Kris Medford promoted to GM of Northeast Seafood Kitchen

Scott Kammerer, president and CEO of SoDel Concepts, recently announced the promotion of Kris Medford to general manager of NorthEast Seafood Kitchen in Ocean View, one of eight restaurants under the SoDel Concepts umbrella. A longtime SoDel Concepts employee, Medford started working for Chef Matt Haley, the company founder, in 2002.

“Kris represents what I love about our company,” Kammerer said. “We have talented, young, hardworking people, who contribute to our community, run great restaurants and strive to be better at everything they do. Kris has been a rock for us as he’s moved from bartender to GM. He’s led three successful restaurants over the past 10 years.”

Medford, whose first job was busing tables at a Dover bowling alley, cut his teeth at chain restaurants with strong training programs. He began working at Haley’s first restaurant, Bluecoast, then known as Redfin, in north Bethany Beach in 2002. Since then, he’s worked at six SoDel Concepts restaurants, doing everything from bartending to shucking oysters to serving as general manager. In 2012, he accompanied Haley to Puerto Rico to get ideas for Papa Grande’s Coastal Taqueria in Fenwick Island, where Medford became general manager.

Medford attributes his continued growth in the industry to Haley, Kammerer and Ronnie Burkle, a corporate chef at SoDel Concepts. “Scott provided structure and helped me see the big picture. Ronnie has been awesome - he’s always positive.”

Medford and his wife, Andrea, met in the restaurant industry. They have a daughter, Skylar. Kammerer said, “Kris is a great family man and a restaurant guy to the core.”