John Schmitz

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT JOHN SCHMITZ

As an Award-winning Executive Chef, I offer an extensive culinary and management career of more than two decades. My track record includes success steering cost reductions and profit growth through operational efficiencies, quality improvements, and inventory management. My background encompasses the conception, planning, and implementation of high-quality food and beverage programs.I have a passion for delivering an exceptional customer experience and believe that every team is a reflection of its leader, so I lead with integrity and a strong moral compass and show up as a coach and mentor, setting the tone and leading by example, while generating sustainable results.CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:Identified money-saving tactics, proactively purchasing supplies, building rapport and relationships with vendors while energizing food and beverage operations to exceed $2M in revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.Drove financial performance, implementing a ‘one shot’ approach to writing off inventory —translating monthly hits into food cost bonuses and increasing profit to the client >50%(2021) via planning culinary operations to cover all needs while maximizing service.Empowered future-focused decision-making, generating data-driven reports, including month-end inventory, food + labor costs, and new product testing for corporate review —changing the culture of foodservice department to reflect the nature and operating model of the client and venue.Expanded cross-functional organizational capacity, collaborating across departments on priorities, functions, and shared goals. Controlled costs and optimized spending via adherence to budgets for labor, capital assets, inventory purchasing and technology upgrades. Cross-trained existing employees to maximize team agility and performance.Set priorities, coordinating all operational aspects of culinary, FOH service, customer relations, luxury suite food and beverage packages, and events planning, including convention centers of up to 1.M sqft, 30K seat stadiums, pop-up buffet restaurants for pop-up al a carte restaurant for 2500+, multiple retail outlets running simultaneously throughout an event.Key Competencies: Food Service Excellence | Culinary Strategy + Execution | Operations Management | Revenue + Profit Optimization | Data Analytics | Creative Menu Development | Food + Labor Costing | New Product Development | Banquet + Catering Operations | Team Building + Development | Future-Focused Change Management | Process Improvement | Creative & Complex Problem Solving | Emotional Intelligence