At Nugget Markets, we’re known for our fantastic food because real chefs take pride in crafting our entrées, sides and meals from scratch with love, creating a fine dining experience our guests can enjoy right at home. You’ve likely met some of our talented chefs whenever you visit our stores, but here’s your chance to meet the extraordinary women who lead our kitchen teams from behind the scenes.

Kaeley Latow, Sovereign of the Savory (a.k.a. Director of Kitchen Operations): 
Managing both our in-store kitchens and our central kitchen, Kaeley earned an MBA from UC Davis and has been with the Nugget Markets family for 13 years. She works closely with our vendors to procure the best ingredients, with our corporate chef team to develop new recipes for our menus, and with our extremely skilled kitchen teams to ensure the highest quality food for our guests. In short, she’s the overseer of all things delicious!

Sandy Dahlkamp, Lady of Logistics, (a.k.a. Perishable IT Lead & Kitchen Support): 
Sandy has had the pleasure of working alongside our talented chef team and growing her food knowledge for the last 12 years. Not only does she work to support our kitchen teams, she also helps all of our other perishable departments (Produce, Meat, Bakery and Coffee & Juice Bar!) with maintaining recipes, costing and setting up new items and other vital support. Sandy wears many hats, and all of them well!

What makes Nugget Markets’ Holiday Meals worthy of the holiday table?
KL: From start to finish, we take great pride in the ingredients we source, the food we offer and our team who makes everything fresh day in and day out. We truly run from-scratch kitchens in every store, and that makes us pretty unique. Guests might not think of a grocery store when they think of where to buy delicious, chef-prepared food, but they can when they think of Nugget Markets.

How do you choose what goes into our holiday menu?
SD: We continually look for new and exciting dishes to add to our menu! We spend all year researching and developing new recipes that are different and unique. These new recipes are created both to pair well with our other menu items and to be delicious on their own so our guests can use them to build their own perfect meal.

Why are Holiday Meals so important at Nugget Markets?
KL: Being able to provide restaurant-quality, scratch-made Holiday Meals to our guests is truly an honor. We work hard every single year to be part of our guests’ celebrations because we know how important the food is for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas. It gives us a lot of pride that we have so many people coming back to us year after year for their meals.

What’s your favorite new recipe we’ve developed this holiday season?
SD: While everything on the menu is delicious, I’m especially excited about our new Citrus Fig Balsamic Brussels Sprouts. Our chefs roast Brussels sprouts to perfection and toss them in a citrus fig balsamic glaze. The sweet glaze with a citrus pop is the perfect addition to a holiday meal spread!

How would someone pick which Holiday Meal is right for their celebration?
KL: We have a lot of options, so I would suggest taking the time to look through everything, then decide if you want one of our pre-set meals, to build your own meal à la carte or do a combination of both. Also, don’t sleep on the Vegan Meal! It’s delicious and small enough to add on to an order if you are entertaining and only a few guests are vegan.

Any last-minute advice for finishing the feast?
SD: No holiday meal is complete without our Signature Party Platters! We have a wide variety of trays to choose from, including our Beef or Chicken Canapé Platter, Vegetarian Mezze Platter and Antipasto Platter (just to name a few). Also, don’t forget to add in your bread, rolls, cakes and pies from our Bakery!