Warning: This story is about to make you really hungry.
We’ll be talking about savory Mexican chicken and rice in warm tortillas. Vats of barbecue pulled pork. Sizzling grilled kielbasa. Sweet home-baked coffee cake and banana bread. Frosty milkshakes.
At Level Green Landscaping, we love to eat. And we love to eat together. We’re a family, after all, and that’s what families do.
If you come work with us, you’ll eat with us.
Here’s a look, to hold you over.
Lynn’s Lasagna. And Cookies. And Pulled Pork
Level Green office manager Lynn Garris loves to cook. Lucky us.
A few times a year she totes in big pans of lasagna, a meat loaf or a vat of barbecue pulled pork.
“You can always tell when Lynn’s pulled pork is coming,” says branch manager James Kole. “When you see the pork on sale at Giant, you know there’ll soon be a big crock pot of it.”
“Those big pork roasts make the best pork barbecue,” Garris says.
Her grandmother taught her to cook when she was 11. She’s still at it.
Garris bakes 20 dozen cookies for the annual holiday party, and there’s usually a couple dozen different types on the tempting tray.
Real-Deal Mexican Food
We’re surprised you couldn’t smell the tantalizing aroma of our holiday feast from your place.
Last year, operations manager Hector Diaz took on the cooking duties, with help from his family, sizzling up a Mexican lunch for 130 partygoers — supervisors, drivers, corporate staff, branch managers, operations managers.
On the menu: marinated and grilled chicken and beef; grilled jalapeño peppers; homemade tortillas; beans; rice. And a macaroni salad so tasty that Garris keeps asking Diaz for the recipe.
“He won’t give it to me,” she says. “He says his aunt makes it and she doesn’t speak English.” She sighs. “I don’t think I’m going to get it.”
Food is just part of the appeal here.
“There’s something about eating a meal together,” says landscape designer Shelley Russell. “It’s like family.”
Everybody Dig In
There’s a separate holiday party for Level Green managers, hosted offsite, usually on a weekend evening. Everybody knows to show up hungry.
Tables groan under the weight of the potluck dishes people bring.
“There’s every kind of food you can think of,” Garris says. “Mexican food. A ham. A huge lasagna. Appetizers, side dishes, desserts. You have all these different flavors, different cultures, different tastes, and they all come together.
“It’s a great way for us to celebrate as a team,” she says. “You're proud to be part of this company.”
Picnic At The Beach
After the epic tug of war battle that ensues every summer at the annual summer picnic for managers and supervisors, there better be food.
There is.
Level Green co-owners Doug Delano and Bill Hardy have hosted this summer shindig since they first started the company 15 years ago.
Lately we gather at Sandy Point State Park, along the Northwestern shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
The owners man the grill and cook up hot dogs, hamburgers, hot sausages and kielbasa. And, of course, there’s baked beans.
Appreciation Through Food
Each Level Green branch decides on its own celebratory feasts, to show appreciation for months of hard work or to kick off the spring season.
It might be a homemade feast of carne asada. An end-of- year cookout with burgers and hot dogs. A made-to-order omelette breakfast.
Operations managers will sometimes buy up a bunch of breakfast burritos at McDonald’s and hand them out to grateful crews as they head out in the morning.
Our East Branch celebrates with frosty milkshakes during team meetings to toast a big enhancement sale. And birthdays are happily celebrated with ice cream cake.
Meet You At Panera
Work here, and you’ll soon know the way to Panera Bread. We eat a lot of Panera, from job interviews to performance review lunches to brainstorming sessions to catered meetings.
Doug Delano often shows up to work toting Panera bagels to share. Which one is Doug? Just look for the tall guy with the big Panera iced tea packed with about 10 lemons.
Treats From The Heart
Baking makes us happy.
Bill Hardy’s wife, Cheryl, sends in banana bread. Every October she picks bushels of apples and simmers up applesauce and apple butter to share.
Doug Delano “makes an awesome carrot cake,” Garris says.
Emilie Roper bakes applesauce oatmeal cookies, Hungarian coffee rolls and coffee cake to share with her co-workers at the East Branch.
“Growing up, my family always made food for other people, so it’s just part of me,” says Roper, an account manager. “It’s also an easy way to show my appreciation for my coworkers.
“We all have to eat,” she says, “and having good food just makes it better!”
Come Eat With Us
Well, to be fair, you’ll have to work, too.
We’re always looking for hard-working, talented people to join our team.
Are you ready to work for a growing, fun-loving company that really appreciates food — and its employees?
Contact us at 202-544-0968.
We’d love to meet you.
