Danny’s Introduces New Sushi Chef
RED BANK – “Mike” Jinghuijiang, 32, has been named the new sushi chef at Danny’s Steakhouse and Sushi on Bridge Avenue.
Jinghuijiang, who is from Fujian, China, trained in the art of Chinese, Japanese and sushi cuisines.
He moved from China to Wisconsin and worked as a training chef at a family restaurant for two years. He then worked for eight years in Chinese and Japanese restaurants in downtown Manhattan. For the next five years, he worked at Yama, located next to the United Nations, serving Asian-style cuisine to diplomats from all over the world.
Jinghuijiang, who came to work at Danny’s on Oct 20, is designing a new sushi menu and expanding the restaurant’s sushi catering menu.
Bungalow Road Opens Location in Atlantic Highlands
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – Bungalow Road, a boutique gift and retail shop originated in Avon-by-the-Sea, is opening its second location at 20 Center Ave, Suite 3.
The new Atlantic Highlands location offers holiday and everyday shoppers a unique selection of gifts, home décor and accents, jewelry and clothing.
The borough’s newest retail shop is located in the heart of the downtown area – just steps away from popular restaurants, art shops and the high-speed ferry – and offers customers the same handpicked inventory and friendly shopping experience found at the original Bungalow Road location.
Bungalow Road will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday with extended holiday hours during the month of December.
Additional information is available by visiting www.bungalowroad.com.
Sickles Market Hires New General Manager
LITTLE SILVER – Sickles Market has announced that Andrew Roberts has joined the highly regarded family-owned and operated business as general manager.
Roberts’ responsibilities include the day-to-day operations of the $18 million century-old business.
Roberts has more than 20 years of management experience in the specialty food retail and luxury hospitality business. His most recent position was as a regional manager with Whole Foods.
According to Roberts, one of the biggest attractions for him to come to Sickles Market was the market’s independent family operation’s hands-on management style, unique setting, savvy customer base and its growth potential.
“I wanted to join an organization where I felt I could make a positive change,” Roberts said. “I needed a certain level of comfort with who I would be working with and Bob Sickles was that person. I believe my management style will complement his bigger picture.
“When I started at Whole Foods it had 100 stores; when I left it had 300,” he said. “I wanted a place where I felt that what I did could make a difference; and I wanted to work with an organization that welcomed growth. That is my passion.”
Roberts said he welcomes the opportunity to tackle new challenges and areas of business, including Sickles garden center.
“Yes, the garden center business is new to me, but it is exciting to see the process from start to finish,” he said. “I love to challenge myself and a new business gives me that opportunity. There is a synergy in a business that is literally seed to table.”
Sickles Market, a lifestyle market, plans on introducing several gardening classes in 2015 that will allow customers to follow the growing cycle development from planting to harvesting.
“People want to know where their food comes from,” Roberts said. “They always want transparency. Here we can provide that in our retail market.”
Roberts said that his passion for food began when he was very young from his family’s world travels. “Food is what brings people together on common ground.”
Roberts said among his biggest challenges is the existing restrictive space. A lack of retail space is a common challenge among small family-owned businesses experiencing growth. It is quite different than a new business that starts with a projected floor plan that is designed with its growth potential in mind.
“Space is always an issue,” he said. “Newer businesses have the luxury of growing into their space, but a business like Sickles wants to branch out but doesn’t always have the room to grow. We have to be creative in our approach.”
One solution has been that Sickles Market has rented office space at a local business park in Shrewsbury to help ease its growing pains.
Roberts said that Sickles Market has continued to out perform its competition by optimizing its unique location. The business is located on Sickles family property that dates back to a 1665 King’s Land Grant. Instead of being located on a busy highway, it is set in a bucolic setting of mature trees, open fields and is tucked behind a recreation park and historic property.
The other area that Sickles Market continues to expand and hone is customer service. One such service is a lifestyle coordinator, whose responsibilities are to help a customer with entertaining solutions from napkins to menu.
“The measurement of success of a brand is if people will turn to you in good times and bad,” Roberts said.
“The Sickles Market’s brand has remained consistent through its support of local New Jersey farmers. Local is extremely important to Sickles Market’s brand and will continue to play a pivotal role,” he said.
Roberts can be reached by email at aroberts@sicklesmarket.com.
Weichert, Realtors Hosts 36th Annual Toy Drive
The Weichert Family of Companies recently announced the start of its 36th Annual Toy Drive.
Members of the community are invited to drop off new, unwrapped toys at the company’s sales offices through Dec. 12. The toys will be delivered throughout the holidays in conjunction with local charities that assist financially and physically disadvantaged children.
“Our goal is simple but meaningful. We want to help disadvantaged children in the communities we serve have a brighter holiday season – and each year marks a new opportunity to do just that,” said Jim Weichert, co-president and founder of Weichert, Realtors. “I invite you to join in our effort to give the greatest gift of all this holiday season – joy to the children and families who need it most.”
Weichert employees will participate in the yearly community service event.
To date, the annual toy drive has yielded hundreds of thousands of items for underprivileged children in the communities Weichert serves.
To make a donation, visit any Weichert, Realtors sales office. To find a local office, please go to www.weichert.com/offices/.
Monmouth Prof. Receives Psychological Association Heritage Award
WEST LONG BRANCH – Monmouth University Professor Fran Trotman, Ph.D., received the American Psychological Association (APA) Heritage Award during the organization’s annual convention in Washington, D.C.
The Heritage Award is a national award given to one senior psychologist who has made distinguished, long-standing and substantial contributions that pertain to women, gender or related issues in the areas of teaching, research and practice.
Trotman is a professor of psychological counseling. She received her Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Columbia University and has been in private practice for more than 35 years. She has served as president of the New Jersey Chapter Association of Black Psychologists and the Bergen County Association of Licensed Psychologists, as well as many offices of APA. She has written over 100 publications and presentations on the psychology of women.
Liquitex, Winsor & Newton Supporting Brookdale Visiting Artist Program
LINCROFT – Acrylic art supplier Liquitex and watercolor innovator Winsor & Newton have announced their support of the Brookdale Visiting Artist Program.
Organized by artist and teacher Amy Faris, who is also a member of the Liquitex and Winsor & Newton Fine Art Collective, and co-sponsored by the Brookdale Arts Society, the Visiting Artist Program aims to cultivate an interest in the visual arts within the local community and help students’ creative process flourish.
The program kicked off with a visit from Seattle-based artist Kimberly Trowbridge on Thursday, Nov. 13. The oil painter, whose work is strongly tied to color theory, hosted a three-hour painting workshop for Brookdale students during which used Winsor & Newton materials supplied by the company. Later that evening, Trowbridge gave a presentation on her work and process in The Center for Visual Arts Gallery at Brookdale Community College.
“Supporting emerging artists in communities around the country is integral to Liquitex and Winsor & Newton’s missions,” said Jimmy Leslie, resident artist for Liquitex, Winsor & Newton and Conté á Paris, and director of their Fine Art Collective. “Amy is dedicated to exposing Brookdale students to a wide variety of contemporary art-making ideas, methods, histories and experiences, and we are proud to support this mission and provide local students with the materials and tools needed to express their creativity.”
An instructor and lecturer on figure painting and color theory, Trowbridge has taught at the University of Washington in Seattle, Western Washington University in Bellingham and Gage Academy of Art. She runs a private painting school out of her Top Hat Studio in south Seattle and leads international plein-air-painting tours in Spain and Portugal.
The Brookdale Visiting Artist Program brings established and emerging professional artists and designers from a broad spectrum of media to the school’s department of art to conduct public lectures and to engage with students, faculty and the local community.
In addition to Trowbridge, the Brookdale Visiting Artist Program will bring Nell Irvin Painter to the Lincroft campus on Dec. 4 and professional artist Jeannine Marchand in late March.
Monmouth U’s Hess Business School Named One of Best
WEST LONG BRANCH – Monmouth University’s Leon Hess Business School is one of the nation’s best business schools, according to the education services company The Princeton Review.
The company features the school in the new 2015 edition of its book “The Best 296 Business Schools.”
“We are honored to be recognized by Princeton Review for the tenth consecutive year,” said Donald Moliver, Ph.D., dean of the Leon Hess Business School. “Thanks to the commitment of our dedicated faculty and staff, our MBA program prepares students to thrive and compete in today’s global economy.”
The two-page profile in the guidebook notes that “professors are ‘very knowledgeable in their fields’ and their real-life work experience ‘gives them the chance to share real-life business scenarios with students’.” In addition, “the small campus setting, ‘allows each student to get one-on-one time with professors and administrators.’”
The Princeton Review tallied its lists based on its surveys of 21,600 students attending the 296 business schools. The 80-question survey asked students to rate their schools on several topics and report on their experiences at the school. Some ranking lists tallies also factored in school-reported data.
The Princeton Review does not rank the business schools hierarchically. “Each school in our book offers outstanding academics: no single b-school is ‘best’ overall,” said Robert Franek, senior vice president and publisher of The Princeton Review. “We publish rankings in several categories along with our detailed profiles of the schools to give applicants the broader information they need to determine which school will be best for them.”
The ranking tallies factor in data from Princeton Review’s surveys of business school students completed online during academic years 2013-14, 2012-13, and 2011-12. The survey asked students about their school’s academics, student body and campus life, and their career plans. On average, 73 students at each b-school were surveyed for the lists in the books’ 2015 editions. All institutional data reported in the books was collected in 2013-14.
The books’ school profiles report admission, academics, financial aid, campus life, and career/employment information. The profiles also include school ratings (scores from 60 to 99) in five categories based primarily on institutional data. Among them are scores reflecting the school’s “Admissions Selectivity” and “Career” statistics (which factors in data on graduates’ starting salaries and employment).
Rice Joins Jersey Shore Girl Scouts as Development Director
The Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore has welcomed Madalaine Rice as senior director of development/external relations to further grow the organization’s fund development outreach practice.
With more than a decade of experience in the nonprofit world, Rice has a proven record of accomplishments in event planning, fundraising and office management. Her strong community involvement with high-level contacts have helped to develop long-term relationships with key individuals and businesses in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Most recently, Rice worked at the American Cancer Society (ACS), serving as senior executive of community engagement. During her time at the ACS, Rice instituted a market plan that produced strong ties to the business community and increased revenue. She served as the head liaison to the community and was responsible for all external relationships.
Rice’s highlights include playing a key role on the ACS team in raising more than $1.3 million dollars for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event, the procurement of a $400,000 grant to fund a full-time patient navigator ride assistance program and inspiration boutique – complimentary services for cancer patients including aromatherapy, Reiki therapy, massage therapy and much more – and the establishment of the widely successful Tides of Change Gala.
Girl Scouts holds a special place in Rice’s heart as her two daughters have benefited directly from the program. In fact, one of her daughters earned the prestigious Gold Award, the highest achievement for a teen Girl Scout.
“I’ve seen firsthand the confidence and character building that happens to young women who go through the Girl Scout program,” Rice said. “I am proud to be a part of this outstanding organization.”
Additional information about the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore is available by visiting www.girlscoutsjs.org.
