Excellence
Standards held in every plate, every shift, every detail.
Live Fire · Hospitality · Craft
Dante Sellers
Culinary Professional | Hospitality Professional | Aspiring Private Chef
Dante Sellers is a food service professional passionate about culinary excellence, hospitality, live-fire cooking, BBQ, and creating memorable experiences through food.
About portrait
Reserved for a real photo — no stock or AI imagery used.
About
Hospitality is the craft. Food is the language.
Dante's background is built in restaurants and hospitality — four-plus years across back-of-house and guest-facing roles, from line cook to Shift Manager. His focus lives where fire meets fine detail: BBQ and live-fire cooking, beverage education, and guest experience that feels personal from the first greeting to the last course.
In 2026 he founded Little V's Griddle, a culinary venture centered on scratch cooking, live-fire technique, and repeatable systems for quality food production — applying Lean Six Sigma thinking to recipe standardization, workflow, and food cost. He is actively growing toward a career in luxury hospitality and private cheffing.
Humility
Always a student of the craft and of the people around it.
Service
Hospitality as care — anticipating what a guest needs.
Discipline
Consistency built through repetition, prep, and clean work.
Faith & Values
“My faith in Jesus Christ guides my commitment to humility, service, discipline, and treating every guest with respect. I believe hospitality is a way to serve others and create genuine care through food. “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” — 1 Corinthians 10:31”
Culinary Journey
From the line to live fire — and what comes next.
Past
Foundations in food service
- Cook roles at Wings Over, American Food & Vending, and Aramark (2021 – 2023)
- Line Cook at Finn's Dockside Bar & Grille (2023 – 2024)
- Shift Manager at Pizza Hut (2024 – 2025) — scheduling, labor flow, food cost
- BOH operations support at Three Birds Restaurant (2025), holding HACCP sanitation standards
Present
Fire, craft, and growth
- Founder of Little V's Griddle (2026 – present) — scratch cooking, live fire, repeatable systems
- Host of the Built Under Pressure Podcast (2026 – present)
- Associate degree in progress: Liberal Arts — Social Science & Humanities, SUNY Corning Community College
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt applied to recipe standardization and waste reduction
Future
The road ahead
- Culinary Institute of America — planned educational path, not yet enrolled
- CIA BBA in Food Business Management with Beverage Production & Service concentration
- Luxury hospitality and private chef career goals
- Long-term direction: building from culinary craft and beverage production into food-and-beverage product development, with Dante’s Heat as the eventual brand vehicle.
Currently Developing
Skills in active progress.
Each item below is an area of ongoing study and practice — listed as growth, not as a finished credential.
- In progress: Food Business Management education
- In progress: Beverage production and service knowledge
- In progress: BBQ & live-fire techniques
- In progress: Hospitality leadership skills
- In progress: Wine and beer education
- In progress: German language development
Culinary Skills
Skills in active development.
A working skill set built on the line and sharpened deliberately — each of these is practiced, not credentialed.
- BBQ & Live Fire Cooking
- Kitchen Operations
- Food Preparation
- Menu Development
- Inventory Management
- Hospitality Service
- Beverage Knowledge
- Leadership Development
Experience Highlights
Where the hours have been spent.
Restaurant Operations
Shift Manager at Pizza Hut — scheduling, labor flow, ordering, and food cost monitoring.
Back-of-House Experience
Line cook, prep, and BOH support across Aramark, Wings Over, and Three Birds Restaurant, holding sanitation and HACCP standards through high-volume service.
Team Leadership
Trained and mentored BOH staff, delegated tasks during peak periods, and served as point of contact in the manager's absence.
Guest Experience
Front-facing service at Corning Museum of Glass and in restaurants — resolving concerns promptly and keeping the guest at the center.
Continuous Improvement
Lean Six Sigma process-improvement thinking applied to recipe standardization, consistency, kitchen workflow, food-cost control, waste reduction, inventory and process management, and repeatable kitchen systems.
Roles held
Founder — Culinary Entrepreneur — Little V's Griddle
2026 – present
Host — Built Under Pressure Podcast
2026 – present
BOH Operations Support — Three Birds Restaurant
2025
Shift Manager — Pizza Hut
2024 – 2025
Line Cook — Finn's Dockside Bar & Grille
2023 – 2024
Cook — Aramark, American Food & Vending, Wings Over
2021 – 2023
Portfolio
Work, fire, and the details in between.
This gallery is reserved for Dante's own photography. Each frame below is a placeholder that will be filled with real work — no stock or AI-generated food images are used.
BBQ / live-fire photo
Reserved for a real photo — no stock or AI imagery used.
Plated dish photo
Reserved for a real photo — no stock or AI imagery used.
Restaurant experience photo
Reserved for a real photo — no stock or AI imagery used.
Beverage pairing photo
Reserved for a real photo — no stock or AI imagery used.
Education photo
Reserved for a real photo — no stock or AI imagery used.
Certification photo
Reserved for a real photo — no stock or AI imagery used.
Education & Professional Development
Actively building — not resting on titles.
Completed certifications are listed as earned. Everything under future goals is an active pursuit; no degree, certification, or position is claimed as finished unless it has been.
Current study
Education in progress
- In progressAssociate degree — Liberal Arts: Social Science & HumanitiesSUNY Corning Community College
- In progress WSET Level 1 Beer Certification On going study
Future goals — in pursuit
Where the work is headed
- Future goalCulinary Institute of America — planned educational pathCIA BBA in Food Business Management with Beverage Production & Service concentration. Planned educational path; not enrolled and not completed.
- Future goalAdvanced Cicerone CertificationIn pursuit
- Future goalWSET Level 2 Beer CertificationIn pursuit
- Future goalWSET Level 1 Sake Certification In pursuit
- Future goalWSET Level 3 Sake CertificationIn pursuit
Completed certifications
Credentials earned
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
- Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt
- Lean Six Sigma White Belt
- Certified Food Manager
- Food Handler Certification
- OSHA 10-Hour
- Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate
- Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
- Introduction to Restaurant Revenue Management
Education photo
Reserved for a real photo — no stock or AI imagery used.
Certification photo
Reserved for a real photo — no stock or AI imagery used.
Hospitality Philosophy
A great meal is a promise kept.
Hospitality begins long before the first course. It lives in sourcing, in mise en place, in the way a room feels when a guest walks in — and in the discipline to do the small things right every single service.
- Creating memorable guest experiences
- Attention to detail
- Quality ingredients
- Professional service
- Responsible and sustainable practices
Future Private Chef Focus
Building toward the private table.
A long-term direction in private and luxury hospitality — stated as intent and preparation, not as experience already held.
- Private dining experiences
- Intimate menus built around a specific table, not a broad audience.
- Luxury hospitality
- Service standards that hold at the highest end of the industry.
- High-quality ingredients
- Sourcing first — the plate can only be as good as what goes on it.
- Personalized guest experiences
- Preferences, allergies, and pacing treated as part of the recipe.
- Professional discretion
- Privacy, reliability, and quiet professionalism in every home or venue.
Dante's Heat & Media
Built Under Pressure.
Built Under Pressure is a developing podcast about pressure, discipline, personal development, work, leadership, culinary and hospitality growth, entrepreneurship, business building, and the process of developing a professional career.
Episodes are in production. New Built Under Pressure conversations will appear here as they are published.
Built Under Pressure
Testimonials
References, in time.
This space is intentionally open. Recommendations will be added as they are earned — references are available on request.
Executive Chef Recommendation
Reserved for a future recommendation from a supervising chef.
Hospitality Reference
Reserved for a reference from a restaurant or hospitality leader.
Professional Endorsement
Reserved for a colleague or mentor endorsement.
Journal
Notes from the kitchen.
A writing space in progress. Published entries appear here; planned topics are labelled as coming soon.
BBQ
Live-fire experiments
Cook logs, wood choices, and what the smoke actually taught.
Coming soon
Education
The culinary education journey
Notes from coursework, kitchens, and the road to culinary school.
Coming soon
Beverage
Beverage learning
Wine, beer, and service study — tasting notes and takeaways.
Coming soon
Service
Restaurant experiences
Meals worth studying, from diners to fine dining rooms.
Coming soon
Hospitality
Hospitality lessons
What service teaches about people, pressure, and care.
Coming soon
Resume & Contact
Let's talk about your table.
Work Experience
- Founder — Culinary Entrepreneur — Little V's Griddle (2026 – present)
- Host — Built Under Pressure Podcast (2026 – present)
- BOH Operations Support — Three Birds Restaurant (2025)
- Shift Manager — Pizza Hut (2024 – 2025)
- Line Cook — Finn's Dockside Bar & Grille (2023 – 2024)
- Cook — Aramark, American Food & Vending, Wings Over (2021 – 2023)
Culinary & Leadership Skills
- BBQ & Live Fire Cooking
- Kitchen Operations
- Food Preparation
- Menu Development
- Inventory Management
- Hospitality Service
- Beverage Knowledge
- Leadership Development
Certifications
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
- Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt
- Lean Six Sigma White Belt
- Certified Food Manager
- Food Handler Certification
- OSHA 10-Hour
- Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate
- Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
- Introduction to Restaurant Revenue Management