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Goodwill at the Great Lakes Navel Base

Robert A. Walter, CEC, CCA, AAC

CEC

Goodwill Great Lakes

Member Spotlight

	NAME:	Robert A. Walter, CEC, CCA, AAC
	TITLE:	CEC
	COMPANY:	Goodwill Great Lakes
	CONTACT:	robert.walter@goodwillsew.com (847) 774-1239
A native of Georgia and the Carolinas, Robert began his food service career over thirty-five years ago, performing odd jobs and task around his family’s Dairy Queen in Columbia, South Carolina, at the tender age of six. This is where he first became familiar with the importance of providing outstanding customer service and began his lifelong love affair with the hospitality profession. His family sold the business after celebrating six years of success in the local community and he relocated with his parents to enjoy their semi-retirement in Sarasota, Florida. His first real job was as a dishwasher in a local coffee shop in Venice, Florida when he became legally able to work, at the age of sixteen. This is when he gained interest in cooking and decided to one-day work his way up to a line cook. He then took culinary arts as an elective at a local vocational technical institute during high school and cooked in two of the highest volume restaurants in Sarasota, Florida, working his way up from fry, grill, and sauté stations, to the expeditor position, essentially running the ala minute service side of the kitchen. A few years of developing his basic culinary skills, Robert had the opportunity to enroll in an American Culinary Federation (ACF) apprenticeship program at a five-star, five-diamond resort club on Longboat Key, Florida. After a year of this educational experience, the chef he studied under decided to leave the club to pursue a new position in Atlanta, Georgia, leaving Robert with the responsibility to continue his apprenticeship elsewhere. It was at this time when Robert decided to continue his education, by seeking culinary opportunities at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. He applied and accepted a job at an entry-level position and moved to Central Florida in hopes to continue and complete his apprenticeship program over time. After working for the WDW Company for just three short months, his chefs recruited him into the Disney Apprenticeship Program, where he restarted his studies from year one, over again. Robert worked for the WDW Company for almost five years, graduated from the apprenticeship program, first in his class, and went right from a Certified Culinarian to a Certified Chef de Cuisine within six months of graduating, by capitalizing on his years of previous work experience. There he had the ability to become very familiar with many types of food service venues and was the main in house support person for the United States Culinary Olympic Team, when they came to train and practice at Disney. This was a very positive experience, allowing him to meet firsthand and work with a star-studded A-list of very talented and world-renowned chefs. Highlights of these years were; having the opportunity to support the Culinary Olympic Team at the 1992 Culinary Olympics in Frankfort, Germany, receiving the Junior Member of the Year award for the Central Florida Chapter of the ACF and meeting his wife, who was also a Walt Disney World cast member. He also competed in a number of local and regional culinary competitions, earning an array of medals during this time. Robert ultimately received and accepted an offer to work at the Augusta Country Club in Augusta, Georgia (Home of the Masters Golf Tournament) where he worked his way up from a sous chef, to an executive sous chef within the first three months of employment. There he received the Culinarian of the Year Award from the Augusta Chapter of the ACF. Robert then moved to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area to pursue his professional culinary career and work for an exclusive club as the executive sous chef for the next two years. Off-season he worked for a motion picture catering company and was the chef on films such as, Fallen, Selena, What Women Want, Burn Hollywood Burn and Home alone III. He then accepted his first Executive Chef position at a hotel on the University of Pennsylvania campus, worked there for the next two and half years and pioneered the concept of “Contemporary Colonial Cuisine” in his signature restaurant. During this time, Robert co-founded a new chapter of the ACF and organized a Chef and Child fund raising event to benefit the South Jersey and Greater Philadelphia Food Banks; raising over $100,000 during the four-years, he chaired the event. He also continued to compete and constantly came in first place and continued to win silver and gold medals at a number of regional culinary competitions. After working as the culinary consultant and being the opening chef a new eatertainment concept in the Philadelphia marketplace, Robert accepted a job with the Department of Defense overseas in Okinawa, Japan. There he started his family and continued to work as the preferred chef for a number of elite and State sponsored events, to include the shortlist of high profiled dignitaries and globally based political representatives, to include the President of the United States at a welcome picnic for 10,000 guests during the annual G-8 Summit. He was also the president of one of the few international ACF chapters, with over 100 Japanese National members during his tenure. Robert continued to work and travel in Asia for nearly five years, until relocating and settling down into the Chicago market in July of 2004. Here Robert lives with his wife of ten years and two young children (seven-year-old Robbie, born in Japan and three-year-old Gracie, a Southeastern Wisconsin native). Robert is now working for Goodwill Industries of SE WI and is currently an Assistant Director of Food Service Operations (essentially functioning as the organization’s Corporate Chef on a number of levels) at Naval Station Great Lakes, located in Great Lakes, Illinois. Robert currently overseas the training team, 160 cook schedules and four galley-dining facilities, with the entire food service operation serving 9.7 million meals to approximately 43,000 recruits each year. He is also the co-founder and helps administrate the Goodwill Culinary Institute (GCI); recognized as the only National ACF Apprenticeship Program primarily committed to the culinary advancement for people with disabilities. Additionally, this program is currently the only ACF apprenticeship-training center functioning in the Chicagoland area. He is also actively involved on the local ACF chapter’s Board of Directors and presently holds the position as the Windy City Professional Culinarian Chapter Apprenticeship Chairperson. Robert reached a long-standing goal in November of 2006 and earned the title of Certified Executive Chef (CEC), through the ACF and he is currently working on becoming a Certified Culinary Administrator (CCA).