Kacey Abbott

What do you do on a day-to-day basis?

On a day to day basis, I am in the restaurant at noon and out at midnight. No matter if I'm the MOD for the day, working the grill, saute or pantry station, I am always pushing my staff to be the best they can be. Every day I am coaching them, whether it’s on how to work efficiently or how to properly sear a scallop. I am an active participant in our seasonal menu development and day to day dinner specials. We do fresh seafood orders every single day from oysters to whole salmon. I break down whatever fish we get in for the day to 5 oz portions for our dishes and keep track of our protein yields. I call tickets to the line, plate, finish dishes and sell the food. I hang out on the expo line any chance I get to make sure our food is going out exactly how we want it to. Not to be biased, (maybe a little), but I’d say Jax Fish House is the best restaurant in Fort Collins as we hold our entire team to some pretty high expectations.

What was your transition like from being a student to your current career position?

The people and instructors at WCCC made my experience so much fun; I honestly wish I could have spent a couple more years at WCCC. Seeing the classes and program kept developing after I was done, makes me wish I could have gotten a few more of the classes under my belt. Overall, I think my transition was rather easy. I learned so much and was prepared to come into the real world. The skills I learned in the program impressed many of the people I came across. WCCC's culinary arts program allowed me to get one on one time with the instructors and Chefs. Because of this, I believe that I developed and got more out of my time there than others coming from a different culinary program.

What do you think set you apart from the other applicants for your current position? 

I started at Jax as a pantry cook in December 2015. I quickly impressed my chef at the time with my ability to learn quickly, product knowledge, sense of urgency and passion for putting in time and hard work. Within a few months at Jax, I worked and learned every station. By summer 2016 I was promoted to kitchen manager and the sous chef by March 2017. The head chef knew how hard I worked and how much I cared, this led to him always wanting me to be the line cook on weekends, busy holidays and special events. WCCC definitely helped me become the chef I am today.

What advice would you give to incoming college students?

I would recommend taking full advantage of the time your instructors provides for questions or advice. Those guys work so hard and care so much about their students and our success that they will never turn you away and will always make time to help you. Keep all your cookbooks required for classes as they will always come in handy later. Consider the WCCC Culinary competition team. You won’t get that sort of knowledge out of any of your classes.