Bill Hustedt
Bill Hustedt brings three decades of financial expertise to the table at West Coast Prime Meats in both private practice and corporate management.

A Pasadena, Calif., native, Bill began his career at Ernst & Young in Newport Beach, where he qualified as a Certified Public Accountant. He eventually launched his own accountancy, taking on Claim Jumper as a client in 1982. With the chain growing rapidly, founder Craig Nickoloff recruited Bill in 1987 to join as chief financial officer. Over the next 18 years, he played a crucial role in financing and expanding the chain to a $300 million sales enterprise. When the opportunity to create West Coast Prime Meats presented itself in early 2011, Bill joined his former executives as a managing partner.

Bill, who is a graduate of University of Southern California, notes that this is his second foray into the protein commodities: He is the developer and managing general partner of several commercial almond orchards in California's Central Valley.

Eddie Juarez
If you want a custom meat program, but think it will bust your budget, meet Eddie Juarez.

Whether you seek a specific cut of steak, a unique marinade or advice and training for your cooks and servers, Eddie and his team will customize their skills to your needs.

Coaxed by his uncle, a manager at National Steak & Poultry, to follow in his footsteps, Eddie stepped on to the meat-cutting floor at the tender age of 18 and learned from the ground up. The surroundings were familiar: In his earlier years, Eddie helped his father operate the family's meat stall at the local market in his native Colima, Mexico.

A natural leader and inspiring manager, he continued honing his operational skills at Young's Market, where he met future partners Al Johnson and Terry Hanks. And when Al and Craig Nickoloff wanted to build their own meat-cutting division for Craig's restaurant chain, they turned to Eddie to direct the cutting floor.

In the process, Eddie cultivated a precision-cutting team-six men on his crew have worked with him for more than 30 years-that knows every way to fine-tune your restaurant's protein program.

Jay Henderson
Heeding the advice of Horatio Alger, Minnesota native Jay Henderson trekked west in his high-school years, eventually landing in Arizona to earn his college degree and start a career in banking.

But his westward travels had not ended. In the mid 1990s, the family poultry business in Los Angeles needed his financial expertise and soon Jay was not only overseeing accounts in California and Hawaii but selling them as well.

That's when poultry customers Al Johnson and Craig Nickoloff approached Jay and his father-in-law about creating a meat-cutting division. Claim Jumper Meats was born and, under Jay's direction, expanded into West Coast Prime Meats, adding clients such as Japanese barbecue specialist Gyu-Kaku and Hawaiian broadline protein authority King's Foodservice.

Ten years later, when West Coast Prime Meats sold to new owners, they tapped the division co-founder as a company partner. Jay remains a crucial part of West Coast Prime Meat's organic and natural meat initiative and is the creator of the firm's proprietary Estate Angus brand.

Terry Hanks
The name "Hanks" opens many doors in Hollywood, but if it's a kitchen door, Tom, step out of the way for Terry. A dedicated meat salesman for the past three decades, Terry has a cadre of elite chefs in his portfolio, some who even go by two names, who depend on him for quality and service. Terry understands their needs because he's worked in the restaurant business, both as a caterer and a restaurant manager. His teaching credentials, earned at California State University, Northridge, frame his ability to train both his meat cutters and his customers about what's best for the center of the plate.

The South Dakota native, relocated in his school years to the San Fernando Valley, met his future wife when she was a waitress and he was a night manager at Tony Roma's. So obviously Terry's love for restaurants that specialize in beef runs deep.

From his formative sales days at Young's Market to his co-founding of Premier Meats in 1999, Terry has seen many changes in the local protein trade. But some aspects remain the same, such as partners Al Johnson and Eddie Juarez, whom he met on the cutting floor at Young's Market and who recruited him to join West Coast Prime Meats in 2009. Now, as a partner in the business, Terry plans to offer ever-improving options to his customers, such as a dry-aging room, which is slated to debut in 2012.

Al Johnson
Have a question about meat? Ask Al Johnson. Over his four decades of experience as a butcher, meat salesman and restaurant executive, he has honed an encyclopedic reserve of knowledge about your best option for the center of the plate.

And it all began in an iconic location. In his high school years, this Glendale, California, native cut his restaurant teeth in the kitchen of the original Big Boy hamburger shop.

An Army veteran, Al returned from service overseas and soon after began his long and successful career as a meat salesman, earning the distinction of salesman of the year eight times during his 18 years at Young's Market; and all nine years at Newport Meats.

In 1982, Al called on Claim Jumper restaurants founder Craig Nickoloff to see how he might help the growing restaurant chain. Three years later, he landed that account; 15 years after that, he signed on as an employee and the two launched Claim Jumper Meats, the company's custom meat-cutting operation. In 2011, that in-house profit center transformed into independent, full-service protein purveyor, West Coast Prime Meats, where Al is a managing partner.

Craig Nickoloff
Craig Nickoloff forms the bridge between the multi-million-dollar Claim Jumper restaurant chain that he founded with his father, Carl Nickoloff, in 1977, and the thriving Nick's restaurant group he began building with his son, Nick Nickoloff, thirty years later.

To say that Craig grew up in the foodservice business is no exaggeration: he began working at his father's Long Beach coffee shop as soon as he was tall enough to wash the windows, moving up to a line cook's job at age 15.

From the first Claim Jumper in Los Alamitos, Craig expanded the business over the next 28 years into a 37-unit brand across seven states with more than $300 million in annual sales. He sold the company in 2005 and has since partnered in seafood distributor International Pacific Seafood and frozen entrée producer American Pie (purchased by ConAgra Foods in 2010). In January 2011, he reunited with several of his Claim Jumper executive team members to helm West Coast Prime Meats.

A graduate of California State University-Long Beach, Craig encourages all would-be restaurateurs to attend his alma mater's hospitality school.

Dave Wicker
Dave Wicker understands both sides of the deal when it comes to purchasing for restaurants. During his 13-year career with broadline foodservice distributor S.E. Rykoff, he earned the distinction of salesman of the year three times, garnering him a promotion to Director of National Accounts from 1997 to 2000.

One contributor to Dave's success was high-volume Claim Jumper Restaurants. His commitment to service caught the eye of Claim Jumper founder Craig Nickoloff, who brought Dave on board as his vice president of purchasing in 2000. Dave oversaw the multi-million-dollar purchasing department at the chain for the next ten years, eventually reuniting with Craig in 2011 as a managing at West Coast Prime Meats.

A graduate of California State University-Long Beach, where he met his wife of more than 25 years, Dave also holds a Masters of Business Administration from University of California-Los Angeles.