Settebello Restaurant Group
Farm 255 is owned and managed by the Settebello Restaurant Group, LLC, a partnership of six young entrepreneurs. As a partnership, we are invested in the notion of collaboration and have achieved great success through our commitment to team projects. Prior to Farm 255 we have each participated in some aspect of the operation of Full Moon Farms, our seven acre farm and CSA, now in its fifth year of both success and expansion. Prior to Full Moon, three of the six of us ran an organic catering company together. Individually, we have further experience in the food and agricultural industries; collectively, our understanding of culinary arts, business management, financial risk, and community development is vast. Our ability to work well together – to inspire, engage and challenge each other on a day-to-day basis – is the element we believe best supports us in the face of inevitable setbacks and difficulties, however small or big. Many partnerships have never had the benefit of running a business together. We believe our experience operating as a team to be our most impressive strength. Below is an abbreviated look into our individual accomplishments.

Olivia Sargeant
Olivia Sargeant occupies the role of General Manager. She graduated from Haverford College in 1999 and pursued a career in the non-profit world with arts and culture as her area of focus. Between 2000 and 2002, she worked in New York as an associate producer for Cabengo, a boutique communications firm that develops media solutions for international foundations, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations. Switching her focus from the arts to agriculture, she left New York for Italy where she embraced organic agriculture literally from the ground up by learning how to farm. She worked as a farmer in Italy and Northern California and was a program coordinator for NextCourse, an organization in San Francisco that works exclusively in underserved communities to educate individuals about their food choices. NextCourse partners with the Bay Area’s best chefs to teach basic culinary skills alongside a curriculum of nutrition, purchasing, home gardening, and local food systems education. She moved to Georgia in 2004 to develop Farm 255’s menu and unique local sourcing system. In addition to all that encompasses the role of GM, she is also responsible for the Farm’s wine program, communications, events, education, and farms at Full Moon on her days off.

Jason Mann
Jason Mann, President of the Settebello Restaurant Group, LLC, oversees the financial, political, and culinary direction of Farm 255. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2000 and is currently a doctoral candidate in Ecology at the University of Georgia in Athens. For the past 10 years he has been directly engaged in all sectors of the food and beverage industry. He is the co-founder and the current agricultural director of Full Moon Farms, an organic/biodynamic research and education farm. With his extensive connections and experience within the organic agricultural community of the Southeast he will help facilitate the sourcing relationships that are paramount to Settebello’s long-term strategic vision.

Kate Smith
As a home grown Georgian, Kate Smith has entered Settebello Restaurant Group, LLC with a distinctly Southern flair. She is the only one the team with roots that dig deep into the Georgia clay. Kate comes from Darien, GA, a small town on the coast of Georgia where the majority of the Farm’s seafood is sourced. There, she helped to organize and initiate a SEED (Sustainable Economic and Environmental Development) project for her community. Through this experience, she developed a greater appreciation for community, environment, and cultural preservation. Kate came to Athens pursuing her undergraduate degree in Horticulture from the University of Georgia with a focus on organic agriculture. Kate served as the Service Manager of Farm 255 for its first year, and singlehandedly developed the Farm's unique style of Southern hospitality. You can find her moonlighting on the floor of the restaurant during supper....or picking flowers for the dining room out at Full Moon Farms.

Jerid Grandinetti
As the founding General Manager of Farm255, Jerid Grandinetti managed all facets of the restaurant’s operations to generate sales & profit growth efficiently and effectively from its inception. In 1999, he completed a degree in Political Economy of Industrial Societies (P.E.I.S.) from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2000, along with Jason Mann and Jeff Stoike, he co-founded Troubadours, a catering cooperative which specialized in providing artfully prepared meals consisting of goods grown sustainably and produced locally. Thereafter, he accepted a position at Wellington Management, a Boston-based global investment manager. While learning first-hand about their team-based approach to relationship management, he completed Accounting and Financial Statements Analysis courses at Harvard University. From 2003-2005, prior to opening the restaurant, Jerid also served as the Assistant Director of Full Moon Farms. He has recently moved back to Boston to get married, start a family, pursue other meat-based entreprenurial dreams, and play with his dog on the beach.

Jeff Stoike
Jeff Stoike serves as Vice President of Settebello Restaurant Group, LLC. Following his graduation from UC Berkeley in 1999, Jeff pursued his interest in sustainable resource management through involvement in international and domestic projects. It was through three years of social policy work in Oakland, CA, that he gained not only experience with highly successful value-driven work, but also the management and communications skills that are employed in his role in promoting Farm 255. Jeff is also pursuing a doctorate in Political Ecology at the University of Georgia.

Nicholas Zanoni
Nick Zanoni resides in San Diego, CA where he is currently pursuing a degree in law from California Western School of Law. He owns and operates the successful bar and lounge, Thrusters, now in its sixth year of prosperous business. Nick’s financial and business acumen gathered during the rise of Thrusters’ success is invaluable to the Settebello Group.