Growing up, Trevor Littlejohn was no stranger to the food and hospitality business. His grandmother owned a catering and events business, while his grandfather on the other side of his family operated hotels.
“I always had an affinity for cooking,” said Littlejohn.
Littlejohn started learning to cook at eight years old, but his first stint into professional cooking began during Take Your Kids to Work Day when he shadowed his aunt, a pastry chef at a restaurant in Southampton. At the end of the day, he was offered a job as a dishwasher which he did for two summers before moving up to a garde manger chef, preparing salads.
Littlejohn’s passion for cooking, led him to take a job working 40 hours a week at a restaurant in Thunder Bay while he attended classes at Lakehead University. After university, Littlejohn decided to pursue his true passion further, through Niagara College’s Culinary Management program.
Immediately following graduation in 2013, Littlejohn was offered a position as culinary cost control professor in the Canadian Food and Wine Institute. He also worked part-time as an instructor for CFWI’s Expert Edge program. At the same time, he was invited to join Canada’s Junior Culinary Olympic Team. While it would be tough to balance teaching, work and Junior Culinary Team Canada, Littlejohn knew the opportunity to represent his country on an international stage was one he couldn’t pass up.
“No matter what was thrown at me, no matter what challenges I faced, at Niagara College I was always met with a large amount of support from my professors and mentors and people around me who were there only to help me to succeed.”
In 2014, Littlejohn and his eight team members won a gold and silver medal and ranked fifth overall at the Expogast Villeroy and Boch Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg. Likewise, the team brought home a gold and a silver medal from the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany in 2016.
After the successes he experience on Junior Culinary Team Canada, Littlejohn continued to apply his culinary passion and skills at Benchmark Restaurant, in addition to teaching. Two years later, his commitment to culinary excellence at the College did not go unnoticed when he put his hat in the ring for the position of Director of Culinary at Chartwells, the College’s foodservice provider.
Littlejohn joined the Chartwells team at the Welland Campus in late August 2018. As the new director of culinary, Littlejohn works with his team every day to prepare something new, different and exciting for Niagara College students.
“My typical day is to basically manage and oversee all of the staff and ensure that all the operations are running smooth with respect to culinary,” said Littlejohn. “My primary concern is to ensure all of our guests are being fed top quality food consistently across both campuses on a daily basis.”
After a rewarding culinary journey since graduating from NC in 2014, Littlejohn is exactly where he wants to be in his career. Alongside hard work and perseverance, Littlejohn attributes much of his success to the lessons he learned at Niagara College.
“There is a lot to be said for good teachers and the value of education. And I received both of those tenfold at this college,” said Littlejohn.
As a professor in an industry he loves, Littlejohn hopes all of his culinary students succeed by focusing on their goals one day at a time. “Success comes with a lot of hard work, dedication and sacrifice. You really have to have the passion, care and drive to learn and absorb as much of this job you can whenever you can whether it’s on the clock or off the clock.”
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