Mario Del Pero
Chief Sandwich Creator
Mario grew-up in a small Northern California farming community, not far from Mendocino County. His Italian family had moved from the Little Italy section of San Francisco, creating for their new community what would be identified as one of the first Supermarkets in the region. The Del Pero family was known throughout the region as the purveyors of the finest meat the area had to offer, supplying many of the fine dining restaurants in Northern California.
Mario’s fondest memories of Big Sunday Italian Family Dinners were the Monday afterwards. Like many family’s artful sandwiches the day after Thanksgiving, Mario’s father would reconstruct at the sandwich level every flavor nuance from the night before. The “Day After Family Meals” would become the core approach that Mendocino Farms practices today; making fine dining food approachable and affordable in the sandwich form.
Mario Del Pero entered the restaurant business serendipitously in 1993 while still at USC, helping his fraternity brother, Greg Newman, at his new restaurant start-up Baja Sharkeez. Mario was integral in the company’s growth from one family owned cantina to it becoming a premium beach lifestyle chain concept.
Mario struck-out on his own in 1998, creating a hybrid fast food “Beach Concept” blending the taqueria influences of Baja California surfer food with the teriyaki shacks of Hawaii, the restaurant was Skew’s. After opening three successful locations, Del Pero licensed the concept to pursue other restaurant opportunities.
Blue 32, a partnership project with Epic Restaurants gave Mario the chance to develop a concept that brought luxury and sophistication back to the sport’s bar and restaurant experience. Del Pero designed the menu and launched the restaurant, consulting on every aspect of the concept. Currently, the prototype, managed by Epic Restaurants is one of the most popular lounges in the South Bay.
Recently, Del Pero working with some of the top Mexican and Latin American chefs developed CASA, a modern interpretation to the classic Mexican restaurant. The restaurant is uniquely fast casual at the Òtime poorÓ lunch day part, morphing into a table service antojitos bar in the evening.
Mario Del Pero continues to be the harbinger of the Mendocino Farms’ lifestyle.
Chef Judy Han
Corporate Executive Chef
Like many great chefs, Judy Han’s earliest memory is helping her parents in the kitchen of their family restaurant in Chicago. Unlike many great chefs, Chef Judy has worked every position in a restaurant, giving her a true appreciation of the hospitality portion of the total dining “value proposition.”
While attending law school, she finally came to the realization that the restaurant industry is where she belonged. She moved to Los Angeles to become classically trained at culinary school and molded by some of the finest chefs in town.
Her first job was at Lucques, under Suzanne Goin, a protégé of the legendary Alice Waters of esteemed Chez Panisse. There she learned the virtues of working with local farmers who produced organically grown sustainable foods. Her culinary education continued in the kitchens of Sona, Grace and Koi, before becoming Sous Chef of Literati II. At Literati II, Chef Judy established herself as one of the largest proponents of the eating local movement, cooking almost entirely local seasonal ingredients at the boutique restaurant.
At Mendocino Farms, Chef Judy is dedicated to applying her culinary philosophy to this “Fine Fast” concept. She is committed to working with the best local farmers in every region that Mendocino Farms exists to promote these sustainable farmer’s efforts and highlight their foods through unique gourmet sandwiches, salads and soups.
Ellen Chen
Director of Growth
Ellen graduated with a degree in finance from UCSD, becoming a consultant for the prestigious Accenture Consulting firm. There Ellen facilitated the growth initiatives and improvements of some top Fortune 100 companies. Even though Ellen was consulting big business, she was destined for entrepreneurial greatness. Ellen’s father was a very successful industrialist in Taiwan, teaching her the values of leading through empowerment and the rewards of building a thriving business from just a good idea and a lot of passion.
She honed her business acumen at the marketing firm of Suissa Miller, then at the dot com start-up Target Marketing Interactive. After being part of the internet success of the 1990’s, Ellen Chen invested in a start-up restaurant concept, Skew’s.
Ellen has been the principle investor and business manager of Skew’s, CASA, and the Mendocino Farm’s concepts. She continues to offer the restaurant group a big business perspective with an entrepreneur’s passion.
Sean Krajewski
Director of Operations
Sean has worked in every capacity of the restaurant business by the time he graduated from Cal State Long Beach. Krajewski has managed eight high volume restaurants and started two restaurant industry related service support companies. Before coming to the Mendocino Farms family, Sean was considered one of the top General Managers in the Southern California region.
Sean is constantly redefining the expectation of the “Hospitality” that can be provided at the MF stores. He is one of the creators that are defining this new concept of “Fine Fast.” With his leadership, Mendocino Farms will continue to be the example of fast, but great service, ensuring that every guest gets a true “Farm Friendly” experience.