Jerry Slater
Vice President
Professional Chef Helps EMI Deliver Culinary Excellence
We love being in our office when our very own Chef Tim Karsen is prepping recipes in our kitchen—the smells are great!
One of the many benefits EMI has to offer both Meijer and the vendors that we work with is that we have a full time chef on staff. Chef Tim has worked with vendor chefs to develop recipes and has come up with some of his very own recipes for vendors’ products when they don’t have one of their own.
Chef Tim proofs all recipes before they go to the cart to ensure that our Sales Associates are able to replicate them at their stations. He creates slides that walk Sales Advisors through the process from start to finish both in words and in pictures. He also holds weekly conference calls with Sales Advisors to go over recipe prep for the newest program at Meijer—the Ready for You program.
Chef Tim Karsen
Another service that Chef Tim offers is preparing vendors’ products when they are presenting to Meijer for their Top to Top Meetings. Also, when EMI is assisting in prepping for a Meijer community event, Chef Tim will give the Community Partnerships Team at Meijer a preview tasting of the items that have been chosen for sampling.
Last but not least, Chef Tim also hosts culinary classes from time to time in different EMI regions. These classes help teach select groups of Sales Advisors the basics in kitchen skills, culinary terminology, nutrition, food safety and selling techniques.
EMI greatly appreciates all of the ways Chef Tim supports our work at Meijer!
G. Thomas Slater