GARNISH - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Office Manager / Staffing Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Catering Manager
- Owner, Catering Director & Sales
Caleb, a native to the Richmond area, has always been someone who liked to cook growing up. Always making some concoction as a kid then getting yelled at by his mother to "clean up".
At the age of 18 he started working at C Street & Hazel Ruth catering washing dishes & snipping pounds of green beans. In just under a year he had worked up to Sous Chef. After a while he wanted to expand his knowledge and went down to Shockhoe Bottom where he was a chef at Sam Millers Oyster Bar. While at Sam Millers he wanted to explore the beverage industry and started bartending at Kai. Learning from mixologists to craft the perfect cocktails. After two years at Sam Millers Caleb made his move to Garnish. A perfect fit.
Taking his experience with food and management he joined the Garnish team. He sometimes gets called back up to big leagues to prepare your event. He has entered and won Richmond culinary challenges to continue to inspire his food knowledge.
In his spare time, you can catch him on the soccer field or golf course. He will let you guess which one he's better at.
The son of an American Foreign Service diplomat, David was born in Northern Virginia and grew up in England and Greece where he fell in love with European cooking and dining. Learning at his mother's apron he was taught bread making, confections, and Mediterranean cuisine. His first professional work was in Sicilian-American kitchens before opening his own Italian restaurant in Blacksburg, Virginia. Looking for more adventures he moved to Richmond and began catering for the city's premier large-scale caterer, eventually working his way up to executive chef and meeting Louis.
Louis and David forged ahead with opening Garnish with the goal of providing amazing food, great service, and deep knowledge of events large and small. Always willing to help others achieve their dreams David has acted as a consulting chef with local businesses and has even jumped in to assist in pop-up restaurants and charity fundraisers.
Always learning and always growing, he tries not to take himself too seriously, instead opting to let his food speak for itself while passing on his experience to the next generation of chefs working in the Garnish kitchen.
Born and raised in Richmond VA, Elena graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in the spring of 2023 with a major in Psychology and Media Studies.
Although she is the newest member of the full-time Garnish team, she has worked with the team since 2017. She has always had a love for food and over the years has started learning the business side of catering as well.
She grew up working and cooking in her mom's restaurant, which is where her love for food flourished at a young age. While working at Garnish over the years she has also been a lifeguard, nanny, and waitress. Garnish has brought in Elena to add to their hard-working and passionate team.
In her spare time, Elena is out with friends finding new cuisines or hanging out at the river; but always makes time for a night in with her cat Ash.
Believing that life is truly about the road you take to find your passion Louis has worked at the highest levels of professional theater (technical design), as a golf professional, working in the advertising & non-profit development world before falling for catering over 10 years ago.
Louis brings all of this experience into the design, planning and execution of events. This also leads to drive Garnish's passion to provide the highest level of culinary innovation, expertise and service to every event and client. This being said Louis knows (and clients appreciate) that the true heart of Garnish is in the full and part time staff. Since founding Garnish in 2014 he has been honored to have worked with some of the best employees anyone could ask for or be lucky enough to spend time with.
Louis is committed to giving back to the Richmond community, supporting a number of local non-profits while also serving as a Co-Chairman to the Advisory Board to the Reynolds Culinary & Hospitality Program.
When not planning or at an event his time is devoted to his wonderful wife, two children and multitude of pets.
More likely than not (and depending on the time of the year) he will also find the time to be out skiing or ruining a good day on the golf course.
Originally from Forest VA, Nicole moved to Richmond in 2013 to attend Virginia Commonwealth University. While majoring in public relations, it was through an internship with a local event planner that she discovered her love for the industry.
Since starting off as an assistant day-of coordinator in 2015, Nicole has been learning the ins and outs of the business from all different sides of the industry. After graduating from VCU in 2017, she went on to work as a rental coordinator, blog writer, social media manager and a lead planner. It was in June of 2019 that Nicole officially joined the Garnish team and was able to combine all of her passions into one.
In her time here at Garnish, Nicole has added her own personal touch to the company. She brought with her a love for design and detail; which she incorporates into each event to make them truly personal and unique.
In her spare time, Nicole can be found exploring RVA with friends or enjoying a good Netflix binge curled up with her cat Charles.