The Culinary Eye Team Behind It All

It takes all kinds of people to do what we do. The Culinary Eye team includes chefs, producers, hospitality people, planners, and the crew keeping things moving behind the scenes. Each person brings knowledge from a different side of the work, giving us a fuller understanding of what it takes to bring an event together.

Our Founder

John Silva

John Silva

With a deep love for food and a passion for creating unforgettable experiences, John founded Culinary Eye with over two decades of experience in the culinary and events world.

Known for combining elevated flavors with meaningful storytelling, John leads a team driven by creativity, precision, and genuine hospitality. He currently serves on the boards of the Agricultural Institute of Marin and the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, where he supports sustainable food systems and cultural programming across the Bay Area.

When he’s not orchestrating events, you’ll likely find him fishing in the bay with his two kids, cooking at home with his partner, or exploring local farms and producers.

For John, it’s never just about food—it’s about connection, craft, and creating moments people remember.

Our Team

At Culinary Eye, we believe great events begin with real relationships. That’s why we take the time to truly get to know our clients—so every event feels personal, thoughtful, and completely one-of-a-kind.

Our team brings a wildly diverse mix of talents to the table: chefs, bakers, wedding and nonprofit planners, artists, psychology majors. It’s this blend of backgrounds and perspectives that fuels our creativity and makes each event feel fresh and uniquely tailored.

We approach every gathering with professionalism, warmth, and the kind of care you’d expect from a trusted friend. Whether it’s an intimate wedding or a large-scale tech launch, we’re by your side—every step of the way.

  • Executive Chef

    As Executive Chef, Carlos Melgar leads the Culinary Eye kitchen and shapes the food at the heart of every event. He builds each menu from the ground up, collaborating with clients, farmers, fishmongers, and artisan producers to design dishes tailored to the occasion rather than pulled from a standard catalog.

    Working alongside Executive Sous Chef Hector Hernandez and the broader culinary team, Carlos oversees production for both bespoke catering and on-site events, holding the kitchen to a consistent standard of quality and craft.

  • Account Manager

    Michael Albrant is a seasoned hospitality leader and Account Manager at Culinary Eye. With more than twenty years spanning operations, event programming, and merchandising, he has led teams and elevated guest experiences for premier Bay Area brands including St. George Spirits and Cowgirl Creamery.

    A strategic problem-solver with a background in interior design from FIDM, Michael has a rare ability to pair operational rigor with aesthetic precision. He is known for driving meaningful sales growth and operational efficiency, with a steady focus on sustainability and high-quality guest engagement.

  • Event Specialist

    Born and raised in the North Bay, Natalie Sparks brings a deep appreciation for Northern California’s food culture, landscape, and design-forward sensibility to every event she touches. After leaving the tech industry in 2022 in search of more creative, meaningful work, she found her calling at the intersection of food, hospitality, and design.

    Now with four years in event design and production, she has grown into a role at Culinary Eye centered on sales and lasting client relationships. Known for her eye for design and warm, collaborative approach, Natalie loves crafting gatherings that feel personal and memorable. Outside of work, she can usually be found exploring farmers markets, hunting down new coffee spots, or soaking in the natural beauty of Northern California.

  • Staffing & Hospitality Manager

    Soha Leach brings a decade of events and staffing leadership to her role as Staffing and Hospitality Manager at Culinary Eye. She spent three years as Staffing Manager for a premier Bay Area fine-catering company, where she recruited, hired, and onboarded event teams, built out on-site staffing plans, and kept everything compliant with California and federal labor standards. She also runs her own event production practice, managing projects end to end—from concept and site selection to on-site execution and post-event reconciliation.

    At Culinary Eye, Soha leads staffing and hospitality, coordinating the teams who bring each event to life and making sure every event is staffed with the right people and set up to run seamlessly. A graduate of McMaster University with a degree in business administration, she pairs sharp operational discipline with a genuine, people-first approach.

  • Facility & Warehouse Associate

    Richard Phillips is a hands-on force behind Culinary Eye’s operations. As Facility and Warehouse Associate, he keeps the warehouse, equipment, vehicles, and facilities running so events roll out on time and fully stocked.

    He works across the operations, sales, staffing, and kitchen teams to streamline logistics and smooth the handoffs that turn plans into execution—the essential groundwork that keeps every event on track.

  • Director of Operations

    Since 2016, Madison Melton has been the operational backbone of Culinary Eye. As Director of Operations, she plays a key role on the Culinary Eye leadership team, overseeing ambitious, large-scale events with a steady mix of strategy, creativity, and momentum. She got her start in restaurants at fourteen and learned early that hospitality is a team sport—a philosophy that still shapes how she builds and runs her crew today.

    Endlessly organized and always working a plan (and a backup to the plan), Madison thrives on turning bold ideas into flawlessly executed moments, no two events ever quite the same. When she’s not orchestrating logistics, she’s exploring San Francisco with her two dogs, Stella and Whiskey, or on a serious hunt for the city’s best tacos.

  • Director of Beverage Revenue & Experience

    Austin Klein leads beverage programming and strategy for Culinary Eye, crafting the drink experiences that complement its bespoke catering and events. His background is rooted in hospitality, event production, and beverage program development, with a focus on scaling operational systems without sacrificing a high-touch guest experience.

    He has built and managed beverage programs of every scale, from intimate luxury dinners to high-volume festivals, corporate activations, weddings, and exclusive venue partnerships—spanning menu development, staffing, licensing and compliance, production logistics, and warehouse operations. Austin specializes in beverage experiences that are immersive and operationally sound, balancing creativity with profitability and execution, and pairing them seamlessly with the Culinary Eye table.

  • Executive Sous Chef

    Hector Hernandez is a seasoned culinary professional whose career has been built entirely within the Bay Area’s dynamic food scene. He found his passion early, spending three years in a Mexican kitchen before moving into restaurant management, where he expanded his range into Thai cuisine and technique. From there, he took on extensive catering work across nearly every kitchen role—prep, production, packing, and service—for both private and corporate events.

    He later specialized in high-volume operations as Kitchen Manager at Thistle Health, partnering closely with R&D, logistics, and purchasing teams, and spent four years as a Senior Cook at UC Davis, helping feed roughly 3,000 people daily while overseeing menu planning, food safety, and quality control. Today, Hector serves as Executive Sous Chef at Culinary Eye, working alongside Executive Chef Carlos Melgar to deliver consistent, high-quality production across both venue and catering operations.

  • Senior Event Specialist

    With more than twenty years in hospitality, Chris Chere has produced everything from intimate bespoke dinners to conferences for over five thousand guests—across the Bay Area, on land and at sea. His career spans nearly every corner of the industry: bartending, beverage program development, operations, and director-level sales leadership, including running the bar program for Oakland Friday Nights.

    Recent productions include large-scale events at Fort Mason Center, Pier 27, and The Masonic. As a Senior Event Specialist with Culinary Eye, Chris focuses on guest engagement and experiential design, drawing on long-standing local relationships and a trusted network of Bay Area event professionals to bring ambitious concepts to life.

  • Catering & Event Producer

    Katie Bilsky brings more than fifteen years across restaurants, catering, events, education, and retreat facilitation to the Culinary Eye team, which she has supported in a range of roles since 2015—server, service manager, recruiter, and now a key member of the sales support team. Her path has been anything but linear: before returning to events, she taught kindergarten, worked in nonprofit family services, traveled internationally, and built a career as a yoga instructor and retreat facilitator.

    As she puts it, keeping twenty five-year-olds focused is some of the best event training there is. Now based in Mendocino, Katie supports Culinary Eye remotely, bringing a calm, adaptable presence and a genuine appreciation for thoughtful guest experiences.

  • Executive Assistant, Operations & Staffing

    Helia Fotoohi keeps Culinary Eye organized behind the scenes. As Executive Assistant for operations and staffing, she supports leadership and the operations team across administrative workflows, staffing coordination, and event logistics—preparing and formatting documents, updating proposals, and keeping information accurate and moving.

    Detail-driven and quick to take initiative, she thrives in a fast-paced hospitality environment, creating the kind of quiet efficiency that lets every event come together smoothly.

We’re always interested in meeting people who care about food, hospitality, and the details that make a gathering feel good. Our events bring together chefs, bartenders, servers, producers, and other hospitality professionals. Some roles are in the kitchen. Others unfold on the floor, behind the bar, or behind the scenes.

If you’re thoughtful, curious, and comfortable working as part of a team, we’d like to hear from you.

Come Work With Us

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The Culinary Eye team caters weddings, corporate events, conferences, private celebrations, brand activations, and large-scale productions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Our work ranges from intimate dinners to multi-day gatherings and productions with thousands of guests, with menus, staffing, service, and logistics tailored to each event.

  • Yes. Culinary Eye caters at venues throughout San Francisco and the greater Bay Area, including event venues, private homes, offices, outdoor locations, and unconventional spaces. We can also work in venues without built-in kitchens, creating temporary kitchen setups when needed for on-site cooking and finishing.

  • Yes. Culinary Eye creates custom menus around the occasion, season, guest preferences, dietary needs, and overall event concept. Led by experienced Bay Area catering chefs, our culinary team can draw inspiration from cultural traditions, personal stories, brand identities, or the setting itself rather than working from a fixed catering menu.

  • Yes. Culinary Eye can develop creative concepts that connect the food with the broader event experience. This can include themed environments, edible installations, interactive food experiences, custom displays, branded elements, fabrication, rentals, decor, lighting, entertainment, staffing, and planning how guests move through the space.

Planning an Event? Talk to Our San Francisco Catering Team

Let’s Create Something Unforgettable.

Every gathering comes with its own set of ideas, questions, and details to work through. As hospitality professionals in San Francisco, we’ve spent years doing just that across all kinds of events and spaces.

Tell us what you’re planning, and we’ll start the conversation from there.