John Rifkin
Senior Corporate Chef Morrison Senior Living

FAVORITE DISHES

John Rifkin was raised in Philadelphia, the "city of brotherly love". Working with his father in the kitchen at a very young age first standing on milk crates to work the dish room, and later working the line with him in a few of the families restaurants and catering facilities. Rifkin also apprenticed in the very same restaurant his mother worked as a veteran server. Chef Rifkin you could say grew up in the food service world. All of his grandparents worked in kitchens, served as waitresses, and one of his grandfathers was the head of the food service workers union in Atlantic City NJ, many years ago.

After high school chef Rifkin knew what he wanted to do as a career and attended The Restaurant School of Philadelphia at Walnut Hill College. Chef Rifkin also worked in many restaurants away from his family tutelage as well. Most of these restaurants had Italian and Mediterranean flavors. In fact chef Rifkin spent some time working in Gallipoli Italy where he first became intrigued with the many species of seafood that came right from the Mediterranean Ocean which the restaurant overlooked. There he went right to the fishing docks to select that days menu, and learned how to properly prepare all types of seafood to satisfy his guests.

Rifkin joined Morrison Senior Living in 2004 as corporate chef. In this role Rifkin was able to support the many Morrison Senior Living communities throughout the country and help to show the value of both Morrison and Compass Groups robust sustainable seafood program nationally. In 2010 Chef Rifkin was promoted to Senior Corporate Chef and under his leadership has been able to drive Morrison Senior Living's sustainable results even further, and along with his team of 10 Corporate Chefs, 24 Regional Chefs, and the over 400+ chefs across the country to create very delicious sustainable seafood recipes.

Chef Rifkin knows that the generations entering our Morrison Senior Living communities have a very high expectation that they understand where their seafood and food comes from, but also that it is harvested responsibly as well. Chef Rifkin collaborates with many food service organizations to support him to bring the very best ingredients to the seniors that Morrison Senior Living prepares for. These guests have traveled the world, Ran fortune 500 companies, and are master chefs in their own right, cooking many meals for their family and loved ones throughout the years. This chef Rifkin says is our biggest challenge in the senior living industry.

Chef Rifkin works with many outside organizations as well. He supports the Delaware Valley Community Kitchen, which is affiliated with Philabundance. He is also involved with Community in Schools of Philadelphia which offers a robust culinary education program to 19 Philadelphia public schools. Chef Rifkin supports some of his local grades schools with healthy cooking education series, which teach the youth in Bucks County proper healthy cooking techniques, so they can understand, and even educate their families on how to eat right. Chef Rifkin is, and always will be a student when it comes to food. He loves to learn everything he can about regional and ethnic styles of coking and is never afraid to try to cook something new.

Chef Rifkin is also working right now to add cookbook author to his list of credits, and is hopeful to have his first book published in the fall of 2015. Interesting enough, his book will feature mouthwatering and healthy fresh water and deep sea seafood recipes. Chef Rifkin credits his wife Jennifer and two children Julianna and Joshua for inspiring him all the time, and also, to his friends who are always willing to come over to make some wood fire pizza's out on the patio, or smoke some meats on the weekends.

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