Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club, a hotel getaway on the Duke University campus in North Carolina, appointed an executive sous chef.
Taking on this coveted position is Mark Budnik, who honed his culinary craft in the Research Triangle, a region in the Piedmont of North Carolina, and in Michigan for the last 15 years.
Budnik’s past experience includes serving as general manager of Stromboli’s Express, a casual local chain restaurant with two locations in Raleigh, N.C. as well as general manager of Guardian Catering. He also spent seven years at Raleigh’s North Ridge Country Club where he worked his way up from various restaurant chef positions, including banquet chef and fine dining chef, to his last role as sous chef.
During his career at the North Ridge Country Club, he won the American Culinary Federation North Carolina’s Chapter’s Silver Medal for Hot Plate award in 2012 and 2011. His culinary background also includes positions at the Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada, Mich., and the Black Forest Baru Keller (renamed Sullivan’s Black Forest Brew Haus & Grill) in Frankenmuth, Mich.
Budnik earned an associate degree in Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management at Grand Rapids Community College in Grand Rapids, Mich. (now the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education at Grand Rapids Community College).
He currently lives in Raleigh with his wife, Katy, who’s due with their first child in September, a 3-year-old black Labrador, Autumn, and a cat, Ethos.
