Pete Zachara

Experience

• 

  Terra Blanca Estate Winery & Vineyard

  Apr 2009 - Aug 2010

  Bar Back

  My first real job. Most of this time was spent polishing glassware and stocking wine.

• 

  Terra Blanca Estate Winery & Vineyard

  May 2011 - Aug 2011

  Concierge

  Hosted groups of guests showing up to do wine tastings. Ran a sample station of breads and dips. Still a lot of glassware polishing.

• 

  J.Bookwalter Winery

  Feb 2012 - Dec 2012

  DIshwasher/Prep Cook/Food Expeditor

  My first restaurant job. Started as a dishwasher. Then worked into a prep cook role before quickly moving to the Front of the House as an expeditor. Was the company's first expeditor as it switched to a full-service restaurant.

• 

  J.Bookwalter Winery

  May 2013 - Aug 2013

  Food Expeditor
• 

  Pita Pit

  Sept 2013 - May 2014

  Line Cook, Cashier & Delivery Driver
• 

  Ballard Pizza Company

  Jul 2014 - Oct 2014

  Delivery Driver and Line Cook
• 

  Trader Joe's

  Jan 2015 - Dec 2017

  At the Ballard Trader Joe's, I focused much more on staff education of wine and food by running 4 employee tastings a week. I continued to curate and run customer wine tastings. The Shoreline Trader Joe's was a brand new store in 2016. I helped build shelves and merchandise product in the weeks leading up to opening day. I became the Wine & Spirits Section Leader and helped order all wine & liquor, run customer wine tastings 3x a week and guide the staff's wine education. I soon started to feel much more confident as a wine professional. Getting a job at Trader Joe's gave me the stability I needed after graduating college. After about six months of having many different jobs, it became my saving grace. It was at Trader Joe's that my love of wine was rekindled. I soon began writing the wine order and running customer wine tastings.

  • Crew Member

    Jan 2017 - Dec 2017

  • Crew Member, Wine Section Leader

    Jan 2016 - Dec 2016

  • Crew Member

    Jan 2015 - Dec 2015
• 

  Purple Cafe & Wine Bar

  Jul 2017 - Mar 2020

  This was a fantastic role and truly helped elevate me as a wine professional. Unfortunately, Purple Bellevue was a casualty of COVID-19 and is now permanently closed. Here are some tidbits on the role... - Responsible for maintaining Purple Bellevue’s food/wine pairing program- Managed $100,000 worth of wine by ordering/receiving/stocking all wine orders & doing invenotry once a month- As Sommelier, sold/opened wine bottles and assisted servers, bartenders and management- Helped Wine Director in rollout of new wine lists 4-6 times a year عرض أقل Up until this point, I had never been a full-time server in a restaurant. This period was monumental in developing both my serving and bartending skills. Also during this period, I really started taking wine study seriously. By the end of 2018, I was accepted as a member of Purple's Cafe & Wine Bar's Wine Team. This officially made me a sommelier; a dream several years in the making. - $288,000 of Net Sales as a Server in 2018- Responsible for $1,500-$3,000 worth of orders per shift in a 200+ seat space that serves up to 600/night عرض أقل

  • Sommelier/Cellarmaster

    Apr 2019 - Mar 2020

  • Server/Bartender

    Sept 2017 - Apr 2019

  • Food Runner/Food Expeditor

    Jul 2017 - Sept 2017
• 

  Purple Cafe & Wine Bar

  Sept 2020 - Nov 2020

  Server/Bartender
• 

  Purple Cafe & Wine Bar

  Apr 2021 - Jul 2021

  Server

  Back again after a second shut down.

• 

  Eight Bells Winery

  Jul 2021 - now

  Assistant Winemaker & Manager