With the sudden departure of the chef this past week, Chef Widad has agreed to step in to lead the kitchen at the Lodge for the remainder of the 2019 season.
Chef Widad was the first guest chef in the Lodge’s Guest Chef program in June, and will continue on in place of the void that was caused by Chef Patrick leaving. The dishes Chef Widad prepared during the Guest Chef program week were a success, and we look forward to seeing her lead the kitchen for the rest of the season.
Chef Widad was going to go back to Kalamazoo and work on her gelato business, Rollin’ Gelato. With this decision however, she will put the gelato business on hold, and help the Lodge get through the season with food and beverage operations, and build out the structure accordingly.
We wish Chef Patrick Mixis well, and hope he makes good decisions in his life moving forward. Chef Patrick is strong in using his creative skills to develop new dishes, and we look forward to seeing him improve on how implements those ideas and improve as a leader in the kitchen.
In addition, to Chef Patrick leaving, the kitchen manager has been relived of her duties at the Lodge. After putting in a number of hours in getting the kitchen ready for the 2020 season, and working up to the kitchen manager position, she decided to not show up for work for several days and not letting the kitchen staff know. This took place at the beginning of the busiest part of the season — 4th of July holiday. This, along with making several poor scheduling decisions with the staff, led to management reliving her of her duties.
With these changes, we have put the Guest Chef program on hold this year. We will revisit the program next year, as we received positive feedback with the first guest chef event last month.
For the remainder of the 2019 season, we will focus on providing the core activities for food and beverage, while putting our unique ideas on hold. We will adjust accordingly, and understand that it is difficult to build a quality kitchen team — especially when operating in the wilderness. We know Chef Widad will be able to provide a stable and positive environment in the kitchen, with the focus on providing a solid and focused menu for the rest of the 2019 season.
We look forward to the rest of the season in the dining room, bar, and Little Cabin Cafe, while also executing on our events in August and September.