Organization: Forge City Works
Title: Chef Luke Greika
Nominated by: Becky McGuigan
Chef Luke has been with Forge City Works since January 2023. From January through October, he served as Chef de Cuisine at Fire by Forge. In October 2023, he transitioned to his current role as Chef Instructor for Forge City Works. Chef Luke now spends his days preparing and delivering three Culinary Lab classes per week to cohorts of 8-12 trainees. Each cohort receives 24 classes, and he leads this process 4-5 times a year. Beyond teaching, Chef Luke is dedicated to coaching and developing trainees, helping them build both hard and soft skills for their next steps in the program or in life. He fosters strong, meaningful relationships with his trainees and provides holistic support using Forge City Works’ in-house “CBT” methods. Drawing on his own lived experiences and personal challenges, Chef Luke brings a unique depth to his coaching and development work.
Chef Luke has a genuine personality and wears his heart on his sleeve. He remains calm and composed in difficult situations, always showing empathy. When trainees struggle with learning or making connections, Chef Luke goes the extra mile to help them, often dedicating his personal time to additional coaching outside of work hours.
He is unwaveringly mission-driven. Over the past year, Chef Luke has completely overhauled Forge City Works hard skills curriculum, ensuring it is both consistent and comprehensive. He has tested and codified new hard skills benchmarks and has spent significant time helping on-the-job trainers improve their training skills. Additionally, Luke has developed training audits for all of Forge City Works job shadowing workstations, further enhancing the quality of the programs.
Earlier this year, Chef Luke attended the ARC Culinary Train-the-Trainer workshop, a Catalyst Kitchens learner-centered series focused on topics like program design, training strategies, assessment tools, communication, staff alignment with trainee progression, and building employer relationships. Inspired by the workshop, Chef Luke returned to Forge City Works and implemented significant changes in how he delivered their program. His leadership and growth were further demonstrated when he helped facilitate the Train-the-Trainer workshop that Forge City Works hosted during the Catalyst Kitchens 2024 Northeast Regional Summit in August.
SPECIAL ALERT!
Thanks to a generous donation from a founding Catalyst Kitchens board member and friend of David Carleton, the Catalyst Kitchen’s Founder’s Fund has an opportunity to raise matching funds up to $5,000 during this year’s Catalyst for Change Award Season!
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Here are the 2024 Catalyst for Change. As you read their stories, consider supporting the work of Catalyst Kitchens and our members, enabling the amazing impact of frontline staff like our nominees.
