Meet the Team
Chef / Owner Ben Elliott
In 2009, after 15 years as a chef in some of Boston and San Francisco’s most prestigious restaurants, Chef Ben Elliott struck out on his own to restore the 10-acre farm that his grandparents built in the 1940s and to spend more time with his wife Julia and their young family. In the years since, Ben has overseen all elements of the farm-to-table journey – playing an active daily role in planting, harvesting, preparing and serving his cuisine.
Intent on finding a way to do what he loved while balancing life outside of work, Ben began working as a private chef and in 2011, Ben launched his own catering company, which allowed him to share his love for cooking and the flavors of his family’s farm with an even wider audience. In 2015, Ben further expanded with the opening of Saltbox Kitchen and Saltbox Brewery, in the heart of West Concord. A cozy space offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it quickly became a favorite spot in the community- perfect for meeting a friend for coffee, grabbing a post-work beer, or enjoying a date night dinner out.
Before Saltbox, Ben worked at La Folie and the Fifth Floor under Chef Laurant Gras in San Francisco and Locke-Ober in Boston. For several years he worked with chef Barbara Lynch in Boston as Chef de Cuisine at No.9 Park, opening Lynch’s demonstration kitchen Stir, and launching Lynch’s catering company 9 at Home as Chef de Cuisine.
A native of Wayland, MA, Ben has called Saltbox Farm and Concord, MA home since 2004. Ben attended Hartwick College in New York, where he met his wife Julia. He and Julia have 2 children, Sam and Maggie.
Megan Hawkes, Catering & Events Manager
Meg joined Saltbox Catering in 2015, bringing to the young company a wealth of catering experience. She and Chef Ben worked together to grow the catering arm of Saltbox with the mission to share with clients the farm to table cuisine and warm hospitality of Saltbox in their private homes.
Forging close relationships with a range of vendors along with incredibly creative event planners has been an absolute pleasure for Meg though perhaps the most special part of her job has been getting to know clients and making their visions a reality. “Working with wedding clients has been especially lovely for me - I become fond of and friendly with most of our wedding couples - and it means so much to me when they send me holiday cards, visit us for a meal at the restaurant and a chat, and return years later to introduce me to their child!
When not planning events, Meg loves to escape for the weekend with her husband and daughter, often heading to Maine or New Jersey to see family, work in her garden, and spend as much time as possible at the beach during the summer.
Nathan Friend, Head Catering Chef & Head Brewer
Chef Nate began working in kitchens at 15 and while he went to college with the intention of studying architectural engineering, he quickly realized what he truly wanted to do was cook. Nate left school and found a job at a country club where, over the course of 10 years, he worked his way up from garde manger to sous chef.
While working at the Concord Country Club, Nate met Ben who was there as the guest chef. The two connected and Nate began working with Saltbox at offsite catering events. Eventually Nate was hired full time as the chef for Saltbox Catering, a position he loves as it has offered the opportunity to constantly change menus, meet a variety of people, and work in all sorts of locations (barns, beaches,& fields, he’s done it all!).
In 2020 Nate also began brewing beer for Saltbox Brewery, the microbrewery located within Saltbox Kitchen, creating beers with hops, fruit, and other ingredients from the farm.
When Nate isn’t cooking or brewing beer, you’ll probably find him at lumber yards looking for the perfect wood (he’s a crazy talented woodworker who makes gorgeous serving boards and furniture) or tending to his 500 square foot home garden and 20 chickens with his wife.