Goals
The Chef William-Allen Peterson Culinary Arts Foundation is established, and operated as an IRS 501(c)(3) approved tax exempt non-profit public charity providing critical scholarships, culinary tool-kits, education, and training for underrepresented talented young men and women aspiring to build professional careers in culinary arts fields.
Our foundation seeks to reduce barriers to entry for multi-cultural students attempting to rise above disadvantaged socio-economic circumstances to successfully enter the workforce or seek higher levels of culinary training to attain future management and leadership positions. The Chef William-Allen Peterson Culinary Arts Foundation aims to prepare students to better face challenges and plot successful careers as “culinarians” in the culinary arts, food, hospitality and restaurant industries.
“Essential restaurant kitchen operation knowledge, skills and abilities are required to get into a “good” kitchen. Then cooking, surviving, and growing are typically learned the hard way. Many less fortunate cooks, lacking resources and opportunities never get a chance to show what they can do!” says Executive Chef David Quintana.
Executive-Chef David Quintana further explains, “I am not talking about the absurd made for “reality TV” cooking shows that give young culinarians a fictitious understanding of a restaurants’ “back-of-the-house”. Many of the popular television cooking shows encourage toxic work environments, disrespect for co-workers, and promote a “pirate” like culture that results in daily staff conflict, high employee turnover, management headaches and reduced profitability resulting in restaurants losing money and going out of business.
Aims
The Chef William-Allen Peterson Culinary Arts Foundation aims to accomplish our near-term, mid-range, and long-term goals by providing young culinary arts students enrolled in public high school, vocational technical centers (VOTEC), and college programs with financial aid scholarships, culinary toolkits, industry education and training.
We further seek to empower these young “culinarians” with essential restaurant kitchen business education, specialized cooking techniques, life skills training, and access to culinary industry contact networks.
Challenges
Many young culinarians experiencing similar encounters, lack of leadership or find limited opportunities and simply become discouraged and just give up. New, and self-taught cooks with minimal experience can get a “job” in about any commercial food service kitchen operation.
However, there is a huge mentality, skills and culinary knowledgebase gap that separates the average cook from a culinary professional or respected Chef entrusted with a “position” in the restaurant business. Culinary business education deficiencies, lack of social life skills, and societal failures handicap even the most determined young culinarians. These shortcomings invariably sabotage young men and women from achieving their ambitions of becoming employable culinary professionals and accomplished working chefs.
Tragedy
Chef Will, an indomitable young executive chef and scratch cooking devotee, evoked the absolute best from his beloved line cooks, kitchen staff and Foxcroft restaurant group colleagues with 16 years of determined restaurant industry experience.
His professional journey saw him open and successfully launch and operate the Foxcroft Wine Company’s flagship location, Waverly (multi-unit premium wine retailer and upscale American bistro) for which he was immensely proud.
With his successful career trajectory all but assured, at 31 years of age Chef Will would never reach his true zenith with fate intervening on the morning of November 1, 2023, with his sudden death from a DVT (deep vein thrombosis). Only the day before Chef Will was promoted to Foxcroft Executive Chef of Group Culinary Operations and was a newlywed husband to his wife Catie the love of his life, of only several weeks. Chef Will was never to realize his true life potential.
Creating Opportunities
As with the mythological Phoenix rising from its own ashes, on 27 March 2024 (the day of Chef Will’s birth) a non-profit foundation was incorporated in his good name.
The Chef William-Allen Peterson Culinary Arts Foundation is a manifestation of Chef Will’s vision of improving restaurant “back-of-the-house” culinary professionalism and his on-going work to create opportunities for aspiring young men and women “deserve a shot” at becoming culinary professionals. Our foundation will continue to promote Chef Will’s passion for the culinary arts, cooking for others and improving the quality of life for many.
