Like so many Pasadenans, popular food critic and restaurant-reviewing talk show host Peter Dills faced a career crisis last March after the pandemic swept Southern California and hit restaurants hard.
“Restaurants that would normally be sending a chef to the radio station to do an interview or advertising and even sponsoring the show became unable to participate in a way that they normally have,” Dills said.
Knocked off the air, He ended up pivoting into a new temporary career leveraging his food and wine knowledge.
Shopping in the Vons market on Colorado Blvd. at Sierra Madre, Dills struck up a conversation with store manager Ventura Flores, who asked him why he hadn’t heard Dills’s show on the air lately.
After Dills explained he’d been sidelined because of the pandemic, Flores ask him to come work at Vons in the wine section.
“Do what you do — talk to people and sell wine,” Flores suggested.
Dills jumped at the opportunity.
“So for the last nine months I’ve been selling wine here at Vons,” he said. “I wrote about wines for five years before working here. They have a really, really great wine selection here.”
“A lot of people know me, a lot of people are surprised that I’m working at a grocery store, but because COVID-19, I’ve had to do what I’ve got to do kind of making ends meet.”
Dills says he’s there to help customers find what they want and can accommodate almost any budget ($5 to $500 per bottle).
Look for Dills in the wine section of the Vons at 2355 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena.
