Category: Old Market

Omaha Interview: Katie Chesebro from the Planters Nutmobile.

OmahaNebraska.com Interview with Katie Chesebro from the Planters Nutmobile at Hollywood Candy in the Old Market

Katie Chesebro in front of the Planters Nutmobile at Hy-Vee

They call me Cashew Katie.

That’s a good one.

Yeah, love it.

What’s your favorite nut?

I love the honey roasted peanuts. They’re probably my favorite, but if you have not tried [them] our dill pickle cashews are delicious. They’re so yummy. So, I like it a lot. We have some trail mixes out there. We have new cashew flavor coming out. So, lots of delicious exciting things, for sure.

What brings you to Omaha?

So I guess a little background of the automobile… Me, Tanya and Mason, we travel the United States from June to June. We’re class 10 of the Planters Peanutters. We hopefully will travel 48 out of 50 states. And so, Nebraska, we were looking at where to stop in Nebraska and Omaha seems pretty attractive to us. We stopped here and Hormel (owns Planters) has a plant here too. We were at Papillion Foods a couple days ago. Check out there, and yeah, now we’re just hanging out in Omaha. So, I guess the people [and the] big city life brought us here.

We really enjoy Omaha and glad we are here too. How did you come to work at the Nutmobile and what did you do before?

Good question! So, I actually went to school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison before this, and I was kind of hitting a point senior year where everyone was asking me what I’m doing next year, and I honestly had no idea. And so, an ad came across my Facebook. My mom was friends with someone who works at Hormel in promoting this job opportunity. And I just got so excited. So that became my Plan A and my dream job that I really wanted to strive for. So, applications opened in January. From there I submit a cover letter, resume, a minute long video of why I would be better, which was my favorite part of the application, and a basic application. And from there I went through an interview process and here we are.

What did you say that made you the perfect Peanutter?

So in college, I had the opportunity to put on a couple of bigger campus events as well as I worked at a radio station and was on the road with them quite a bit, talking to people going to various events, connecting with people getting people to smile, which is exactly what the job is, as well. I actually worked at a car dealership for five years throughout college. And so, I think the driving experience really helped me to handle such a big vehicle. 26 feet long and 11 and a half tall. It’s a pretty big vehicle which I think oddly enough of my experience lined up and I was excited about it, which I think made me the perfect candidate to be the next Peanutter.

That’s pretty cool.

It’s nutty for sure…

Gotta have a lot of puns.

Oh, yeah. My favorite I think is every time people leave, I always say ,“Cashew you later.” Oh, yeah, you know, and so it takes a minute for people to get it sometimes, but when they do I get lots of smiles.

We go we try to go to sporting events, minor league baseball games and stuff like that because what more of perfect a combo is peanuts in sports, you know? They’re a good snack. They’re healthy. So I love that kind of stuff.

Maybe gaming and programming competitions, because snacks are really big… What is in your Nutmobile?

Inside the Nutmobile we have six seats. The seats are embroidered with Mr. Peanut on them and a lot of people describe them as like they’re plane seats, but pretty comfy, so we have six of those on the inside. We also have a timeline of Mr. Peanut on the ceiling, so that’s pretty cool. Starts at 1919 when Mr. Peanut first arrived on packaging today with all the different Mr. Peanuts which is pretty fun. I think there’s like 20 on the ceiling.

Wow.

Obviously, cupholders. We have a TV. We call it our peanut bar with what’s underneath the TV as well as we have a cashew closet in the back and that’s where Mr. Peanut sleeps. He stays back there. Yeah, we get to travel with the one and only Mr. P. But that’s about a third of the vehicle. His bedroom.

Why did you pick here? Did you talk to Hollywood [Candy] ahead?

It’s, I mean when we’re in new cities, we just kind of asked people for recommendations. Honesty, the last class came here and they were like you have to check out candy store. It’s pretty cool…We love seeing cool things. And also, if you stop, you’re going  [to] stop and eat candy too. I think we’re trying to help out the local businesses as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Omaha Interview: The Chefs at The Farnam, a New Omaha Hotel

Thank you to Chef Victor Bock (left) and Chef Igor Kokozov (right) for their interviews for our Omaha blog. The interviews took place at The Farnam, a new Omaha hotel on 21 May 2021.

OmahaNebraska.com: We wanted to learn a little bit about you, how you came into the restaurant industry and your journey of how you ended up here at The Farnam.

Victor Bock:  My name is Victor Bock, I’ve been a chef for about 36 years. Done pretty much every facet of the market except cruise ships, primary resort divisions. Most recently I was corporate chef and food and beverage director for a casino company overseeing properties in three different states and the Caribbean, as well.

I have have long standing relationship of one of the owners of Greenwood Hospitality and when this opportunity came up to come out here and do some task force work, COVID had caused my corporate chef position to be eliminated which I know affected a lot of people, of course. So, I came to Omaha back in the beginning of February.

We shared different ideas as far the food concept goes and what they are looking for.  The kitchen was not even built yet. But between Bill Kohl, who was one of the magic partners from Greenwood, and Angie and Jason Fisher, the owners of the property, we had quite the collaboration of what the food was going to be.

I then put together the menus and recipe development and then brought on Chef Igor as the permanent executive chef and we continue from there.

OmahaNebraska.com: Thank you.

Chef Igor Kokozov: Alright, my turn.

My name is Igor Kokozov, I am the executive chef at the Farnam hotel at Omaha, Nebraska.

I start my culinary journey, long, long time, well about 18 years ago and what get me to it is that it has no boundaries. That is why I decide that I have passion for cooking. I realize there is no boundaries in cooking and you pretty much can do and exercise your creativity you know and that is what brought me to cooking.

Also while I join the restaurants and Four Seasons Hotel for fifteen years, I’ve traveled the world, you know, and I have been almost everywhere and that is what  really got me excited. Working with different types of cuisines, there is no stamp, a pattern of knowledge. You keep always learning.

What brought me to Omaha, Nebraska? It’s pretty much that I travel anywhere. One day I just picked up and went to Middle East to open Four Season Hotel and I was thinking why not Nebraska? Is there something wrong in Nebraska? There is still American people living in this state like you go to New York,  Los Angeles ,the cosmopolitan cities, no one pays attention to each other.

Small cities tend to greet you with more warmth. Kind of experiencing this Midwestern hospitality in … since April 15th in my almost a month  you know.

After I came here, I met the owners. I saw Jason and Angie Fisher. I saw how much involved they were in the hotel. Like you see Jason carrying water and he’s doing something. Angie was always taking pictures.

I said to myself when people put in so much heart and soul in something like this, I want to be part of this family, you know. So I brought my family here and we closing on a house on the May 28, so we gonna become Nebraskans you know and that’s the deal right now.

OmahaNebraska.com: You probably won’t laugh (but I know other people but, um, my eyes are starting to tear up) when I finally got my driver’s license that said I was a Nebraskan because we moved around a lot.  I was so  happy I cried.

Chef Igor Kokozov: Yes, it’s a warming city. You don’t see it much in the weather but you see it in the people, oh my gosh.

I used to live in Florida, seven years I used to come out to the door everyone great each other and everyone was smiling you know and this is what I am experiencing here.

One friend of mine he came to Nebraska many years ago. He described it like this, ” It’s almost like a Switzerland you know. People are very courteous,  respectful you know and Swiss hospitality- only in the US!”

OmahaNebraska.com:  I haven’t been to Switzerland so I’ll  see if they are like Nebraskans when I go.

Chef Igor Kokozov:

You should compare Nebraska to Switzerland all the time but Swiss they know hospitality and I think most of the world they follow them. They start the hospitality industry they been there for a while and they know what it is all about.

OmahaNebraska.com:  Thank you

Chef Igor Kokozov: You are welcome.

 

New Omaha Business: The Farnam Hotel

A big welcome to The Farnam!

Omaha is in for a wonderful treat with the opening of the new Autograph Collection hotel in the Old Market area at the Landmark building. Designed with great attention to detail, there are many hidden Omaha tributes in the design.

Thank you to The Farnam for a sneak peak of what they have to offer us and visitors from out of town. The Farnam has two restaurants (Dynamite Wood Fire Grill & Catalyst Urban Lounge and Terrace), one coffee shop and deli restaurant (Lone Tree Landing), a fitness center, 24 suites and 120 rooms.

Our sneak peak will be rolled out over several posts in our Omaha blog. Keep checking back to learn more and why The Farnam is so “Brillantly Unexpected”.

To make a reservation you can call (855.821.4288) or go to Marriot’s website, https://www.marriott.com

The Farnam opens 20 May.

The Farnam, Autograph Collection
1299 Farnam St.
Omaha, NE 68102
402.915.4900