Patricia Wind
Born in western New York, Patricia Wind spent her early childhood years fascinated with her father’s inventions and keen intellect (he is an engineer and inventor who holds many patents). Upon her family’s move to Minnesota, she was awarded one of the state’s top academic honors and was accepted into an early admission program to Minnesota State University at the age of 15. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin with areas of study in Computer Science and Hospitality Management. It was during these years that Patricia began to develop a specialized interest in the application of computer science and technology to the food/hospitality industry.
After working in the food and hospitality industry Patricia returned to New York to attend the Culinary Institute of America. In recognition of the excellence in her work at the CIA, she was offered, and accepted, a highly selective externship with the renowned Chef Thomas Keller at The French Laundry in California. During this time, she gained a wide range of experience and understanding of the wholesale buyer end of the food chain, including valuable insight into the specific and unique needs of the Chef/restaurant owner and institutional wholesale buyers.
Patricia’s entrepreneurial spirit lead to her next venture, which involved the successful development and management of a wholesale distribution start-up for a national wine importer. Her work included the self-design of internal customized software programs for sales and inventory management, and the development of transportation systems and logistics. It was this experience that laid the foundation for Patricia’s significant expertise in the direct application of technology to sales and distribution logistics, which is the foundation of the innovative Farms2tables model.
In order to explore her interest in local food sourcing and Hudson Valley farms, Patricia spent her time on weekends over the course of 4 years working at local farmers markets. The relationships she formed with Hudson Valley farmers established the base for the development of the Farms2tables farmer network. Moreover, knowledge gained from years of conversations with farmers at the markets about sales and distribution hurdles and difficulties has proven invaluable to establishing Farms2tables business practices.