HBSS

Chef Wendie L. Huffman received her classical chef training at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. She also holds many awards and certificates not limited to the Sommelier Program at the California Culinary Academy. Wendie received her advanced culinary training at the Culinary Institute of America at the Greystone in Napa, California. In addition to her culinary degree she holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Management with minors in Marketing and Finance from the University of Phoenix.

During her extensive culinary career Chef Wendie has used her talents as an Executive Chef of The Last Mango, in Newport Beach, California; St. Joseph's Hospital, in Orange, California; The Pines at Genesee in Colorado. She has also served as an Executive Pastry Chef at Strings in Denver, Colorado. She is a gifted chef, baker, consultant, teacher, restaurant manager, entrepreneur and event planner. Chef Wendie founded and managed her own tremendously successful restaurant, catering company and wholesale baking company in Colorado which she sold prior to coming back to California.

Currently, Wendie was the Executive Chef at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. Chef Wendie had become a leader corporate wide with new venue opening and training, innovative menu and recipe design as well as running the finest food and labor cost in the House of Blues chain. Her main responsibilities included the financial performance of departments to include: exceeding budgetary expectations; food & beverage costs; labor costs; operating accounts; inventory controls, menu engineering to project and monitor trends and predict costs and generate corporate reports to reflect weekly operations and financial results.

Chef Wendie spent two years as the Vice President of Culinary Operations for the Ten Restaurant Group in Newport Beach, California. This corporation comprises Ten Asian Bistro; Panini Garden Café; Pronto To-Go and Tentation Ultra Lounge & Catering Facility. Chef Wendie developed strategic culinary, marketing and business plans while at Ten Restaurant Group. She created all support materials including but not limited to policies, procedures, recipe cards, staff development and HAACP documentation. This in turn helped to facilitate the expansion of the Ten Restaurant Group to the national arena. Key performance functions include the ability to nurture and establish positive, collaborative relationships with the culinary team, operations, finance and marketing, that reflect her standards of professionalism.

Prior to joining Ten Restaurant Group Chef Wendie was the Executive Chef of Premium Services at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim for the Mighty Ducks and Aramark. She was recognized as the technical expert, teacher and trainer for other chefs and cooks within the account including menu development, HACCP implementation and training, food purchasing and cost controls, production levels and inventory controls, and labor cost management. Chef Wendie has fed every major act that performed at the Arrowhead Pond and gained great notoriety for her culinary abilities and professionalism. She is the Author of Gourmet in a Pinch, a cook book for busy people who are passionate about food. Additionally, she freelances as an industry consultant and is currently working on her second book.