Jeremy Reilly
Slidell
Summary
I have laid out most of knowledge, achievements, experience, and understanding of the industry below in my jobs. I would have no problem with providing different menus that I have written from wine pairings, special occasion dinners, catering menus, cocktail menus, lunch, brunch, dinner menus, and many others that I have compiled over the years. I understand this industry as well as any successful chef/owner does. Although I am very confident in my skill set, I do not think I know everything, I am very humble and always enjoy listening and learning from those with more experience than me and even those with much less. There is always room to do things better. I am loyal, have a very strong work ethic, remain clear minded and calm during the craziest of situations, and I enjoy the organized chaos and intensity this industry comes with. Most importantly, I use common sense. That is the one trait, I have learned over the years, that even some of the best Chefs & owners don't always utilize. I hope reading below will give you a better understanding of who I am.
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
Work History
General Manager
Abita Roasting Company, Covington
Covington, LA
09.2024 - 05.2026
- Hiring, disciplinary implementation, & firing of all positions including FOH, BOH, key employees, & management.
- Training for all positions, specializing in every station in the kitchen, overseeing food quality while being final expo, customer satisfaction, bar training, & daily operations of each department. I was able to cut the entire staff in the building in half by hiring better talent, training them more efficiently, and creating a constant learning environment that kept them engaged.
- Creating specials, new menu items, new cocktail menus, being creative with fewer inventory items to reduce waste, consolidate prep, lower ticket times drastically.
- Maintain a positive and enjoyable environment for all staff while still being assertive and expecting the best out of each member everyday. I was able to successfully achieve this through leading by example with work ethic, communicating effectively with the multitude of personalities that come from the different positions in the restaurant, and always portraying a positive mindset.
- In charge of inventory, all ordering, reading P&L sheets, labor cost, etc. For day to day operations I was able to maintain below 16.5% labor cost for the entire staff, & below 32% overall cost (food, alcohol, & coffee, which was 12% of our total sales) This does not include the $85k+ a year catering that would be included into both of those numbers.
Owner/Chef
Restaurant Cote & The Maple Room
Slidell, LA
04.2013 - 09.2024
- Created, built-out, opened, and successfully owned the full service fine dining restaurant with a high end cocktail lounge attached to it.
- Managed all bills, payroll, permits, taxes, and overall every financial aspect of a full service restaurant. Started and maintained POS systems from Harbortouch to Toast.
- Changed entire food, cocktail, & brunch menus every 4 months, depending on seasonal vegetables that I grew in the garden behind the restaurant, changes in protein pricing/availability, and current food trends. Created happy hours, seasonal cocktail menus, and weekly changing desserts.
- Held 4-6 wine & food pairings a year, 3-4 beer & food pairings a year, created specialized limited menus for every holiday from breakfast & lunch menu for St. Patricks Day to mothers day brunch to valentines day dinner and many others.
- Maintained a long term staff, with over 75% of my employees consistently being employed with me for over 5 years.
- Created training manuals, inventory sheets, scheduling, order guides, etc. every process needed to open and operate a restaurant from scratch.
- Dealt with Covid from start to finish. Constantly changing menus to maintain profit, having steak nights to go, and creating quicker and easier dishes for curbside. Only those that adapted to the situation remained successful.
- Co created Olde Towne Crawl, Olde Towne crawfish cookoff, 2022 Olde Towne summer of music. Held positions and/or activily participated in Olde Towne Slidell Main Street, Olde Towne merchants association, & Olde Towne small business owners association.
- Was named Best Chef, Best Overall Restaurant, Best Bar Food 6 years in a row, Best Fine Dining, Best Steak, & Best Service 4 years, along with other accolades throughout the 7 years of voting for "Best Of" awards while I was open. Participant in multiple "Men Who Can Cook" in Covington, Chef in VIP tent for Chef Soiree, 1 of 2 St Tammany Parish representatives for Louisiana Wine & Food fest, voted top 40 entrepreneurs under 40 years old, selected as 1 of 20 chefs throughout the state to represent Louisiana Tourism (Houston Tx), led efforts for Baton Rouge & North Carolina for collecting, delivering, & cooking tens of thousands of meals for disaster relief at those devastated areas.
- Learned how to adapt to the community & customer base by listening to guest, ensuring food quality as the Chef, overseeing customer satisfaction through the training and service my employees provided.
Education
High School Diploma - Kinesiology
Slidell High School
Slidell, La05-2005
Bachelor of Science - Kinesiology
Louisiana Tech University
Ruston, LA05-2010
Skills
- Servsafe (2024)
- Bar Card (2023)
- Has a deep understanding of every aspect of how a restaurant works, specializing mostly in the BOH
- Efficient with sauces, every cleaning and cooking every cut of steak, fish, pork, game, poultry, etc, timing and firing dishes, plating, waste, running up to 15 people on a line at once, and running any style of expo needed
- Cleanliness and dealing with Health dept, fire marshall, ATC, code enforcement, maintaining equipment to minimize any maintenance necessary, budgeting, food cost, and labor cost
- Creating a long term staff that will care and take pride in their job and their environment
Timeline
General Manager
Abita Roasting Company, Covington
09.2024 - 05.2026
Owner/Chef
Restaurant Cote & The Maple Room
04.2013 - 09.2024
High School Diploma - Kinesiology
Slidell High School
Bachelor of Science - Kinesiology
Louisiana Tech University