Fresh Pasta Brand: Auntie Pasta
Bill managed kitchen operations and staff development, contracted as Executive Chef, and served as an advisor. He traveled to Italy to procure fresh pasta manufacturing equipment from Tecna Saima and gather recipes for crafting special pasta and sauces. He was invited to the Milan Chef's Association dinner and recognized for contributions to pasta manufacturing in the United States.
Corporate Executive Chef - Contract | Feb 1986 - Jan 1987 | San Francisco, Milan, and Como Italy
Fresh Pasta Brand - Auntie Pasta: Pioneered packaging fresh pasta and sauces for supermarket shelves. Supported six local branded retail pasta shops and numerous restaurants with fresh custom pasta. Transitioned a three-person commissary kitchen from operating one eight-hour shift to three shifts to meet the demand for both B2B and B2C business development.
Auntie Pasta, which opened its first store selling fresh pasta and sauces in the Haight District in 1981, sold its packaged product line and closed its retail stores in 1996. However, one of the stores, located at 741 Diamond Street, remained open, with former Auntie Pasta employees at the helm of an as-yet-unnamed shop selling the same type of foods: fresh pastas and salads. The popular chain, one of the first fresh pasta outlets on the West Coast, had as many as four stores in San Francisco—on Diamond, Polk, Fillmore, and Waller streets—as well as stores in Berkeley and the commissary in Millbrae. For a time, there was also an Auntie Pasta Restaurant in North Beach.