Whitney Ariss

Co-owner, The Preservery

Denver

But you can call her Whit. She is the boss lady and co-owner of The Preservery, a community-driven restaurant in RiNo/Five Points which she created from scratch along with her husband and business partner, Obe, back in April 2016. Before that, she worked as a professional baker, cooked on the line in fancy restaurants, worked in specialty food markets, managed coffee shops, catered events large and small, and ran her own personal chef company (not necessarily in that order and sometimes all at once). She grew up in Fresno, in the midst of the California Cuisine movement, where her hippie, urban homesteading parents grew much of their own fruits and vegetables and made almost everything they ate from scratch, including bread, pasta, ice cream and, of course, preserves of all kinds. She is passionate about eating well, treading lightly, fighting for social justice in the restaurant industry, knowing where all her ingredients come from, cooking with the seasons, and giving vegetables their proper due.