Employee Spotlight: Susan Swanson!

The holidays are here! It’s time to gather close and recognize how grateful we are for the special people in our lives. Abt is doing the same with all of our team members. But this year, we’ve got an interesting pick for our December Employee Spotlight. Meet Susan Swanson! Susan is a relatively new hire for Abt, with just five months under her belt in Appliance Sales. If you’ve read the blog or have checked out our recipe selection, you might already be familiar with her.

Chef Susan Swanson

But she has worked here in a different role for much longer. For five years, Susan was the chef/marketing/sales support team member for Bluestar Appliances. Whether she was whipping up entire gourmet Thanksgiving meals or helping customers learn more about the luxe appliances, Susan has been a natural here at Abt since she walked through the door. We’ve even published her recipes! Pinning her Abt nametag to her shirt now, she loves to bring “general merriment” to every day at work.

She brings the fun (and the flavor) everywhere she goes. When asked about her favorite Abt memory, she mentioned last year’s Builder’s Event, where designers, builders and architects gathered to network and see the newest appliances of the year. At the time, she was cooking up beautiful bites. “I had people telling others to come see me because I had the best food of the night, saying it was the best smelling and the best tasting!” 

A New Role At Abt

We had fun talking to December’s Employee Spotlight about her new role working at Abt and asked her what she loved about her new position. “There are several things! One, I learn something new every single day. Two, we have truly wonderful customers here. And three, the employees here are always happy to help each other out!”

And of course, since we’re talking to Chef Susan, we had to ask her what her favorite holiday recipe is. “Kugelis, a Lithuanian dish. The recipe is from my grandmother. We used to only make it for Thanksgiving, but I’m also going to make it for Christmas.” 

The holidays are the perfect time for traditions too, so we asked Susan what her personal favorite holiday tradition is. “Our $5 gift game. We anonymously wrap a $5 gift and each person buys two. Next, we put them on a table. We pass out numbers to each person and when your number is called, you go to the table, select a gift and try to hang on to it until the end. When the next person gets called, they can take yours, or take from the table. If someone steals your gift, you can steal from someone else or go to the table. This can go on for hours. My mom will steal from everyone! There are two goals. Try to get your gift passed the most, and end up with the gift you really want! My older sister who has all the morals in the family usually ends the game!”  

What’s Next In 2024?

It sounds like a lot of fun to us. But we’re excited about the new year too, and so is Susan. When asked what she’s most looking forward to in the new year, she answered, “Growing my business and growing with Abt.” 

We’re so glad to have Susan on our team and as an Employee Spotlight after seeing her work for the last few years. If you’re interested in her lovely recipes which range from holiday cookies to pork potstickers to shepherd’s pie, check out our recipes here on The Bolt. We even have step-by-step YouTube tutorials too: check out our YouTube playlist to see some of her recipes there!

Finally, we have Susan’s Kugelis recipe down below. If you try it out yourself, let us know how much you loved it! 

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