CHEF spotlight
Food Service Manager at Lee County Schools Get to know Mark Wilson
Name: Mark Wilson
What is your background?: Many years in the hotel industry working my way to Executive Chef. What do you do in your school to market the food to the students? Our district office does a great job creating events and promotions for us to use. If you could the tell the community one thing about your program what would it be? Mygoal at Veterans ParkAcademy is to produce the finest quality food for our students doing as much from scratch as the district will allow.
District: Lee County School district, FL
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Favorite part of your job: Making sure every student has the opportunity to eat.
Why did you choose school foodservice? Originally, I became a single father and needed to be on a better schedule for my kids.
Bio: Mark is from a small town in Southeast Ohio where the only restaurants he can remember are an Isley’s and the counter at Woolworths. Mark served in the army and when he got out, he worked for Sambos restaurant as a dishwasher and worked his way up to line cook. After working as a line cook, he met Chef Lyn Harwell who offered him an apprenticeship. After two years, Mark had the opportunity to work alongside Chef Salvatore Carbone learning the ins and outs of Italian cuisine. Mark had the opportunity to work alongside chefs who were the best in their trade in meat, fish, soups and sauces. Mark began a career in the hospitality industry as a pastry chef at the Sharon, a sous chef at the Hilton and finally an Executive Chef at the Holiday Inn. Mark later transitioned school nutrition and has finally found his home and passion, feeding kids. Mark would like to see schools go back to their roots and implement more scratch cooking.
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