Jerry Gabbert - President

Bio -

I began my career in food by accident and at the suggestion of two very good friends...Charles Clark and Shawn Morrison.  They convinced me that working in a restaurant waiting tables was about the most fun a 19 year old could have...so I did it.  That was 1984 and 24 years later, I'm still connected to this wonderful industry.

I spent a stretch in college in my hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana studying business and history and not certain what I wanted to do after college, but the food bug kept biting.  Shawn, by this time, was a vice president with an established Italian restaurant chain in Houston and allowed me to continue with my food career as a manager over their New Orleans location.  I learned a lot as an eager 25 year old running a 15,000 square foot restaurant with 90 employees in the heart of the French Quarter.

After leaving the restaurant world, I set my sites on the food distribution industry and landed a sales position with Kraft Foods in Houston in 1991.  I spent the next 13 years working in Sales and Marketing, Sales Training, Margin Management, Healthcare Sales, Information and Technology Solution Sales, Web Application Development and Implementation and finally, Senior Sales Management.  Kraft Foods was involved in several mergers and acquisitions including Alliant Foodservice and US Foodservice.

My next challenge came in New Orleans, Louisiana where my wife Sharon and I were married and hired the acclaimed James Beard award winning Chef John Besh to cater our New Orleans wedding.  I began working for an upstart internet gourmet food business in 2003 and learned much about selling gourmet food online and in the retail food industry.  My years of experience came in handy as the business was flourishing.  In August 2005, much as we knew it came to a halt.  Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans and we were fortunate enough to evacuate to Houston.  There wasn't much to salvage from our flooded home so we decided to make the Houston area our new home.

Soon after arriving in Houston I left the New Orleans based company, thus ending my tenure.  But, like they say, when a door closes a window usually opens and it did in the form of Uptown Gourmet Food Brokers.  Inspired by about 20 clients, I was encouraged to open my own business with their support and they allowed me to represent their gourmet sales efforts in the Texas markets.  Uptown Gourmet was started in May 2006 and was named after my favorite neighborhood in New Orleans...the historic Uptown District where St. Charles Avenue and the old green Streetcars meander through this 160 year old gem of a neighborhood.  Our logo was inspired by my experiences in New Orleans and was created by Diane Benjamin of Pomegranate Design in New York.

The mission of Uptown Gourmet Food Brokers is to locate unique, distinctive and rare gourmet food brands from artisanal producers from around the world and offer them to retailers in the Texas market.  We travel to all of the major trade shows looking for those special products to feature in our brokerage and website.

The Sell Gourmet Network

Uptown Gourmet is a proud part of the newly formed Sell Gourmet Network.  Began in August 2007, the Sell Gourmet Network has served as a meeting place (or portal) for the gourmet food industry since its inception.  Never before has one place on the internet and for that matter, anywhere else, been as comprehensive in its focus to connect gourmet food businesses together.  I serve as Chief Executive Officer of the SGN. Our mission with Sell Gourmet is to give something back to the gourmet business community that has been so good to us.  At the website, there are numerous services that folks in the industry can use to connect and do business together.

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