Specialized solutions through hands-on experience.
Consulting and development services strategically tailored to align your business with your vision.
Bio
Hello! My name Nicole Barnes, also known as Nicki by my peers. I am the creator of Colorado Culinary Consulting. With over thirteen years of industry experience, I have built a career rooted in a deep understanding of both bakeries and restaurants, with particular interest in creativity, adaptability and streamlining operational efficiency. I specialize in helping food businesses grow intentionally, offering expertise in SOP implementation, development of food costing and inventory templates, menu research and development, recipe standardization, staff training and coaching, and scaling production workflows. I will bring a constructive, solutions-oriented approach to your business. I'm here to help you build and support strong, adaptable teams, and implement efficient, sustainable systems to your operation.
A brief summary of my background in the food industry
My career began in Buffalo, NY, where I trained under some of the city’s most respected chefs during a time of incredible culinary growth. I had the opportunity to help open and grow several fledgling food businesses, including Butter Block Bakery and Patisserie under the mentorship of Chef & Owner Colleen Stillwell.
In 2021, I relocated to Seattle, joining Sea Wolf Bakery and contributing to the expansion of their pastry program. In January of 2022 I accepted the Executive Pastry Chef position at Mamnoon; a restaurant group driven by a Lebanese-rooted culinary concept. This experience allowed me to find culturally specific innovation and creativity while deepening the connection to my own Lebanese heritage. During this time, I worked closely with Chef and mentor Nicco Muratore, who helped me grow into a confident, values-driven leader focused on developing people as much as systems.
When I decided to try my hand at consulting, I volunteered my services to the nonprofit organization FareStart. During this time, I effectively built user-friendly batch tracking and costing systems that continue to support their value-added product line.
Resume
Testimonials
“Nicki was first a patron during our early efforts as a pop-up Buffalo wing business at different bars around the Seattle area. We got to know her through her visits to our pop-ups, and we shared similar backgrounds: being from Buffalo and being tenured service industry professionals. When we opened our brick-and-mortar location, Nicki was at the top of our list for someone we wanted to work with us, but she already had a full-time job. Nonetheless, she committed herself to helping us run our kitchen on her off-days and also pulled doubles by coming in after her main job. She truly was a force in the kitchen! Organized, efficient, communicative, and neat; we owe a lot of our success to Nicki’s efforts early on. We truly endorse Nicki’s experience and effort in the kitchen! Any restaurant starting out or even just in need of a rejuvenation would be lucky to have her.”
- Vindicktive Wings Ownership Team,
Seattle WA
"Nicki is an absolute powerhouse of a chef; from R&D, recipe creation and team training, to creating delicious seasonal dishes, Nicki is a complete package. Working with Nicki, I learned that she is an incredibly technical chef who has the administrative background for financial analysis, systems building, and growing programs, all backed up by her many years of experience running programs in both restaurants and bakeries."
- Nicco Muratore,
Seattle Chef
“Nicole joined Mamnoon to head our pastry department just as we were starting to thaw out of the pandemic. This required a combination of extreme flexibility as well as resourcefulness as we were adapting our menu to the rapidly changing dining habits.
Nicole was able to work with ownership and executive chefs to create a sustainable program that supported both our order-fire fine dining desserts, as well as creating a commissary service out of Mamnoon’s pastry department supporting a scratch-made/bake on demand pastry program. This consisted of authentic and excellent renditions of items from our repertoires, as well as unique new items that fit perfectly in and expand the scope and flavor profiles.
We worked on many different projects during her tenure. She’s a joy to collaborate with and can converge quickly on defining practical project plans that can be executed by most BOH team members.
- Wassef Haroun,
Owner Mama restaurant group