the team is...

Josh Henderson

Founder & Partner | The Skillet Group

So a little about me...I graduated from the CIA hyde park campus in 1998 and from there took a circuitous route to figuring out that I didn’t really enjoy working in restaurants, but loved food, the craft that I belonged to, and creating for people.. I ended up starting a small business in which I worked for photographers as the private chef for the crew on photo shoots, and from that experience got a real grasp on mobile food

So along with my beautiful wife, kelli, my boy huxley, and my pups Lucca and zola, we hope to create business that sustains itself through impeccably executed food, simply done, and regionally relevant.

Greg Petrillo

President | The Skillet Group

Josh and I met in 2008, shortly after my wife and I moved to Seattle from Atlanta. I have always had an interest in food and thought the concept of providing elevated, exceptional meals in a street food format was a winner. We talked for about a year about strategies to expand the business and in the end, I became an investor in Skillet.

I have spent most of my career in the technology business, having worked throughout the US and Europe. But as the pace of growth within Skillet accelerated, I decided it was time for a career change and so left the corporate world in 2011 to devote my full time energies to expanding the Skillet brand.

What a ride it has been so far! The original street food business has morphed into one of the most exciting catering firms in Seattle. We now distribute our bacon jam to hundreds of retailers throughout the US and Canada. The Skillet Diner continues to attract a loyal following of Skillet fans, more than 16,000 folks every month. And we are so excited to have opened the Skillet:Counter at the Seattle Center Armory. And all of this working with an amazing team of passionate, talented, energetic food professionals across each of the Skillet companies. It has been both the most fun and the hardest work I’ve ever done in my life!

Bob Bosch

Financial Manager | The Skillet Group

You could call me a jack of all trades. My duties include cash management, financial statements, payroll, HR, gift certificates, AP, receiving, tax filings, accounting spreadsheets, and office supplies. With over 30 years in the restaurant business, I've done it all.

I was born and raised in Spokane and graduated from Washington State University with a degree in Hospitality Management. After Pullman, there was San Francisco, Portland, Knoxville, New Orleans, back to Spokane, and since 1987 here in Seattle.

Here are a few places I've worked since:

Copper Sky: A superb restaurant killed by a greedy landlord. Now, it's a jewelry shop.
El Gaucho: Awesome Steaks; Outstanding Service.
Ray's: Nice view.

Currently live in the Ballard area with my cat, Bandit. I read a lot (Nelson DeMille is my favorite author) and enjoy doing puzzles, especially Sudoku and its many variations. At sporting events, I cheer for the Mariners, Gonzaga basketball, and Cougar football. I don't do Facebook!

Skillet is fun, innovative, and exciting. I see a bright future for myself here at Skillet.

Brian O'Connor

Chef | Skillet Diner & Skillet Street Food

I grew up in a family that loved to eat, and most of my life has been spent in a kitchen. From hanging out with my grandpa learning how he made his famous blueberry pancakes to cooking alongside of some of the best chefs from New York to San Francisco. I’ve spent the last 17 years in fine dining kitchens perfecting my craft and now at Skillet Diner I strive to make delicious food that is sourced responsibly and is familiar to our guests.

Molly Ringe

General Manager | Skillet Diner

Hi there! I’m Molly – general manager here at Skillet Diner.

Born and raised in Seattle, I began my career in the restaurant business 25-years ago at a little Italian place down by the airport. I learned a ton and fell in love with this crazy, amazing industry.

That love affair has taken me all over the world and allowed me to work in every kind of restaurant from super casual to über fine dining. From working as a server in Napa Valley to a sommelier in New York City, and at some icon establishments here in Seattle, like Ray’s Boathouse and Place Pigalle at the Market, the learning and fun has never ended.

Seattle has always pulled me back and so, I’ve also worked, in varying capacities, at many of Seattle’s best establishments; including the iconic Ray’s Boathouse, Artusi/ Spinasse, and Place Pigalle in the Pike Place Market.

Nowadays, I am deeply honored to lead the front of house team at Skillet Diner!
I also have the distinct privilege of traveling the country teaching classes to amazing groups of servers, sommeliers & restaurant professionals.
Having the opportunity to work with so many great people and to be part of such a vibrant community continues to be absolutely fantastic. And I am extremely grateful and proud that all the experience and change brought me here, to Skillet Diner - one of my hometown’s most exciting new restaurants!

Seth Richardson

Chef de Cuisine | Skillet Diner

I was born and raised in a small town in Oregon, and it was there that I learned what good food was: simple, delicious, and generously portioned. I found I had a knack for cooking at a young age, but I didn’t truly begin to focus on cooking until after I’d returned from a long summer of fishing in Alaska. There I learned firsthand the importance of sustainable food sources, and the value of hard work. These values are apparent in my work today – from the long hours spent preparing rich, locally-sourced products to my bookshelves at home, which are densely packed with every worthwhile collection of recipes, techniques, and food history that I can get my hands on.

Beginning my career as a line cook in downtown Seattle, I‘ve worked my way through several well-known kitchens, and with some of Seattle’s greatest talents. I’ve worked with the awards-winning Anthony Hubbard, as a sous chef in several of Hubbard’s restaurants; I also helped open popular restaurateur Kevin Davis’ newest endeavor, Blueacre Seafood, again as a sous chef. My style of cooking focuses strictly on quality ingredients and robust flavor, eschewing any pretention or needless complications in my dishes; a quality that serves me well in my current position as chef de cuisine in one of Seattle’s most popular new restaurants, Skillet Diner.

Cara Castrale

General Manager | Skillet: Counter

I’ve been working with and around food for a long time. My first job in the food industry was pulling soft serve cones at Dickie’s Frozen Custard in Washingtion, DC. It was a natural progression to serving and bartending at popular Georgetown eateries. The hard work, dynamic personalities, and shameless fun were impossible to abandon and I was sucked in to the industry.

Over the next 15 years I worked through the front of the house, back of the house, and into management in DC, NJ, and NYC. In 2010 I moved to Seattle and have embraced the beauty, passionate food culture, and unpretentious homage that this city gives it glorious bounty.

I appreciate every aspect and level of running a food service business. I have always felt that feeding people is a most humble honor; in my Italian family, eating together and making people feel at home are gestures of respect and love. This foundation is my compass as I grow personally and professionally.

Adam Trujillo

Chef de Cuisine | Skillet: Counter

My food service history has been extensive over the last thirteen years. It has ranged from serving, fine dining, management, fast food, line cook, catering, food distribution, pop-up restaurants, one time I put together a wedding cake (fondant and all) in a hotel room in Las Vegas. I have enjoyed experiencing all facets of the food service industry, food is my passion, and I am proud to call cooking my profession.

I started with Skillet in the summer of 2010, and since then I have tried my hardest to ingrain myself in this great, fast-growing company. With Skillet I have done catering and street food on the airstream, hauled bacon jam cross state, was a part of the hiring team for its first brick and mortar, line cooked at the diner, and now Chef de Cuisine for Skillet: Counter… and after all that I still consider this just the beginning and am very excited to continue my journey within the Skillet family.

Jill Lewallen

Sales Manager | Skillet Food Products

My Skillet career began in the summer of 2011 and has quickly progressed into the best “first” job I could have ever hoped for.

I grew up as a chicken fried steak-eating kid in Wyoming and migrated to Seattle to study communications and pre- law at the University of Washington. I graduated in 2010 and happened upon Skillet’s call for a sales manager not long after. With a talented chef as a mother and a lifelong salesman as a father, becoming the sales manager for Skillet Foods was a perfect match. I love the challenge and reward my job presents to me each day and I look forward to a very long career with the Skillet family. And having such easy access to our delicious comfort food has turned out to be just icing on the bacon jam cake.

Noah Conquorgood

General Manager | Skillet Street Food & Catering

The earliest party I remember attending was my own 6th birthday at my Grandma Babs' house. Since then I've been consumed by every smallest detail around any possible celebration across the past couple decades of my life- so I guess you could say I've been doing this for a while.
With deep roots in rural Arizona, I've called Seattle home for 7 years! My passions for relationships and a curating an ever changing wardrobe fill my time outside of skillet shindigs and soirees-

David Van Gelder

Chef de Cuisine | Skillet Street Food & Catering

I was raised on the southern coast, in Mobile, Alabama, where my grandmother was the largest influence on my motivation to pursue cooking as a career. As a teenager, my family moved to Sunriver, Oregon and I began my professional career, training under Chef Rick Ramsey throughout high school.

After high school, I attended the Western Culinary Institute in Portland and upon graduation, gained a position in the cruise industry where I remained for 10 years, working from sous chef to executive at age 24.

But the cruise industry is not forever, and after leaving the ships, I landed in Seattle, working as executive chef at Teatro Zinzanni, developing menus and working for Tom Douglas.

I feel as though my past experience has prepared me for my role as Chef de Cuisine at Skillet Street Food and Catering. We have a great team and it is exciting to develop new menus and deliver the Skillet food experience around the Seattle area for wedding receptions, corporate events, and weekly street food locations.

Katie Benjamin

Sales Director | Skillet Street Food & Catering

I think that there are certain things in this world that choose you. For me, one of those things has been Hospitality. I love everything about it and always have. When I was a little girl I made place cards for nearly every meal, written in my best penmanship, with a calligraphy pen (that I assured my father I could not live without). Perfectly creased little tents branded with my parents’ and brothers’ names on them graced every setting. I would set the breakfast table with napkins folded into birds of paradise and I demanded that we put the milk into a china pitcher before I put it on my frosted flakes. This drove my mother crazy, and often made me late for my school bus, but I love the little details.
Holidays always meant that the lace tablecloth would go to the special dry cleaners downtown – the one that used real starch to make it lay flat. I spent the night before our extended family arrived setting the table full of glassware and silver that I would adjust countless times. I always wanted to drink my juice out of the crystal glassware. I would pour over cookbooks and insist that we make everything from scratch. My mother would suggest a store bought pie and I would wail in agony, I wanted to make my own crust, I wanted to bake a pumpkin.

As an adult I refuse to wait for a holiday to host a dinner party. My favorite party as of late was a meatloaf party where we played every song sung by Meatloaf while we made a meatloaf - just like the one you can order at the Skillet Diner. It was an epic dinner party, great music, great people and great food. Eating foods made from scratch is still important to me, I believe that is one of the best things you can do for yourself. I think that is one of the reasons I respect the food at Skillet. So much of what we serve is made in house and only from high quality ingredients.

As a gal who grew up on the East Coast, it was hard to imagine any place I wanted to be more than New York City. I took a dream job planning events onboard cruise ships with plans of returning to the city. The cruise lines took me all over the world, but docked one summer day in Seattle. One look at a clear Seattle view and I knew I was here to stay. The Pacific Northwest is such a great playground and the food scene here…well…hello gorgeous!!!

People and food are two of my favorite things, I consider myself lucky have the privilege of planning your event with you. Skillet allows me to travel all over the Pacific Northwest to throw parties and feed people. Can life get any better for this girl? Give me a call, or send me an email, and let’s get this party started. Don’t worry - you can pick the soundtrack.

Jessica Paul-Jones

Sales Manager | Skillet Street Food & Catering

Hi, I'm Jessica.

I'm a northwest native who loves two things: delicious food and to plan ahead. So naturally, Skillet's Catering and Event Team fits like a glove!!

I've been involved in the food industry since I was 16 years old. After moving north from a tiny town in southern Washington to attend Seattle University, I became more and more interested in the organizational end of the restaurant industry. I popped over to DC for a minute with the love of my life and was exposed to a whole new world of fine dining.

Now that I'm back on the coast of my preference, I want nothing more than to help our clients at Skillet find the perfect balance between a stand-out fine dining experience, and the comfort of Grandma Pearl's Sunday Suppers.

So let's make beautiful food memories together...and I'll remember to pack the forks!

Amanda McLaurin

Sales Manager | Skillet Street Food & Catering

I'm a proud southern gal hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina. I split my early career days between Raleigh and Atlanta working in restaurants and becoming a Falcons fan. With more years than I'd like to admit in the restaurant biz, I've tried my hand at every job from hostess to waitstaff to pastry chef and finally taking on a sales and management position. My love for all things organization has made event planning the perfect fit for me.

After three years handling catering and events at The Pit Authentic BBQ in Raleigh, I decided it was time to make a change. I packed up my pug, Blanche and we headed west. I interviewed with Skillet the day after moving to Seattle and I've been hooked on bacon jam ever since.