Chris LaVeque
Owner and Founder
Chris has had his hands in meat for over 20 years. Well before that, at the ripe age of 16, he was creating magic as a chef in the local restaurant industry. His passion for bringing the best of the best to this community is the reason we’re here. Chris loves this shop, his team, his Carnivore lifestyle, a wild hunting trip, and our community. Find him making eyes with your sausages, brainstorming fantastic new creations and scouring the meaty realms for all the goodness this shop can offer.
Rob Beck
Strategic Business Manager
Rob has worked in food from the age of fifteen. From grocery store to sandwich shop, from producing fresh pasta to smoked sausage, food has been his life. A small town boy from Tuolumne, CA (look it up), he believes a smile and a friendly attitude are the best ways to win someone's heart. Rob's attention to detail and focus on presentation fit perfectly at el Salchichero, where we believe you eat with your eyes first. If you've had our sausages within the last eight years, Rob probably has his hands on ‘em.
Adam ALLGROVE
Operations Manager
Adam has been in the meat industry for over twenty years, eleven being here at el Salchichero. Born and raised in the Santa Cruz Mountains, his community connections and passion for fine meats make him an irreplaceable asset. He firmly believes that hard work, leadership, and a focus on face to face interaction are the keys to building a lasting culture. His love for meat doesn't stop in the shop, as there's always something tasty cooking on the grill, or in the pan, at home. If you want to talk meat with a true expert, Adam is your guy.
Joel YANEZ
Production Manager
Joel started working in restaurants at the age of seventeen. Dishwasher beginnings led to promotion through observation and a hunger for learning. Born in Yahualica, where you can find the best chili in all of Mexico, he moved to California to start a family. This man has soccer balls in his genes, as both of his kids are on track to play professionally. If anything needs to get done, Joel is always the right guy for the job. Slicing bacon, brining hams, fixing electrical problems, waving a magic wand or deep cleaning a deep fryer, it's all just another day on the job for our jack of all trades.
Serafina Nicole Lúz
Marketing & Business Operations Director
Serafina is our in-house witch. With over 20 years in marketing, business and branding in the Action Sports industry, she has owned her own agency and collective for over 10 years. Her wit, expertise, and intuition is helping us to guide from a place of the heart and soul. She manages all of our marketing direction, social media and partnership opportunities. She is also a Soul Therapist and Dreamworker (amongst many other things). She can help you tell your story and see into your soul (plus, she’s got a dirtier mind than all of us combined). No matter how deep you want to go, she’s your gal.
Daniel laggner
Sales and Field Marketing Manager
Daniel Laggner grew up in Austria, with a good chunk of his childhood spent at his grandparents’ farm in the Alps, where food came from the land and Tuesday meant something was probably getting butchered. Hunting, growing, and raising animals weren’t hobbies there, just how things worked.
That early exposure to where food actually comes from stuck with him. After about a decade guiding people through wilderness (i.e. keeping city folks from getting lost and/or eaten), he developed some pretty strong opinions about what we’ve traded away for convenience and cellophane.
These days Daniel works at the intersection of food production, small-scale operations, and community, which is a fancy way of saying he cares deeply about what we eat and who grew it. He’s spent years as a hunter, a butcher, a cook, and a one-man argument against the industrial food system.
He believes the best meals start long before anyone turns on the stove, and that Santa Cruz is a pretty great place to prove it.
