Tom O’Brien developed an interest in food at an early age. However, “peanut butter on everything!” proved not to be a workable culinary mantra. So, he started learning how to cook at just about the same time he started learning how to write, never imagining that the two separate skills would someday come together like the popcorn and peanuts in a box of Cracker Jack.

After getting a degree in Education and English from Northern Illinois University, Tom picked up his marketing chops by working for a number of firms, including one owned by the World’s Oldest Teenager, Dick Clark. Shortly thereafter, he landed a job at the Quaker Oats Company. A casualty of the Great Snapple Debacle of 1993, he then moved into the public relations area. Working for consumer- and foodservice-oriented advertising/PR companies, he handled PR activities for such industry leaders as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (moo!), Maple Leaf Farms duckling (quack!) and Hellmann’s Mayonnaise (which, as of yet, doesn’t make any sound…but I understand they’re working on it in the Hellmann’s labs).

All of which led to the formation of O’Brien Culinary Communications in 2006. The name just about says it all: Communications is what we do; Culinary is what we’re about; and O’Brien is who Tom is. Beside providing public relations, promotions, recipe development and copywriting services, Tom also writes a monthly column for Restaurant Business magazine (see My Work) and is on the faculty at Kendall College in Chicago, teaching Foodservice Public Relations and Food Writing to unsuspecting culinary students.

So the next time you need your products promoted, your recipes developed or your culinaries communicated, why not see what we can do for you?