice distribution career. My focus has been broad based: Sales, Purchasing, Marketing, and Product development, mostly with a focus on protein. It was in 2011, when I found Del Monte Meat Company, that my COP experience was fully developed. You haven’t sold meat until you have sold meat for a family owned meat company. My role today remains diverse: Contract Sales Management, Vendor Management, Procurement, and Pricing; all relying on a pieces of my past to support Del Monte and The Chefs Warehouse into the future. I make my home with my wife and daughter in Northern California, where the food and weather are great. I would not have it any other way.