Home is where the heart is, yet as so many of us who love a good meal know, the quickest way to the heart can be through the stomach—or taste buds. Our culinary services team is dedicated to nourishing our residents, body and soul, with tasty, heart-healthy meals.
To celebrate, we’re hosting a special “Caring is a Work of Heart” culinary event, and invite you to join us for a delicious meal and to learn about the benefits our residents receive from our nutritional strategy. Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 26th, from 10:30am - 12:00pm when Chef Tracy Holmes offers you the chance to experience the great flavor and warm feeling of a delicious meal with our culinary team.
Culinary Services Director Tracy Holmes doesn’t carry a briefcase. But he never comes to work without his trusty Beatles lunchbox.
“It contains all the necessities of a kitchen manager: a thermometer, pens, Sharpies, assorted recipe cards, Altoids, oatmeal, and nail clippers,” he explains with his signature eyebrow-raising twinkle in his eye. The lunchbox is one of his most prized possessions, even ahead of his Star Trek communicator iPhone case.
A native of the Pacific Northwest, Tracy attended college at Pacific Lutheran University in Washington, and he graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in business. But he found his passion in the kitchen, not the classroom. While in college, Tracy developed his love for culinary arts working in restaurants. After graduation he started his journey from the kitchen to the management side.
To this day, Tracy continues to foster his love of culinary service by creating good, healthy, home-cooked comfort food for our residents here at Collinwood. He’ll often pour his creativity into a good soup. He asks the residents for input, and then he works to create the flavors that they love.
Tracy has discovered that work has a new meaning for him since coming to Collinwood, as he finds himself developing relationships with the residents and wanting to please them. Unlike in a typical food service job, Tracy enjoys the relationships he has built with our residents.
