Dawn Parks, Owner/Executive Chef

Dawn did not become a chef because she aspired to cook as a child. There was a long road of trial and error before she found her passion in the culinary arts. She has tried different fields ranging from professional dance to saving salmon in the backcountry of Northern California. It was not until she was working in the cafeteria of her university that she realize she really loved to cook. Shortly after this realization, Dawn was accepted into the prestigious California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, California.

While attending the Culinary Academy, Dawn worked as a line cook at a prominent San Francisco hotel, The Sir Francis Drake. Most of her time spent as a cook at the restaurant called Scala's Bistro. After completing her externship at the hotel and graduating from culinary school in 1997, she returned to Southern California, where she was born and raised. In 1999, Dawn was hired to be the Sous chef at Buster's Beach House and Long Board Bar operated by Aloha Restaurants, Inc. In January 2000, Dawn was promoted to Corporate Chef of Aloha Restaurants, Inc. Dawn excelled in this role while overseeing eleven restaurants with 4 different concepts, menu development, product specification, contract negotiation and research and development.

In 2002, Dawn left Aloha Restaurants to fan the flames of culinary passion. She was hired as a chef of Rice Restaurant at the well known W Hotel in San Diego where her culinary passion and expertise continued to grow. It was 2003 when Dawn began to work at the prestigious Salk Institute. She accepted the role of Executive Chef. At the Salk, Dawn operated the café and managed the catering production for daytime events.

In January 2005, Dawn founded The Wild Thyme Company, with her partners, Jess Kraus and Jeanna Grant. She now caters and plans special events of all sizes, levels of service and cuisine. Dawn is proud to be the owner of one of the most sought after and professional catering and event planning business in Southern California.

Jeanna Grant, Director of Events

Jeanna comes to The Wild Thyme Company with eight years of catering operations and event planning experience. She attended San Diego State University, receiving a Bachelors Degree in Sociology, and started her catering career at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club as the Assistant Catering Manager.

There she planned special events, banquets, developed menus, and supervised serving operations and contract negotiations. Jeanna was employed at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis club for two years, until she received an opportunity to run the catering operations of Aztec Shops, at San Diego State University.

She managed a staff of 30 employees at Aztec Shops, which were responsible for all campus catering, as well as catering special events at Cox Arena & Open Air Theater. The San Diego State experience allowed Jeanna to sharpen her hospitality and project management skills, as supervising food and beverage operations for every major event at Cox Arena and Open Air Theater during her 3 year tenure, rested squarely on her shoulders.

An opportunity to work on the cutting edge of the service industry would soon follow for Jeanna, as she was hired on February of 2004 to coordinate catering for the new PETCO Park in Downtown San Diego. There, she was responsible for all pre and post game catering as well as all major functions in the off season. Jeanna helped launch the service operations for one of the premier sporting venues in professional baseball.

Her pioneering spirit, would eventually take center stage, as she left PETCO Park, to team up with Dawn Tangeman, to create an innovative, refreshing new concept in catering, The Wild Thyme Company. With tenacity, imagination, vision and street smarts, Jeanna and Dawn were able to start a business from the ground up that are competitive with other well established San Diego catering companies. The Wild Thyme Company has given Jeanna the opportunity to showcase her creative design and savvy decor and flawless execution of events.