Chef Joe Rodriguez of the Lake Geneva Country Club was honored with the third annual Mentor of the Year award as part of the Salute to Excellence Awards, presented by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association Education Foundation (WRA EF).

Each year, the WRA EF recognizes five individuals and one company for dedication and commitment to education in the restaurant industry. Salute to Excellence honorees have made contributions to the future of the industry through their commitment to education and their community.

Chef Rodriguez began mentoring simply to help kids achieve what they want out of life. He then began to see how much he personally received out of mentoring and realized that it truly is a win-win situation for both him and the kids. It is his dedication to both the foodservice industry and to the community that WRA EF honors him with this award.

Chef Rodriguez has actively been involved in the foodservice industry for twenty years. He has been active both in WRA and ACF Chefs Lake Geneva helping with various fundraising activities that support opportunities for culinary students among other things. In 2006, he was elected President of the ACF Chefs of Lake Geneva chapter and in 2000 he was named ACF Chefs of Lake Geneva Chef of the Year.

Chef Rodriquez has a personal mission to try to get high school level students more involved, to help not only them, but in turn, to help the community as well. For the past three years, Chef Rodriquez has been mentoring Pro-Start Students to help prepare them for the Pro-Start Invitational competition. This year the students he mentored at Badger High School won the statewide Pro-Start competition and placed 8th at the National Pro-Start Competition.

Recently, Chef Rodriquez’s mentoring efforts came full circle when he was able to hire one of the students he mentored at Badger High School to work along side him at Lake Geneva Country Club. Not only has this been rewarding for the student but also for Chef Rodriquez.

Chef Rodriquez is honored with the Mentor of the Year award for his compassion for young people and the spirit of giving.

Other 2006 Salute to Excellence honorees include Chef James Nowak (Hilton Milwaukee City Center), Jim Marks (Riversite Restaurant and River Lane Inn), Marita “Mic” Pietrykowski (Waukesha County Technical College), Boelter Companies, Tom Boyle (Posthumus, Society Insurance) and Jolene Goeden-Massuch (Watertown High School). Each honoree has worked in a variety of roles to create opportunities for people interested in foodservice industry careers. They work in different parts of the state and in different professions, but they share an enthusiasm and optimism for the future of the restaurant industry.

The Salute to Excellence awards were presented at the 2006 Celebration of Excellence held on Sunday, October 15 at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva.

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Founded in 1987, the WRA Education Foundation is one of the largest state restaurant association foundations in the U.S. It strives to create a promising future for the foodservice industry by raising awareness of foodservice as a professional career path, providing ongoing training and education for foodservice professionals and serving as a state leader on food safety and sanitation.