Jason worked for Ocean Properties Limited, at the Delray Beach Holiday Inn on A1A and Atlantic Blvd. He also worked at the other Holiday Inn locations owned and operated by this same company. His duties primarily included helping plan, design, set up, serve, clean up and interface with customers and guests during catered events. He also helped do miscellaneous jobs for the Food and Beverage Department, waiting tables and interfacing with clients to help fill in where needed.
The Walsh Family, the owners of Ocean Properties Limited, operated several hotels in prime locations between Boca Raton and Delray Beach in the 80s and 90s. These locations were iconic with locals and super-popular with tourists, even during the off seasons. At that time, the hotel on the corner of Atlantic Boulevard and A1A was a Holiday Inn. Jason worked primarily out of this location because it was the best and most prestigious place for events, right on the beach and with a large banquet room.
Jason worked for the Food and Beverage department, learning to work for a variety of managers with differing work styles and expectations, always bringing excellence to the table to make the people counting on him shine. Weddings and special family events were the most popular, but there were also some regular meetings catered at the Holiday Inns each week, for example the Delray Beach Kiwanis Club’s weekly meeting.
An event is a presentation, an experience, and every element of it counts. Every table, every chair, every inch of rug, every smell, every thing should sparkle. People trusted Jason and the team he worked with to make the most special moments of their lives filled with great memories. Being trusted to be there, in the room, serving a family during their most precious moments was not lost on Jason. He treated his role as server as a sacred responsibility, a handler of food and drinks, for different people in the same role, over and over. Different people danced to the same wedding songs. Making it sweet, and being super-serious about it, was important.
Unfortunately, Jason tried too much of the food while working there, and put on some pounds performing necessary quality control tasks. The food at Ocean Property hotels was too tasty; the chefs were too excellent as well, and the Walsh Family was too generous about keeping everyone working hard for them well fed. The Walsh Family was very good to it’s loyal workers, so Jason bent over backwards to never let them down.
He worked as a caterer all through high school and through a lot of college until he became a Park Ranger.