Ronnie Burkle promoted to corporate chef for SoDel Concepts

Scott Kammerer, CEO and president of SoDel Concepts, announces the promotion of Ronnie Burkle, a SoDel Concepts employee since 2011, to the position of corporate chef. SoDel Concepts owns and operates eight restaurants along the Delaware coast, Plate Catering and Big Thunder Roadside Kitchen, a food and catering truck. Burkle will be working under Doug Ruley, who has worked as corporate chef at the Rehoboth Beach-based restaurant group since 2012.

“Ronnie has been a key employee for us,” said Kammerer. “He’s done so much to advance our company through his work at Catch 54 and NorthEast Seafood Kitchen, and he is just the nicest person you’ll ever meet.”

Burkle, who grew up outside Philadelphia, got into cooking at an early age. “My mother’s side of the family is Italian, and my father’s side is German,” he said. “My grandfather was a baker.”

At age 14, he got a job at the Cottage Café in Bethany Beach, which was near the family’s vacation home in Sea Colony. “I loved every minute of it,” said Burkle, who expedited and handled daytime prep. The job led to a series of restaurant positions in Bethany and Rehoboth as well as jobs back home in the Philadelphia area.

While studying at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, he met chef Cyrus Keefer, who at that time was co-owner of Dish in Rehoboth Beach, which has since closed. The two, who sat next to each other at orientation, struck up a friendship. Keefer gave Burkle a job and later introduced him to Matt Haley, founder of SoDel Concepts.

Burkle continued working in Pennsylvania during the school year and at the beach come summer until he graduated college and moved to the beach full time. He started with SoDel Concepts as a sous chef at Catch 54 in Fenwick Island, and while that restaurant was under renovation after a fire, he worked at NorthEast Seafood Kitchen in Ocean View and Lupo di Mare in Rehoboth Beach - all SoDel Concepts restaurants.

Burkle was the chef at NorthEast Seafood Kitchen before his promotion, which puts him in charge of the kitchens at Catch 54 and Papa Grande’s Coastal Taqueria - both in Fenwick Island - Matt’s Fish Camp in Bethany Beach, NorthEast Seafood Kitchen and Big Thunder Roadside Kitchen. “It’s a huge responsibility that I enjoy very much,” he said. “I love being a part of SoDel Concepts.”

Kammerer said, “Ronnie is another example of what SoDel is all about: recruiting bright, young people and providing them with an opportunity to grow.”

Burkle has been named Best Chef in Sussex County by Coastal Style magazine. In April, Burkle will join Ruley in Washington, D.C., for the Heart’s Delight Wine Tasting & Auction, a four-day celebration of food and wine featuring master winemakers and culinary stars. He lives in Millville with his wife and two sons.

For more information go to sodelconcepts.com.