Resume


Margret Hefner       REQUEST PDF VERSION
Toronto, Ontario

CURRENT (from 2006)
Self-employed chef/ caterer, Toronto and Peterborough ON; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

• Weekly meals planned and prepared in-home for private clients, dietary restrictions and health concerns a specialty. 
• In-home cooking classes and market tours with a focus on Mexican ingredients and preparations.
• Teaching women employed as household help to refine their cooking skills and enhance recipe knowledge (Mexico)
• Catered dinners for up to 24 guests, and hors-d'oeuvres for up to 150 (provided staff, rentals etc)
• Private, in-home and hands-on cooking classes for children and teens (2-10 participants ages 8-18)

Traveling maker of tamales and host of occasion supperclubs and events at The Depanneur, Toronto.


2005-2006
Zest Food-to-Go, Port Hope, ON
Sous chef to Executive Chef Camilo Costales


2003-2006
Wakerobin Canadian Craft and Design, (Co-owner) Bailieboro, ON
Retail, Canadian craft and design
Purchasing; merchandising; sales; customer service; marketing events and promotion


1999- 2005
Wahzoh Studio, Owner /Designer.  Toronto, ON
Design, production, wholesale and retail of pewter "jewelry for the home"
Product design; work with subcontractors for production; source parts/materials
Tradeshows: (wholesale and retail) design booths, marketing materials (catalogs and collateral); attend show/sales
Inventory, accounts receivable/payable; customer service and support
(is there anything I DIDN'T do?)



OTHER RESTAURANT /CATERING EXPERIENCE

Sous-chef and assistant to Kirsten West*, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
My experience with Kirsten included:
testing and scaling recipes for catered events for up to 200 people; preparing plates for photography; editing articles for her column in the local bilingual weekly paper; researching indigenous foods of  Mexico.

*Among the highlights of her career,  Kirsten was recipe tester and food stylist for several of Rick Bayless' cookbooks, worked for Alton Brown, Mario Batali and others and was private chef to Mick Jagger.


Mitzi's Cafe, Toronto (1996)
Create menu items to expand cafe offerings beyond original brunch menu


Al Forno,  Providence, RI.  Garde Manger.
My first job in a restaurant kitchen (1989-91). I was fresh out of art school with no prior restaurant experience. Working for George Germon and Johanne Killeen was a unique and formative experience.


WRITING AND EDITING

Monthly contributor,  "Chef's Corner", The Good Food Guide to the Kawarthas, 7 issues (2006-07)

Researching and editing articles for Kirsten West's column in La Atencion, San Miguel de Allende

Author, “The FabJob Guide to: Become a Jewelry Designer.” Publisher, FabJob.com



VOLUNTEER

Ontario Vipassana Centre
-Vegetarian meals prepared for up to 100 meditation students and other volunteers.

Sistering, Toronto, ON. Assisting Chef Carol Gray with prep for daily meals feeding 200 primarily at-risk women.

La Cocina, San Francisco, CA. Volunteered approx 40 hours in the week preceding the San Francisco Street Food Festival, August 2011.
About 30 culinary entrepreneurs share space at the La Cocina facility which supports women, primarily, in getting food businesses off the ground. The Street Food Festival provides them with promotion and exposure with an estimated 60,000 happy, hungry people attending. From stuffing and rolling tamales for Alicia's Tamales Los Mayas to prep for The Peached Tortilla, an Austin, TX food truck, to managing volunteers, I had a great week with the folks at La Cocina.

Mentoring at La Cocina, San Francisco, CA October, 2011
- Alicia Villanueva of Tamales Los Mayas in developing organizational systems for her business.
- Chiefo Chukwudebe of Chiefo's Kitchen in developing a Personal Chef service component to complement her current catering business.

 CASA, San Miguel de Allende  Assisted Chef Kirsten West in refining and scaling recipes as well as food prep for several fundraising events to benefit this non-profit organization.
Events included a 5-course Thanksgiving dinner for 150 guests; Margarita festival- appetizers for almost 200 guests, and a private demo-dinner for 14 key donors to the organization.


Feed the Hungry, SMA  Each week, preparing boxes of non-perishable ingredients to be delivered to rural schools where women in the community prepare meals so that the children will have full tummies for learning.