Parker’s Wine Country Inn boasts promising team with deep roots

 

 

Their faces might be new to the Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn roster of employees, but Ida FitzGerald, Cammy Pinoli and Jessica Larsen are local Valley residents to the core. All three started at the Los Olivos Inn over the summer and fall months, and each brings a fresh face, professional passion, and a love for the Valley that echoes through the Parker’s family-run establishment.

 

The most local of the three locals is Ida FitzGerald, the breakfast and lunch manager at the new Restaurant Marcella, located in the lobby of the Inn. She is a fourth generation FitzGerald in the Valley. Her grandparents, Frank and Ida FitzGerald, resided in the Duff house, located below Old Mission Santa Inés, in 1910. Ida’s other relatives also date back to the turn of the century. Farmers Christian and Kristen Rasmussen worked the land east of the Mission; Jens Peter and Eline Skov settled in Solvang around 1912 where the Old Wulff Windmill still stands in Fredensborg Canyon.

FitzGerald left the Valley to study mathematics at Cal Poly, but marriage and her deep roots eventually brought her back to the Valley and the restaurant business. Nearly 24 years ago, FitzGerald got her start waiting tables at the Solvang Bakery and, upon her return, worked at The Red Barn. Although she has no formal training, restaurant life is second nature. She enjoys learning about food and hospitality, but it’s the people she enjoys the most.

 

 “I like the closeness and the camaraderie of the Valley lifestyle. I love working for the Parkers because they’re family oriented,” FitzGerald explains.

Just upstairs from Restaurant Marcella, Cammy Pinoli is hard at work as the Inn’s new general manager. Pinoli moved to the Santa Ynez Valley in 1992, and graduated from Santa Ynez Valley Union High School in 1995. While attending Hancock College, she worked for Solvang’s Petersen Inn and Ballard Inn before transferring to Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, where she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Hotel Management.

 

Immediately after graduation, Pinoli was hired as assistant manager by the Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale; but shortly after, she wanted to return to the Santa Ynez Valley to pursue her career. She joined the opening team for the 106-room Chumash Casino Resort, and went from wearing a hard hat during construction to working in guest services, public relations, and eventually to developing a comprehensive employee training program.

 

Recently, Pinoli was named the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn’s General Manager, and it is here that Pinoli feels she has finally come home.

“It is an adjustment to work on a smaller property; it’s more challenging because you wear more hats,” she explains, “but you get to know the guests, where they’re from, and their favorite wine. I really enjoy creating that experience.”

Equally enthusiastic about the guest experience is Jessica Larsen, named director of events for both the Inn in Los Olivos and the Winery on Foxen Canyon Road. Jessica grew up in Solvang but has since spread her wings, earning her degree in event planning from The Master’s College in Santa Clarita, Calif., and going on to travel the world.

 

It was during an internship with Coor’s Brewing Co. in Denver, Colo., that Larsen discovered her passion for event planning. She later went to work for the prestigious Woodberry Events Inc. in San Francisco, specializing in international events, working all over the world with high-end corporate clients. 

Big-time special events couldn’t hold sway, however, over the appeal of the quieter, more familiar life of the Santa Ynez Valley. Larsen returned to the Valley and worked for herself as an event planner before landing the special events position with the Parker family businesses in October.

 

“I handle all events considered at the properties, including weddings and corporate clients,” Larsen explained.

“The properties are beautiful, and I have great respect for the Parker family and their commitment to providing the very best for our guests,” Larsen said.

Together, FitzGerald, Pinoli and Larsen are three small-town women with big-city savvy and a passion for hospitality, making them an undeniable asset to the Parker family enterprise, and three feathers in the hat of the Santa Ynez Valley.