Why [me]: Eric's Story

Every Saturday, in the basement of a restaurant in White Plains, New York, a young boy in a bandana spent hours peeling potatoes. Maybe it was long nights spent laughing with his coworker Jorge, or the busy but warm atmosphere of a restaurant kitchen, but Eric Jeffay knew early on that he had a special connection to hospitality. 

What he didn’t know was that days spent in that restaurant basement would later lead to culinary school, working for multiple Michelin-starred restaurants and eventually helping open a new restaurant that earned one of its own. 

How did Eric go from a potato-wielding teen to a skilled hospitality professional before working his way up at [me], now acting as our Senior Product Manager? The truth is, it started simply: with a love for restaurants.  

Eric grew up right outside of NYC and became fascinated with restaurants as early as 12. “My parents from an early age realized I didn’t really love going to sports games or seeing Broadway shows, but they needed something to do for my birthday,” he recalled.

Eric’s birthday celebration of choice? Trying a new restaurant. “I really loved going to restaurants. And it was more than just the food; it was the whole idea of restaurants. The hospitality, the people, I think that’s really what I fell in love with first.” When he was 12, he convinced his parents to take him on a tour of the Culinary Institute of America. From that point on, he knew he wanted to go to culinary school. “My parents tried to convince me otherwise,” he shared, “they actually made me work in restaurants in high school.”

So for every Saturday for two years, in the basement of a restaurant in White Plains, New York, young Eric could be found peeling potatoes. “It was brutal,” he said. But what was meant to be a deterrent only inspired him further. Many long nights and long shifts later, the restaurant eventually let Eric work service upstairs. “But only if I peeled the potatoes fast enough.”

After Eric finished high school, he attended the Culinary Institute of America. During those four years, he spent six months as a fish cook on Nantucket, working six-day, 50-hour weeks with one goal in mind: “I wanted to graduate and work in the best restaurants in New York City.” 

But, like many parts of restaurant life, things don’t always go as planned. Also, like restaurant life, sometimes they turn out even better. The culinary competition in New York was thicker than homemade caramel. “I decided to try working from front-of-house,” he shared. He landed a role as a server at a one-Michelin-star restaurant (working alongside another of our future [me]ople, Karen Nazarro!).

After two years, he moved on to a three-Michelin-star restaurant, Per Se. “It was super difficult and super formative,” he said, “It really taught me a lot of values that I think are still instilled, like moving with a sense of urgency or striving for perfection even if you don’t achieve it.” 

Then, he moved to DC. His first culinary stop was working at minibar and its sister bar, barmini by José Andrés. Traveling for beverage pop-ups and special events, Eric got to see a whole new side of the restaurant world. “I think that was kind of a through line in my career. I really, really got to see how hard restaurant workers work. The days you close and open the next morning, 70-hour weeks, sleeping on the couch at the restaurant, taking inventory at two AM. I also learned a side of restaurants that was more creative. ” 

Despite the hard days, Eric’s journey with restaurants wasn’t over yet. His next venture would take him to Los Angeles, where he would get to join the pre-opening team at Somni with José Andrés. There, he truly got to experience firsthand the life of a General Manager.

“I got to hire a team from scratch, so lots of six or seven-day workweeks. The best part was getting to work the floor with my team, getting to greet guests and working with the chef. The sooner I could get done with the scheduling, invoices, inventory and all of the stuff that MarginEdge does, the more I could do hospitality.”

After just about a year and a half into opening, Somni had earned two Michelin stars. As GM, Eric was also able to implement his own ideas. “We actually trained the cooks to do service, and were then able to tip the cooks. Pouring wine, greeting guests, all the requirements for a two-Michelin-star restaurant. They were some of the best-paid cooks in the country.” 

Eventually, Eric moved back to DC to become the GM for another Michelin-starred restaurant, Pineapple and Peals. Then, the pandemic happened. Eric stayed at Pineapple and Pearls for another eight months, even driving a refrigerated truck to offer home delivery to guests during the shutdown. At that point, Eric realized he was beginning to feel burnt out. Then, [me] happened. 

Five years ago, Eric saw an open role in business development at MarginEdge. With a lot of time and hard work, he eventually transitioned to Director of Partnerships. From there, he was asked about moving on to the product team, and today serves as our Senior Product Manager. 

When asked about [me], Eric’s favorite part by far is getting to make life easier for restaurant folks. “People didn’t understand how hard restaurant workers work. We didn’t have the tools to execute our jobs at the level we were trying to execute them at. So often, technologies just didn’t understand the reality of being a restaurant worker and didn’t make my life easier. I feel really proud now that I get to help build a product that is addressing some of these issues and speaks to the reality of what it’s like to be in the kitchen.” 

Eric didn’t know it at the time, but his years spent working late nights and early mornings would inform his later work: building a product that would make the lives of many restaurateurs in the same position much easier. “People in restaurants don’t need to be taught how to do their jobs differently. They need better tools.”

In his free time, Eric, unsurprisingly, loves to cook. “I’m a cookbook junkie,” he shared, “I’ve really fallen back in love with cooking. I can't even begin to describe how much respect I have for some of the chefs and cooks I worked for.” 

From a 12-year-old with a curiosity for the culinary world to one of our many talented [me]ople, Eric’s story feels much like the journey to creating a perfect slice of lemon meringue pie: it took a lot of patience, a little complexity, but still ended up with a pretty sweet outcome.