The catering industry is intensifying for local chief Gianna Buzzetta, who died in a hiking accident in Hawaii

When Gianna Buzzetta, from Oceanside, won the prestigious pastry work at the youth and pretty Michelin star restaurant in Carlsbad in the summer of 2022, she was only 23 years old. But whoever knew the talented young cook knew that she was on a high -speed climb to the top.

“I am 100% a work executioner,” she told the Union-Tribune in September 2022. “I have been working constantly for 17 years and I have always had a job. At one point, I had three jobs at the same time.”

Unfortunately, the future of Buzzetta was tragically cut last week, when it was struck by a rock while she hiked with her boyfriend on March 23 on Makaleha Falls Trail in Kauai, Hawaii. She was 26 years old when she died in an Honolulu hospital the next day.

John Resnick, owner of young and pretty, where Buzzetta previously worked, organizes a dinner collection of fundraising at the restaurant on Monday, April 7, to help his family cover more than $ 225,000 in medical, transport and burial costs.

The restaurant is normally closed on Monday, but the staff work to serve their regular tasting menu that evening in the name of the family. The restaurant’s open reservation list shows that almost every Monday of the table has been reserved.

“Gianna was an absolutely incredible human and a real pleasure to work alongside,” said Resnick in a statement. “In the three years she was with us at young people, we were lucky to be with someone who was talented, hungry, curious, compassionate … and spicy. All those who worked by his side were better for that. And if you spend all the time with his parents, you will really see his joy, his kindness and his kindness.

“On Monday, we can’t wait to do what we can help support the beautiful Buzzetta family and will always be there for them because they will be part of this community,” said Resnick.

Family work ethics

In 2022, Buzzetta attributed to his family to have instilled in her work ethics for which she was known. She attributed her success to her inexhaustible work ethics, which was born when she started working at 12 years old for the affairs of events and floors of her mother.

Born and raised in an Italian House-GuateMalane in Oceanside, Buzzetta learned to cook at home and turned to cooking because she loved science and she did not eat meat. His first restaurant work, in high school, was at Veggie Grill. When she graduated, she spent two years at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa. During her stay, she had externations in two Michelin star restaurants in Los Angeles: spago and the patina now closed.

After her stay at the Institute, she returned home to work in the old Herringbone restaurant in the Jolla, then the Matins of double vision work in Dija Mara in Oceanside and afternoon and evening at Wild Thyme Cater Co. in San Diego. Then she was a business pastry manager in Puesto. While working at young and pretty, she also launched a company of private private cakes on the side.

His favorite style of plated desserts incorporated ingredients in kind, both sweet and savory, with many components, including seasonal ingredients, herbs, micro-spinners, textures and colors.

“I don’t like super soft things,” she said. “It’s not about giving you POW sugar. It is simplicity.”

According to the fundraising page on Givendgo.com and a report on 10news, Buzzetta and his boyfriend Connor Quentin stood in a pool at the foot of a waterfall when a rock was dislodged above and hit her in the head.

Buzzetta’s father Sal told 10news that Quentin had drawn the unconscious Buzzetta from the water but had no mobile phone to call for help, so he ran three miles to reach the rescue services.

Originally published: April 4, 2025 at 9:35 a.m.