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Training Team

Eastern Standard

A few words from Caroline Markham, Eastern Standard’s General Manager:

When I interviewed for a server position in 2009, I knew about Eastern Standard’s reputation for exceptional service.  I’d experienced it first hand as a guest.  It has been a revelation, however, to peer behind the curtain… to see and attempt to understand the dedication and outpouring of the human heart were behind what appears to the outside observer an effortless and consistencly gunuine performance.  It is truly bold if not entirely sane for a restaurant that ‘s open nineteen hours of the day and a block from Fenway Park to attempt to redefine and set the standard for service excellence.  In light of our nomination for best service by the James Beard Foundation, I find myself wondering how the endeavor of our massive enterprise is remotely possible.  The answer is and always has been in each and every one of you: the individuals who form a whole much great than the sume of its parts.

 

These three individuals have demonstrated a determination to excel even amoung the excellent.  They have committed to providing an unwavering example to doing the right thing even and especially when it hurts.  They have pledged to faciliate education and cultivate an environment that is conducive to learning wheather you’re on day one or day two thousand.

 

On behalf of the management team, we hope that in their newly defined roles, Matthew, Cassidy and Morgan can help shepherd the service team to greater heights.  In giving them this increased responsibility, we seek to empower them to help make Eastern Standard not just the best place to eat and drink- but the best place to work.

 

Let’s take a moment to recognize the three members of the ES Training Team: Matthew Peterson, Morgan Collier, and Cassidy Bradley .

     Matthew, a Michigan native, is a gifted vocalist and teacher. He began working in restaurants to put away money for travel while attaining two simultaneous degrees in Voice and ESL Education. He taught music in Chicago public middle schools until he moved to Boston to pursue his Masters of Music in Voice Performance at BU. His very first dinner in Boston occurred at T53. After asking for an application, he was enlisted to open Branch Line as a server. He has since developed a passion for hospitality and wine, and has earned the Level 1 Certificate from the Court of Masters Sommeliers. His service is distinctively adaptable, and he reels people into organically unique dining experiences no matter who they are. He truly upholds our mission to be the restaurant that is all things to all people. I am so excited to see how Matthew will put to use his incredible work ethic, commitment to education and innate understanding of performance art.

Morgan was born and raised in the small town of Enterprise, Alabama. Naturally, Alabama football is everything. She started working in restaurants while getting her degree in Business. After college she moved to Florida and took a job in a sports bar. One night a family from New Hampshire happened to land in her section. They convinced her that of all places, she needed to be in Boston. On a wing and a prayer, she decided to give Boston one year. She interviewed with Ricky Czachor and accepted a server position in September 2015. She got bit by the hospitality bug big time. Two-and-a-half years later, she is the Captain of the Training Team – a natural leader and communicator. She is a delight simply to talk to and a pleasure to serve with. She can make a perfect stranger feel like a close friend, and a close friend feel like a better person. With impeccable guest relations, accuracy, empathy and signature unfailingly positive attitude, she is poised to make an impact.

   It would be difficult to say which is more important to the Bradley’s: Food… or the Red Sox? Though Boston is her true home, Cassidy spent her earliest years telling off famous vignerons in California wine country. Cassidy has been a self-described food fanatic and altruist all her life. While studying Psychology she heard her calling: to champion education and positive change surrounding what is in many ways a broken and unjust food and trade system. Every choice Cassidy makes to use or consume a product is an educated one, and you will never seen her drinking from a plastic bottle or straw. After finishing school, Cassidy traveled throughout the Middle East. She worked a few jobs that just weren’t quite right until she landed at ES and never looked back. Hospitality seemed to be the missing piece and platform she’d been looking for. When she’s not pouring her love of food and hospitality into her tables, she’s probably outside hiking, camping or seeing the Grateful Dead. Since her first day Cassidy has been uncannily disarming tableside. Now it’s time to see what Cassidy the innovator and activist can do.