Osvaldo Ocegueda

Chef Partner

Chef Osvaldo (Ozzie) Ocegueda was born in Jalisco Mexico and moved to Chicago at the age of 2. His passion for cooking began when he would help his grandmother and mother cook at home. At the age of 15, he started his culinary career working in fast-casual restaurants.

Ozzie joined Lettuce Entertain You in 1997 with the Big Bowl Division. He worked his way up from handling carryout to working nearly every kitchen position, eventually taking on the roles of trainer, sous chef, and executive chef. His career with Big Bowl spanned five states and over 20 restaurant openings. When Big Bowl was purchased by Brinker in 2000, Ozzie continued working with the brand until 2005, when he re-joined Lettuce.   

With Lettuce, Ozzie continued to grow the Big Bowl brand along with Big Bowl Chinese Express for 13 years.  In January 2013, he joined Kevin Reynolds and together they started the Lettuce Fly division, overseeing the development of restaurants in airports.

During his time with Lettuce Fly, Ozzie has helped to create, open and train in more than 20 different concepts spanning multiple cities, including Big Bowl, Wow Bao, Magic Pan, Hub 51, Summer House Santa Monica, Urban Olive, and RJ Grunts. In 2021 Ozzie was made a Chef Partner of Lettuce Fly. 

Ozzie also helps in the development of the Lettuce concepts at Navy Pier. He collaborated with the team on developing menus for Big Bowl, Frankie’s Pizza by the Slice and Big City Chicken, which is now also at Midway Airport. Following the success of Big City Chicken, Ozzie and his team opened Ozzie Pops & Pretzels at Navy Pier in 2018. Ozzie continues to help with the future development of our airport concepts, Navy Pier concepts and consulting.  

In his free time, Ozzie gives back to philanthropic causes, enjoys trying new restaurants in the city and grilling out with his family. He and his wife Norma have five children, many of whom also work for Lettuce. They love to take annual vacations to different parts of Mexico to enjoy the food, see family and friends and embrace their Mexican heritage.