Dan Estridge, Founder & Curator
Dan Estridge’s culinary journey started decades ago when, as a child, he would visit New York City’s neighborhoods, from Brooklyn to The Bronx, from Lower East to Upper West sides, and shop, lunch, feast and graze on a kaleidoscope of amazing foods at the city’s various ethnic deli’s, restaurants, stores, bodegas, pushcart peddlers and street markets. His early childhood memories and early culinary experiences have been the driving force behind his lifelong passion for food and his desire to protect and preserve for posterity the great lost food traditions of early 20th Century New York. He launched Manhattan Deli-Arts™ as a tribute to the culinary heritage of the original New York Delis and because of his passion to faithfully recreate these culinary treasures for today’s consumers.

Prior to launching Manhattan Deli-Arts™, Estridge – who has degrees in Industrial Engineering and Computer Systems Engineering - held senior engineering and management positions in high-tech companies large and small. Most recently he served as Chief Technology Officer at high-tech start-ups LineSider Communications and PFN Technologies. But no matter what else he was up to, his life-long passion for food always kept him involved in numerous food endeavors as a chef, caterer and builder of food-service facilities and food stores ranging from café and bakery operations to 100,000 square foot supermarkets.

John O’Brien, VP of Product Development, Sourcing and Operations
A foodie since forever, John grew up in Queens, New York and remains strongly attached to New York City and many of the city’s great food-related businesses.

Although John holds a degree in Marketing, John has been in the food business since he began working in a local supermarket while still in high-school. John’s experience includes a decade long run at Boar’s Head where he was Director of their Family Foods Division – the part of their company that develops and markets products manufactured outside Boar’s Head own plants. Under John’s direction, the division grew to encompass more than 300 products generating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue. John has also held senior product or line development positions with Smithfield, Applegate Farms, and Anco Foods.