Between the Farm and the Ice: Our Story Starts with the NHL
I’ve spent most of my life in kitchens, but today my work looks a little different. As a chef working in performance nutrition for professional athletes, no two days ever look the same. I’ve been in kitchens since I was a teenager and running them since my 20s. Over the years, I’ve worked in fine dining, island resorts, catering, teaching cooking classes, you name it. One of the coolest things about working in food is how many different directions your career can take if you stay curious. Today, my work sits at the intersection of food, performance, and applied nutrition, but it didn’t start there. Like most careers in the kitchen, it evolved one experience at a time. A Career Built on Curiosity in the Kitchen Before performance nutrition was even on my radar, I was focused on mastering the fundamentals: technique, sourcing, and the rhythm of a professional kitchen. Fine dining taught me precision. Resorts taught me scale. Catering and teaching reminded me that food is ultimately about people. Looking back, every one of those experiences laid the groundwork for where I would eventually land, even though I couldn’t see it at the time. One of the best parts about working in food is that there’s rarely a straight line. If you stay open to learning, the path expands in ways you don’t expect. The Moment Everything Changed The moment that truly shifted my career happened in 2013, the first time I cooked for a professional sports team, the Washington Capitals. I remember standing there and having this huge lightbulb moment: I was the bridge between the hard work of farmers, ranchers, and fishermen and the performance of athletes on the ice. I couldn’t think of a cooler place to be than between the farm and the field. Or in this case, the farm and the ice. That’s when I fell in love with performance nutrition, even though I didn’t yet have a name for it. It’s also what eventually led us to start SuperFd Performance Nutrition in 2015. What Performance Nutrition for Athletes Really Looks Like Behind the Scenes When people hear “performance nutrition,” they often think about strict diets or trends. In reality, it’s about understanding how ingredients, timing, and preparation support recovery, focus, and long-term performance over a season. When I started feeding professional athletes, I wasn’t just cooking. I was working elbow to elbow with strength coaches, sports dietitians, athletic trainers, and team doctors, all of us focused on one goal: raising the level of performance for the athletes we served. For someone who had spent decades in kitchens, that collaboration was electric. I always joke, “I’m just here to scramble the eggs,” but the truth is that food was playing a critical role in supporting some of the best athletes in the world. Being part of a multidisciplinary team, all rowing in the same direction, changed how I saw the role of a chef entirely. When Personal Health Changes Your Cooking Philosophy A few years earlier, I had started dealing with my own gut issues: gluten, yeast, digestive problems. It forced me to really study ingredients and understand what food was doing inside my body. That personal curiosity turned into a deeper understanding of nutrition. It also prepared me to have better conversations with the registered dietitians and medical staff I would soon be working alongside. Instead of thinking only about flavor or presentation, I began looking at food through the lens of function and structure, asking how each ingredient contributed to how someone felt and performed. From Sports Performance to Culinary Medicine More than a decade later, I’m still feeding professional athletes like the LA Kings. Still coordinating with sports dietitians. Still putting food on planes and into arenas. Still learning. Recently, I’ve been studying under Michael Fenster, MD, and diving deeper into the field of culinary medicine. His perspective on food as information resonates deeply with me because my entire career has been rooted in applied food science, using the chemistry and structure of food to produce better outcomes. Culinary medicine gives me a new lens to view the work I’ve been doing all along, connecting the art of cooking with the science of health and performance. Still Learning, Still Feeding, Still Growing What excites me most today is continuing to grow and helping raise the level of the people around me while I do it. No two days ever look the same. Some start in a kitchen, some on a plane, some in conversations with athletes, doctors, or farmers. But the purpose stays consistent: using food to support performance, connection, and long-term well-being. That’s what gets me out of bed every morning. That’s what fuels SuperFd. Interested in how this philosophy comes to life? Discover how SuperFd supports elite athletes through performance-focused food.
The Moxie Awards
Last night, SuperFd Performance Nutrition was honored to be named a finalist for the 2025 Moxie Award here in Washington, D.C., an award that celebrates boldness in business. And while we didn’t take home the trophy this time, we’re incredibly grateful for the experience. The process, from nomination to interviews with the judges and facility walk throughs, gave us a needed opportunity to pause and reflect on what Moxie really means to us at SuperFd. This past month marked SuperFd’s 10th anniversary! In that time, we’ve served over 1 million meals to professional athletes, built lasting relationships with our clients, and expanded our mission to bring better food, real food, to every person we serve. When we looked at what makes us who we are, it became clear that we’ve embodied moxie all along. We say “yes” and then figure it out. We solve problems most catering companies don’t even think about, designing services, from pre-game to in-flight, that let our clients focus on what they do best. We innovate constantly, finding new ways to improve quality, sustainability, and nutrition from end to end, from where our ingredients are grown, to how they’re processed, delivered, and served. SuperFd stands at the intersection of farm-fresh ingredients, athletic performance, and technology. That’s where our moxie truly shines, bringing tradition in food into the future through data-driven insight, modern culinary tools, and a deep respect for how food fuels the body and mind. Every dish we create is built to perform, combining the integrity of real, sustainable ingredients with the precision and innovation that today’s athletes, and organizations, demand. We also fight for our team, striving to offer competitive wages, better benefits, and embrace their humanity in an industry that doesn’t always make that easy. So even though we didn’t win, we walked away proud. Proud of our people, our progress, and our purpose. It was an incredible night surrounded by so many inspiring companies and organizations, from healthcare innovators to nonprofits to government contractors, all doing bold, meaningful work across the DMV. To all the winners and fellow finalists, congratulations. We’re honored to have been in your company, and we’re already looking forward to next year.
Who wants to talk Food Policy?
As the state of the world continues to evolve more rapidly than ever, I have to make efforts to stay plugged in to the solutions that I want to be a part of. Tuesday, I attended the first annual Food & Agriculture Policy Summit at the Global Food Institute at the George Washington University hosted by Food Tank, José Andrés Group, and The Culinary Institute of America, and I think everyone left feeling both inspired and challenged. Well done Danielle Nierenberg & Bernard Pollack. José Andrés opened the day reminding us that food policy doesn’t live in spreadsheets or speeches; it lives on people’s plates. With humor and honesty, he pointed out that “people and cars are now eating the same sh*t,” a sharp jab at the ethanol mandates that feed corn to engines instead of humans. Then Robert E. Jones of the CIA followed with a statement that hit home: “We have to lead with delicious.” Because no matter how smart our solutions are, if they aren’t enjoyable, people won’t embrace them. He laid out how the CIA is positioning itself to lead into the future of food education. Throughout the day, voices from across the food system echoed one theme – interdependence. From land to farmer, from policy to plate, every piece matters. Through thoughtful conversations about how hunger and obesity are linked, success stories of regenerative farming, farm to school programs and other truly scalable solutions, the layers were examined. And as Representative Jim McGovern put it bluntly: “Hunger is a political condition. We have the food. We lack the will.” It was a powerful reminder that feeding people isn’t just about supply, it’s about empathy, creativity, and collective responsibility. I got home feeling recharged and ready to keep up the good food fight.
What do you consider customer service?
A couple of weeks ago, I was getting home from running errands with my wife on a Thursday afternoon when my phone rang. It was one of our lead sales reps, Scott Goss. I picked up, and he started with a laugh: “You’re not going to believe this one.” He’d just gotten off a call with one of our clients who had a 40-person happy hour scheduled, or so we thought, for the next day. Every contract, every email, every communication said Friday. But apparently, the client meant Thursday at 4 p.m. It was 2:30. Now, we had every right to say, “Sorry, but the contract says tomorrow.” But Scott knows me well enough to call and ask what I wanted to do. And honestly, it wasn’t much of a question. I kissed my wife goodbye knowing that her afternoon just changed as well, with little more than a knowing nod, called Chef Angel and headed to the kitchen. Luckily, Angel and the crew were just finishing up prep for that event. Instead of packing it away, I told them to go ahead and finish the platters and I’d be there in a few minutes. We pulled everything together – platters, linens, plates, forks, the whole setup and got on the road. The venue was about 45 minutes away (with good traffic… which doesn’t exist in D.C.). Scott threw on his black shirt, jumped in the car, and played bartender for the night while we called in a couple of servers to help. He arrived right before 4:00, just in time to greet guests and start pouring drinks. I got there around 4:25 and set out the hors d’oeuvres, cheese and charcuterie, and everything else they’d ordered. The hosts were gracious, a little embarrassed, sure, but thrilled we’d pulled it off. From a 2:30 phone call to a full event rolling by 4:30, it is surprising how it came together so beautifully. Half of that time was spent in traffic – haha. The guests had no idea about the behind the scenes action and that is just the way we like it. Moments like this remind me why I love what I do. Hospitality is not about being “right” or pointing to the contract — it’s about doing the right thing for the client. Pretty sure EcoCaters has got a client for life and I still made it home to read a bedtime story and knock out the dishes once our girls were asleep.
10 Years and 1 Millions Meals!
Today marks 10 years of SuperFd Performance Nutrition fueling professional athletes! It is humbling to think we have made it this far, especially given the decade that it has been. SuperFd was founded because we saw the need for quality food services designed for the various needs and demands of professional sports franchises. Evolving out of our sister brand, EcoCaters, we saw an opportunity to leverage the hard work of farmers & fishers to support the performance of world class athletes on the ice or court or field of play. SuperFd’s commitment to quality has driven our growth from the early years of daily service to the Washington Capitals and other teams across the DC area, to our current operations supplying in-flight, pre / post game meal services for over 60 different major sports franchises across the country. SuperFd delivers for teams in 17 markets across North America and remain committed to supporting sustainable food economies as we grow into the future. Superfd has been proud to supply local food to Delta Air Lines to fuel our partners like the La Kings as they travel and compete. We have enjoyed problem solving across multiple stakeholders to create efficient solutions with delicious results. As a Chef it all starts with the food for me, but often times it is the responsiveness, flexibility and forward thinking that our franchise clients appreciate the most. Our hallmark “ingredients with integrity” makes sure that whether it is in an arena, on a bus or on a plane, SuperFd equals Super F^*king Delicious!
Chef vs. CEO
Sometimes I wake up on a Monday morning and I just want to cook. It’s funny how success in something you love can take you in unexpected directions. I got into this career because I love food, I love cooking, and I love people. That passion led to opportunities, which led to growth, and eventually to becoming an entrepreneur. But as the business grows, you start making different choices about where to focus your time and energy. These days, I spend more hours in the office than the kitchen, making sure payroll runs, that our team has great health insurance, that we’re staying compliant, and figuring out how to keep the company growing in the right direction. The challenges I face today are a world apart from those early years in my twenties when I was running a fine dining restaurant, just focused on putting out great food. Now, more than 20 years into my career as an executive chef, and as the CEO of a growing hospitality group that operates two catering brands in three markets with 85 employees across Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Diego the work looks different. But the drive is still the same: the food and the people. Whether it is a flight for SuperFd Performance Nutrition or a wedding for EcoCaters, the driving force is still the same. That’s where the tension, and the balance comes in. How do I keep growing as an Executive while still staying connected to what made me fall in love with this business in the first place? Sometimes the answer is simple: I put my headphones on and join the marketing meeting from the kitchen. That’s what I did today: took back-to-back meetings while I was cleaning duck thighs for confit, simmering sauces and getting ready for Capital Food Fight, a benefit for DC Central Kitchen this Thursday at The Anthem. EcoCaters will be serving Duck Confit, “Our Farms” sauteed greens and japchae with sesame tamari, and I can’t wait. I was excited to make duck confit because it’s one of those dishes that chefs love, not just for the flavor, but for the process. You cure the duck for 36 hours with aromatics, then gently cook it in its own fat until it’s tender and full of flavor. It’s an old-world technique, a form of culinary preservation that connects you to generations of cooks who came before. It takes patience, precision, and care; the kind of work that reminds me why I fell in love with cooking in the first place. Every day, there’s a balance to strike between being a chef and being a CEO. But at the end of the day, both are about the same thing: caring deeply about people, doing things the right way, and never losing sight of what got you here in the first place.
Tell Your Parents We Told You to Play with Your Food
Tell Your Parents We Told You to Play with Your Food A couple of weeks ago, we had the chance to engage with some students from Payne Elementary during a STEM field trip organized by The Washington Capitals. We’ve participated in this educational day in the past, and delivering a 15-minute nutrition talk that is engaging and accessible to 3rd to 5th graders is always a fun challenge. In six groups of about 15 students, they rotated every 15 minutes. Because this was a STEM exercise, we focused on teaching the students to understand their palates and how they taste food. Still, we kept the conversation light and entertaining. The students asked insightful questions, making each session unique. So, how do you tackle that subject without getting too far in the weeds? Keep it challenging enough so they stay interested without it going over their heads? We approached it so that the kids could have multiple hooks or different ways to pick up the information in such a short time. Laughter is the stickiest substance known to a 9-year-old. Speaking from a place of expertise and trying to relate to them with humor is usually a win. (It also tends to work on adults, but the jokes are different.) Being willing to laugh and not take ourselves too seriously is critical; any laughter from the students is a bonus. So, we talked about olfactory senses and taste buds, had fun saying “umami,” and laughed about the hair in our nasal passages as we told them to play with their food. They asked questions, gave thoughtful responses, and giggled as we encouraged them to try it anyway, even if they did not like something. We had several students who liked tomatoes for the first time, but others who still didn’t like onions. We discussed the impact of rainy days on our food choices and the difference between eating at home in a familiar setting versus out in the wild at restaurants. We had a couple of revelatory moments when the kids understood that their taste in food is dynamic and will evolve for the rest of their lives! They grasped that one negative food experience doesn’t mean we don’t like something—maybe it was the preparation? Students walked away with more open minds regarding their diets and a curiosity to keep tasting. One thing they did all learn: At SuperFd, we take our ingredients seriously, so that we can have fun with our food.