From ceo peter ingrasselino
Some History
Peter fell in love with food at a very young age. His fondest memories as a child are of him helping out in the kitchen at his grandmother’s house. They would make all the Italian dishes his family loved to eat. At 14 he became a dishwasher at a local restaurant and his love for food grew even more every time he was given the chance to prepare a dish. Soon enough he learned his way around the kitchen and the dining room. He held every position in the restaurant.
His passion would eventually become his career the moment he decided to enroll at the prestigious New York Restaurant School (Now the Culinary Institute of NY) Right after earning his degree in Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management, Peter was hired by Club Med Vacation Resorts . He followed a rigorous training period before being sent out to Vieux Fort, in St.Lucia where he would assume his position as Executive Chef . There he had the opportunity to work alongside talented international chefs and learned 17 different cuisine styles during the length of this tour at the resort. Upon returning to his home state of New Jersey, he opened his first restaurant called “ Peter’s on the Boulevard” .
The Bergen Record called him “...a great new chef in the industry”. He got his first consulting job at the age of 23 in Clearwater, Florida. There he advised the owners of Ill Fornaio Trattoria on how to properly design their menu, train staff and keep all costs low. When his assignment was completed, he ventured off and decided to open up his own place. He became the owner of “The Black Pearl” a fine dining French restaurant which later on became a four star rated establishment. There he catered to some famous actors, models, and fortune 500 company owners. This success gave him financial stability to open his other restaurants, catering companies, publishing company, branded manufacturing facility, Hospitality Consulting Agency, & Hospitality Placement Agency.
He opened all the establishments from empty spaces with hands on construction and design. He was in charge of all the space designs, system programming, training, hiring, menu development, and all other aspects of opening the new restaurant's with 4 Star success. While his businesses were in great demand and customers kept raving about his food and service, Peter started a Catering Business called “Catering Masters” where he catered to the ENTIRE State of Florida. He catered from weddings on the Beach to backyard parties. Peter landed a very lucrative exclusive contract with The Home Depot which made him the sole catering provider for all their corporate events for the state of Florida.. Peter was given the opportunity to use all his recipes to create his own line of bottled sauces, salad dressings, spices, frozen pizza and a line of coffee with the famous Melitta Coffee company, which put Peter on their Celebrity Chef Series brand. Peter was a food columnist for the Deland-Deltona Beacon Newspaper and had his own Cooking class seminars where customers would learn to create chef quality meals. Through all these achievements, Peter became President of the American Culinary Federation for the Tampa Bay Area, in the state of Florida.
He also became a Board of Director of the Clearwater Beach Chamber of Commerce. He continues to be successful in the hospitality field. His experience also includes Food and Beverage Director for Starwood Hotels as well as a hands on Consultant that brings all his years of experience to the table to help his clients achieve a higher level of success . Peter has been featured in numerous publications from television, radio interviews and magazine throughout his career. He is also a Author of a series of cookbooks Called "Food of Culture" which is sold World wide National and Internationally, threw various books stores including Barnes and Noble stores and downloads are also available on all Apple platforms.
