Portland High School Deering High School Casco Bay High School

Alumni Spotlight: Joe Miller, CBHS 2011

It was in the kitchens at PATHS where Joe Miller discovered his love of cooking, but in the daily meetings with his crew at Casco Bay High School, he learned the skills that allowed him to rise to head chef at Portland’s Street and Company. 

“The biggest part of my job is training teams of sous chefs and cooks how to interact together. At Casco Bay, we dedicated a lot of time putting ourselves in situations that were uncomfortable and learning how to grow from that. We learned how to be around people that have vastly different opinions. That’s where I really picked up the tools to be a leader.”

Heading into his junior year, one of his teachers suggested that he explore culinary arts at PATHS, and Miller leapt at the opportunity. “Being able to spend my entire morning around people who had that drive and passion for cooking, then being able to step away and go back into the classroom was an awesome experience for me,” he said.  

He took a year off after graduation and then, to his parents' dismay,  decided against going to college. “I wanted to buy a house and have a family, and I didn’t see that as a possibility if I was also paying for college,” he said. He talked the chef at Street and Company into letting him work in the kitchen and was told he’d have to start by washing dishes.    

“I learned what service was like with a full dining room and what people are like when they’re under stress. As soon as the fires start burning and you have someone standing over you and there are expectations, everybody reacts completely differently. My first couple of years here were learning how to deal with my stress and learning how to deal with other people in stressful situations,” he recalled. 

After a couple of years in the dish pit, he became a cook–prepping ingredients, making desserts and sauces, the things the cooks can’t do while working the line. “It’s mostly a day job. You don’t deal with the stress of service but you're learning the ropes, honing your knife skills, practicing your mother sauces.” Two years later, he was back in the fray as a line cook, learning the recipes and developing the chops to earn him a spot as sous chef and eventually head chef for the entire restaurant.   

He’s a film buff, mentioning Chef and Spirited Away as particular favorites. “I go to the movies every single week. It’s a great way to decompress.” He loves board games and is designing one with his girlfriend. They also collaborate on themed dinners for the Dungeons and Dragons group at Crossroads in Standish. “I’ll make a whole tavern menu to get people immersed in the adventure.” 

“My strengths are about leadership and how to be a leader in an unconventional setting like this.  I try to make it important that kindness comes first. We’ve all seen chefs throwing pans, and we want to be as far away from that as possible. I can’t say that I wouldn't have gone down this path if I didn’t go to Casco, but I don’t think I would be successful if I hadn’t gone to Casco,” he said.

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