Simone Cormier is the National Spice Coordinator for Allegro Coffee Company, a subsidiary of Whole Foods Market.

As the National Spice Coordinator, Simone: sources spices from sustainable partners throughout the world; identifies flavor and food trends; develops all spice-related products (including creating exclusive seasoning blends); and leads the implementation of the spice program throughout Whole Foods Market. She oversees inventory and purchasing and sets pricing. Simone also handles sales of the products, both within WFM and with many external vendors. The Allegro spice program is 99% certified organic, which entails a completely different way of handling sourcing, ingredients used in blends, and documentation. Simone has seven years of experience in reverse-engineering conventional seasoning blends into certified organic formulations. She also conducts Whole Foods food safety and responsible sourcing audits of suppliers internationally.

Prior to joining Allegro, Simone’s spice journey includes careers as an Executive Chef, Pastry Chef, Kitchen Manager, and Sommelier, and she has travelled to more than 68 countries exploring regional flavors and sourcing food ingredients. She sits on the Board of Directors for the American Spice Trade Association, currently as the Vice President, and is on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Research Chefs Association’s magazine Culinology. Simone is a judge for the Specialty Food Association’s Sofi Awards. She also served as a judge and floor chairperson for multiple Culinary Classic competitions in her home state of Louisiana. She works with USAID in trade missions to East Africa in efforts to bring food and drink producers there up to US import standards. Each January she is a volunteer chef at one of the many dinners around Washington DC for Sips and Suppers, which benefits Martha’s Table and DC Central Kitchen.

Simone loves foreign languages and studied Greek, French, German, and Spanish in their countries of origin, living in Europe for four years.

When she’s not sourcing exotic spices, Simone can be found exploring her love of travel, good food, and great wine.