Gabriel Cole
Gabriel Cole, chef and food consultant, utilizes broad industry knowledge to educate, encourage, and empower businesses to enact more sustainable environmental, economic, and social practices.
Gabriel completed Culinary School at Vermont’s Essex Technical School, named by US News and World Report as one of the top in the country, and attended Hotel and Restaurant Management School at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. He brings fifteen years of experience as an Executive Chef, event organizer, restaurant consultant and teacher. He worked at some of Vermont’s most well known restaurants; opened a Kosher deli in Atlanta, GA; and owned a catering company, was a restaurant consultant and worked as a personal chef in Los Angeles, CA. He moved to San Francisco to accept a job as Sous Chef in Google’s foodservice department and was responsible for opening three new cafés. That experience opened his mind and palate to California’s food bounty and innovative, thriving business models.
Gabriel provides aspiring restaurateurs and food entrepreneurs the fundamental tools and necessary components to successfully plan, launch, and operate thriving businesses. He works with existing business owners to help refine, improve, and enhance their internal and external operating systems.
Gabriel helps his clients establish positive connections between people, products, and services in order to produce stronger local communities and economies. His experience within numerous restaurants and food-oriented enterprises led him to adopt a holistic approach to traditional business planning and work with his clients to develop skills and strategies to implement best practices.
Actively involved in restaurant development and sustainable food systems, his former or current clients include: Second Street Cafe, Watsonville, CA; Calafia Café and Market A Go-Go, Palo Alto, CA; Youth Speaks, (the leading non-profit voice for slam poetry and spoken word in the nation) San Francisco, CA; The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) of Watsonville, CA; Central City East Redevelopment Agency, City of Oakland, CA; Kika’s Treats, San Franicisco, CA; La Cocina, San Franicisco, CA and Slide Ranch, Muir Beach, CA
Gabriel was also a key leader in the production of several collaborative educational food events. Among these were: Slow Food Nation; DooF-a-Palooza (an interactive, educational food event for kids), CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) events, and Youth Speaks Annual Friendraiser.
Gabriel's perspective on how to bring healthy, delicious, well-prepared food to a diverse audience is informed by his intricate understanding of the current state of the food system from business, political, and environmental standpoints.
