Christian Mikkelsen grew up in the Wenatchee Valley, surrounded by his family’s apple and cherry orchards. His love of cooking began at home, deciding early on that his goal in life was to be a chef. After moving to Portland to attend the Oregon Culinary Institute, he worked for Chef Ramsey Hamdan at Joolz, where he was introduced to Lebanese food and the world of catering. A passion for travel and cooking led to New Zealand, Europe, and South America. Eventually, his travels landed him back home in Washington, taking the Executive Chef position at Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort. The blended influence from Christian’s travels and roots in North Central Washington inspire his creative and from-scratch menus.

Kimberly McDaniels grew up in Plain, WA, graduating from Central Washington University in 2009 with a BA in Anthropology and a minor in Museum Studies. After college, she moved back home and began working at Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort. She started in Guest Services and before long moved into an Event Coordinator Position, where she spent 5 years organizing and executing a wide range of events from luncheons to multi-day wedding extravaganzas.

 In 2021, Christian and Kimberly moved to Wenatchee, WA, opening their first restaurant, Mission: Burgers & Chicken, marrying in that same year. They live in Wenatchee with their fur-baby, Barley.

Emily Frasier grew up in the Wenatchee Valley with only an orchard separating her and cousin Christian’s childhood homes. in 2015 she graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in Public Relations and minor in Spanish. She recently returned to the valley after living in Oregon for several years. While away, Emily honed her hospitality chops working in front-of-house and operations manager roles at large-scale music festival catering events. Her and Christian first catered together in 2016 and have been teamed up ever since. In addition to her role at Chop Chop she works as a server in Leavenworth, WA. Emily is grateful to be working alongside family to bring an elevated and personalized catering service to the valley.