More Village Market People

In each department we have a blend of long-time employees and some new people who bring us new ideas for everything from recipes to benefit programs. Here are some of your favorite people here, many of whom have been with us over ten years.

Sue Zinacola – Sue has been with us for over 17 years. She heads up our deli production staff and is responsible for so many of our most renowned offerings including our Potato Salads and our Chicken Pot Pies. But she does so much more as she and the staff  produce an astonishing array of items every day in our kitchen.  Sue and her husband, John, live in Wilton where they’ve raised their son and daughter who both worked with us during high school and college years. (In fact, Nisia still comes back to help out up front on occasion. She is the proud grandmother of two darling girls!

Katherine "Daught" Jacob, Floral Supervisor

Daught was instrumental in upgrading our floral department. These days she doesn’t spend a lot of time in the store as she is also the owner and operator of her own floral design business, Botanica, in Westport.  But we continue to benefit from Daught’s  advice, her knowledge and her frequent trips to New York’s flower market.

Lorretta Daka, Floral Manager

Loretta, who is from Croatia, has also always enjoyed learning – whether it was a 2nd (and 3rd) language, the classes in which she still enrolls or the flower business. As a single mom with two kids, Loretta works hard and enjoys meeting challenges.  In particular, Loretta loves the design aspect of her job, but generally she really enjoys just making customers smile – and what better way than with flowers!

Sylvain Blanchard Sylvain, like his accent, comes from New Brunswick, Canada where he spent over 20 years in the fish business – all aspects of it.  Sylvain has been out on the boats, on the docks and has managed large processing operations.  He really knows fresh seafood! Sylvain moved to Connecticut where he managed a well-known fish market in Fairfield, and we were delighted when he agreed to join us in 2005.  You’ll be delighted with Sylvain’s knowledge, his advice, and his wonderful recipes for really exceptional seafood dishes!

STAR Employees

We are particularly proud of a group of our employees who face and meet greater challenges than most of us. We have long been a jobsite for local STAR, Inc. chapter and take great pride in being selected as the "Connecticut STAR, Inc.Employer of the Year"  in 2001. We are so pleased to have a great group of young adults and their terrific "job coach" help us with many tasks five days a week. It works beautifully; these folks get valuable work experience and training while they're doing a good job for us. Beyond that, our STAR workers enjoy a friendly work environment and the rest of us get inspired by them - everyday!