JAY'S CATERING - Key Persons
Influenced by her travel experiences at a young age, Arielle knew she belonged in the hospitality industry. Growing up she always wanted to be on the go and trying new things which sparked her love for events. During her time at Cal Poly Pomona, Arielle worked as a server for a catering company that ignited her passion for the catering industry specifically. At the time, she worked directly with a wedding coordinator who spoke nothing but praises about Jay's Catering. When Arielle found out we were hiring, she applied immediately, and we took her on as an Event Specialist.
Arielle enjoys interacting with different types of people whether it be her clients or industry professionals. She says that the most satisfying part of her job is seeing everything come to life and being surrounded by a joyous atmosphere after weeks and months of planning a wedding or event.
Armand, the son of Jay's Catering's CEO, Linda Loaeza, and the grandson of Jay's founders, was born and raised in Orange County, California. At his start, he accepted a Graphic Designer position at Jay's right out of college, committing his focus and energy to the family business. Since then, Armand has served in virtually every capacity at Jay's, and after years of dedication, he was promoted to Chief Operating Officer accomplishing the opening of both Ellie's Table café locations and transitioning Jay's into a well sought-after venue powerhouse. Armand has continuously taken a hands-on approach to Jay's marketing, design, and branding. He thrives on leading operations, creating efficiencies, and building the team. From start to finish, Armand ensures that Jay's Catering delivers the same incomparable cuisine and customer service that his grandparents made famous some 50 years ago, and he is proud to carry on the tradition and expand it into the café and venue realm.
Recently, Armand has completed Jay's Catering's most talked about venue project, Grand Gimeno. Located in Old Towne Orange, Grand Gimeno was once an old YMCA. With high ambitions and a go-getter attitude, Armand led the reconstruction and renovation head-on to transform this old building into a Spanish Revival masterpiece garnering praise and popularity from industry professionals and clients alike. From conception to implementation, Armand has spearheaded the venue's success working closely with interior designers, contractors, and more bringing luxury and hospitality to the Orange Circle.
Currently, Armand is working on updating Jay's Catering's newest venue, Serra Plaza, located in San Juan Capistrano. He continues to seek out buildings and other unique venues that will serve as places of gathering for the community of Southern California and beyond.
Brittany was raised in Dana Point, CA and her college days were spent up in Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. There she attained a degree in Communication Studies with an emphasis in Public Relations. Before arriving at Jay's she had been involved in the event and wedding industry for 5 years. While working at a wedding dress salon, Brittany had the opportunity to plan weddings part-time. Her passion for the industry developed through internships and her experience working with multiple wedding coordinators after graduation. Her favorite aspect of weddings is that they foster community, bringing people and different cultures together. This background in hospitality and her desire to organize beautiful gatherings have steered her toward a career in catering. As an Event Specialist at Jay's, Brittany has been able to grow and pursue her dream.
Growing up in Huntington Beach, California, Casey has always had her family, friends, and the beach just a stone's throw away. With all the good things in her life based in Southern California, she stayed close for college, graduating with a B.A. in Communications with a concentration in Advertising from Cal State Fullerton. As a kid, Casey was a complete tomboy, playing sports and refusing to put on a dress. However, as she grew older, she developed a love for makeup and flowers that lead to a blossoming passion for weddings. After watching her fair share of wedding reality shows, she realized that she could take this enthusiasm for weddings and make a career out of it. She worked as an Event Specialist for the South Coast Metro Courtyard by Marriott where she received an overflowing amount of knowledge and experience that eventually led her to Jay's. Casey appreciates all the details that go into an event, from food choices to linen colors, and knows that each detail truly makes a difference!
Claudio was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he developed a devoted love of soccer. After moving to the states he joined Jay's Catering in 1991 as a lead server, a position that required him to flawlessly accommodate thousands of guests. He was quickly promoted into his current role as our Rental Sales Manager and now creates the flow of our events here at Jay's. Claudio vitally measures event spaces and translates them via computer software so that he can begin planning event layouts in tandem with client requests. He is responsible for conceptualizing, designing, and setting up Jay's rental equipment at our clients' special occasions. This encompasses everything from lighting, stages, and dance floors to heavy equipment logistics, such as building kitchen spaces for cooking and serving on site. Claudio thinks in terms of client goals in order to produce feasible experiences that still realize our clients' event-dreams and his work is crucial in the development of our clients' events.
Hannah is a true Southern California native. She grew up in sunny San Diego and went on to receive her degree in Marketing from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. After graduating, she worked for a software company as an Events Coordinator. Her work included a variety of responsibilities, from organizing corporate parties to managing fast-paced trade show events. She jumped on the opportunity work as an Event Specialist at Jay's in hopes of furthering her career in the hospitality industry with an established catering company and has now completed over 200 weddings with Jay's. Hannah's favorite part of the job is seeing how all the details and organization seamlessly come together to make a successful event.
As Director of Sales, Hannah has been involved in the opening of The Estate on Second, Hangar 21, and our most recent venue in Los Angeles, Forme. She prides herself in building relationships and streamlining the processes with our larger accounts. Looking towards the future, Hannah is excited to continue building up our current venues and new spaces, strengthening the sales team through ongoing industry education programs, improving our bar offerings, and launching the Pour by Jay's brand.
During Jeanne's time as a Regional Bank Manager, she was very involved with the communities she served. Making connections is a passion of hers. She oversaw and helped with charity golf tournaments, fundraising dinners and auctions, Clothe a Child, and more. By way of these events, she found herself dawn to Jay's and is now a Venue Manager for The Estate on Second and The Rose Center where she meets new clients at the beginning of their journey, through their planning process, and finally, on their special day. Building relationships with her clients and helping to guide them through their exciting moments is rewarding and why she loves what she does!
Kristine is a true Southern California native who doesn't plan on leaving the beautiful, warm weather soon. After graduating from California State University Long Beach with her bachelor's in Fashion Merchandising, Kristine dove straight into the fashion industry where she worked with brands like Urban Outfitters, Free People, Elizabeth Stone Jewelry, and PacSun to express her creative talents. After working in the industry for over 6 years in social media marketing, it was time for a much-needed change. With Orange County being the foodie central of California and her love of food photography and visiting new restaurants and cafes, she knew it would be an easy transition. She had used Jay's catering for her college graduation party and other family events and fell in love with their famous palm sandwiches and tortellini with creamy pesto, so it was a no-brainer as to where she wanted to be.
With technology and social media becoming even more integrated into our daily lives, we were thrilled to add Kristine to the team as Marketing Manager. She runs our website and all our social accounts including Jay's, Ellie's Table, Grand Gimeno, Serra Plaza, OC Polo Club, The Estate on Second, Hangar 21, Rose Center, and POUR, so if you see a comment or like, she is the face behind the screen! Her favorite part of the job is getting to look at couples in love and food all day (literally) - all things that make people happy.
Lauren was born and raised in Orange, California but moved to Long Beach once she was accepted into California State University Long Beach. She has resided in LB for the past 6 years and absolutely loves it. During her time at CSULB, Lauren was a 4-year student athlete playing softball and a founding member of the Consumer Affairs Student Association on campus. She went on to receive her degree in Consumer Affairs which has prepared her for success in the event and catering industry.
While playing softball, Lauren was coached by Christy, Linda's (the CEO of Jay's Catering) daughter. She was coached by her for more than 10 years, so Lauren often heard talk of Jay's Catering. Lauren applied for a serving job at Jay's and worked all through college as a server with the company. After graduating college, she pursued a sales position at another company outside of Jay's and when she got word of Jay's Catering hiring Event Specialists, she immediately went in for an interview and got the job!
Lauren loves being a part of and sharing wonderful and momentous events in people's lives. It makes her happy to see the love and joy come out of the events created here at Jay's Catering and seeing fun, new ideas come to life. She mentioned that of course she loves the delicious food that never fails to impress anyone, but she has a lot of pride in the service offered at Jay's too.
Linda was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Orange County at the age of 5. As the daughter of our founders, Jay and Eleanor Mastroianni, she has worked in the company for over 40 years. Jay Mastroianni instilled a strong work ethic in Linda. From the time she was a child, she helped her parents with their then-fledgling catering business by making Palm sandwiches and deliveries. As she matured, Linda progressively took on more responsibilities at Jay's and, in 1994, officially became our CEO.
Since then, Jay's growth has taken off. Her leadership has expanded the company, creating jobs for more than 200 employees. Linda is responsible for major innovations in the business. Under her direction, Jay's Catering has become a multimillion dollar empire. Technological enhancements, use of environmentally-sound equipment, the development of rental inventory, remodeling of the company headquarters, and partnership with some of the most coveted venues in the region-these are just some of her main accomplishments.
Driven, dedicated, and passionate about the company, Linda doesn't believe in a managerial hierarchy. She believes in a team-style of management, which allows her to make key decisions while still receiving input from her staff. For Linda, the people make the company because they support her in upholding the values under which her father originally operated Jay's. For this reason, Linda's primary source of professional joy comes from building Jay's team by selecting the right people for the job-not just filling positions. Her strength lies in directing behind the scenes since she is a problem-solver who likes to get things done right the first time. Linda is known for the strong sense of loyalty that she inspires in her team members, as she works diligently alongside each of them to continue Jay's success in the industry.
Patti was raised in Los Angeles, CA and grew up watching her parents entertain guests and frequently traveled with them. These experiences made Patti develop a passion for fine cuisine, wine, and planning parties. For 10 years, Patti worked in guest services at major hotels, ranging from Club Med in the Bahamas to The Ritz Carlton and The Westin. Originally, she worked as a part-time Event Captain at Jay's before being offered a sales position, which came naturally to her. Patti has been an Event Specialist with Jay's for over 20 years now. She loves to create new cuisines, concepts, and design ideas for her clients from start to finish. While Patti's passion is creating beautiful events from scratch and seeing the end result, she also loves establishing long-lasting relationships with her clients.
Selena moved to Huntington Beach when she was just 9 years old, so you could say she is an Orange County native! Her pursuit of a career in criminal justice led her to Cal State Fullerton where she began her education in Sociology. Soon after, she had a change of heart and ended up with a Bachelor's in Communications with an emphasis in Entertainment and Tourism. While in college, Selena worked as a server and started interning in events on the planning side of things. From a young age and throughout college, all things pointed to event planning, she even had family members who had worked at Jay's Catering.
Growing up, Selena would watch her mom go all out with fun themes and detailed décor for special events like birthday parties. Today, Selena attributes her love for beautiful events to her mother and says she got the ‘planning bug' from her. After college, Selena had her eye on a job at Jay's Catering. She checked the Jay's website every day hoping something would open, and when an Event Specialist position became available, she jumped at the opportunity. She interviewed with our Director of Sales, Hannah, and was offered the job shortly after!
Today, Selena enjoys getting creative by DIYing custom items for bachelorette parties, baby showers, etc. and assisting her Jay's Catering clients by bringing their event dreams to life.
Born and raised in Orange County, CA, Stephanie holds a B.A. in Communications from Vanguard University and a masters degree in Sports Management from Cal State Long Beach. Her family has long used Jay's for catering their special events and holidays, so when Stephanie began planning her own wedding, she turned to Jay's to cater the reception. Through the planning process of her own special day, Jay's ended up bringing Stephanie into the company as an Event Specialist. With dedication and attention to detail, she soon built up an impressive client base in the corporate, private and wedding event fields. During her first five years at Jay's, Stephanie transitioned from Event Specialist to a Sales Administrator role where she focused on building a training program and implementing many of our current sales operations processes.
Stephanie has since excelled into her current role as General Manager and is thrilled to be working alongside our Director of Sales, Hannah Cluck, and our Director of Food and Beverage, Brandon Harris, to lead our Sales Team into this next chapter. She loves that Jay's is at the forefront of the catering industry not only in quality, but also customer service. As for this upcoming year, Stephanie is excited to see Jay's continue to grow through our Marketing Initiatives, Taste of Jay's Events, Jay's award-winning venue, The Estate on Second, and our Ellie's Table café.