Napa Valley College: Education Is The Key To Reinvention: Local Man Reinvents Himself During Pandemic With Education

Press release from Napa Valley College:

July 21, 2021

2020, with its global pandemic and attendant economic downturn and social isolation, affected nearly everyone on the planet, leaving millions of stories of resilience, coping, grief and healing. For one Napa Valley man, the story is of reinvention.

A few years ago, Cameron Rahtz was flying high as sous chef at Napa Valley’s The Restaurant at Meadowood, which has been awarded three stars by the influential Michelin Guide.

“I spent eight years there, and left in 2017,” he said. “I will always be in debt to Chef Christopher [Kostow] for all that he taught me, and the patience and support my fellow team members gave me.”

Rahtz, who was then in his early thirties, knew that eventually he wanted his own chef spot and needed to learn more before he could do that. Not about cooking, but about how to run a business.

He traveled the country for two years, taking on jobs in kitchens and other roles in the hospitality industry, and by fall 2019, was back in the Napa Valley, working in operations at a hotel in Yountville. He and his fiancé Allie bought a home in August 2019 and had a side business making crackers for wineries to serve with tastings. “We rented a commercial kitchen two nights a week and baked the crackers, packaged them and delivered them ourselves,” he said. “We were having immense success but like all small businesses we faced challenges and, ultimately, due to the pandemic, we closed the business in April 2020.”

“I wanted to own my own business and create opportunity for myself and hopefully other members of our community by creating a few good-paying jobs while also creating an additional revenue stream to support the growth of our household,” Rahtz said. “I was trying to break away from the kitchen, to know more and have more say in what happens in a business, what happens to the staff. Then, like a lot of people, my plans got disrupted.”

As the COVID-related downturn in the tourist economy took firm hold on the industry, he was part of the team that managed the process of laying off about 200 people at the hotel. Eventually, he, too, was let go.

The pandemic economy was a shock.

“Getting a job had never been a challenge to me before; I had always been referred to other chefs when my time was up in a kitchen,” he says. “When I lost my job in April 2020, I knew that getting a job in my industry was going to be very challenging. I sent out over 100 applications and got two emails back for follow-up. The one offer I got was working at a local landscaping company, for a significant decrease in pay.

This press release was produced by Napa Valley College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.