Velarion · Company Intelligence
Compensation Brief
Fiscal year 2025 · Filings through 2026-06-03

Chefs' Warehouse (CHEF)

Fiscal year 2025 executive and director compensation, incentive-plan design, equity activity, and governance — every figure in this brief is traceable to its exact location in the company’s SEC filing — the document, the section, the page, and the table, linked directly.

$21,961,898
Christopher Pappas total, FY2025
99th
CEO pay percentile vs peers
CEO-to-median pay ratio
51.02%
Say-on-pay support, latest vote
Companies that benchmark against CHEF
No companies currently name CHEF as a compensation peer in their most recent disclosure.

This is the complete answer, not a partial one — the list is never padded.

01

Summary Compensation Table — fiscal year 2025

Named executive officerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension / NQDCAll otherTotal
Christopher Pappas$1,200,302$0$17,084,933$0$3,536,143$0$140,520$21,961,898
Chief Executive Officer
John Pappas659,62905,749,17301,943,2950143,2888,495,385
Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer
James Leddy549,68903,318,3690404,85207,3674,280,277
Chief Financial Officer
Alexandros Aldous513,04503,202,7020377,86309,4184,103,028
General Counsel
Christina Polychroni401,36302,849,8500295,608021,7033,568,524
Chief Human Resources Officer

A dash means the company reported no figure in that column; 0 means it reported zero. Figures are as printed in the filing, without adjustment.

Three-year trend — total compensation per named executive

Named executive officerFY2025 totalFY2024 totalFY2023 totalΔ FY20242025
Christopher Pappas$21,961,898
John Pappas8,495,385
James Leddy4,280,277
Alexandros Aldous4,103,028
Christina Polychroni3,568,524

Prior-year totals as disclosed in the corresponding proxy; deltas are computed values with the derivation shown in the register.

02

Equity transactions since the proxy statement was filed

Every insider equity transaction reported on Form 4 after the 2025 proxy statement — acquisitions, dispositions, exercises, and withholdings — and therefore not reflected in any table in that document.

InsiderRoleTransaction dateCodeSharesPriceValueSecuritySource
Christopher PappasDirector2026-05-04D125,000$78$9,750,000CommonForm 4 ↗
Christopher PappasDirector2026-05-04D79,95000CommonForm 4 ↗
Aylwin LewisDirector2026-05-08A1,65200CommonForm 4 ↗
Richard PeretzDirector2026-05-08A1,65200CommonForm 4 ↗
Debra WaltonDirector2026-05-08A1,65200CommonForm 4 ↗
Steven F. GoldstoneDirector2026-05-08A1,65200CommonForm 4 ↗
Lester OwensDirector2026-05-08A1,65200CommonForm 4 ↗
Wendy WeinsteinDirector2026-05-08A1,65200CommonForm 4 ↗
Christina PolychroniChief Human Resources Officer2026-05-19D4,50079356,428Common, open-market saleForm 4 ↗
Christopher PappasDirector2026-06-01D21,81900CommonForm 4 ↗

Transaction codes per Form 4: A acquisition · S open-market sale · F tax withholding · M option exercise · G gift. Value = shares × price as reported. Dividend-equivalent and fractional-share accrual rows (derivative Class A, under $10,000 and under 2,000 shares) are aggregated per date; every row appears in full below.

03

Grants of plan-based awards — fiscal year 2025

ExecutiveAwardGrant dateThresholdTargetGrantedMaximumGrant-date fair value
James LeddyRSU2025-02-257,115$868,101
James LeddyRSU2025-02-2541,6251,582,166
Alexandros AldousPSU2025-02-254,6499,297567,224
Alexandros AldousRSU2025-02-256,641810,268
Alexandros AldousPSU2025-02-259961,992121,522
Alexandros AldousRSU2025-02-2541,6251,582,166
Christopher PappasPSU2025-02-2530,45260,9043,715,449
Christopher PappasRSU2025-02-2518,6442,274,754
James LeddyPSU2025-02-251,0672,135130,185
James LeddyPSU2025-02-254,9819,961607,732
Christopher PappasPSU2025-02-256,52513,051796,115
Christopher PappasRSU2025-02-25250,0009,502,500
John PappasPSU2025-02-253,5867,172437,528
John PappasRSU2025-02-2510,2461,250,114
John PappasRSU2025-02-2541,6251,582,166
John PappasPSU2025-02-2516,73533,4702,041,837
Christina PolychroniPSU2025-02-257791,55995,046
Christina PolychroniPSU2025-02-253,6377,273443,750
Christina PolychroniRSU2025-02-255,195633,842
Christina PolychroniRSU2025-02-2541,6251,582,166
03b

Vehicle mix — grant-date fair value by award type

Named executive officerTime-vested (RSU)Performance-vested (PSU)Options / SARs% performance-vested
James Leddy$2,450,267$737,917$023.1%
Alexandros Aldous2,392,434688,746022.4%
Christopher Pappas11,777,2544,511,564027.7%
John Pappas2,832,2802,479,365046.7%
Christina Polychroni2,216,008538,796019.6%

% performance-vested = PSU grant-date fair value ÷ (RSU + PSU + Options), a computed value with the derivation shown in the register.

04

Outstanding equity awards at fiscal year-end 2025

ExecutiveAwardShares unvestedExercise priceMarket value unvested
PappasRSU250,000$15,882,500
PappasPSU136,8228,692,302
PappasRSU96,9956,162,092
PappasPSU87,0065,527,491
PappasPSU75,1904,776,821
PappasRSU53,3043,386,403
PappasPSU47,8143,037,623
PappasRSU41,6252,644,436
James LeddyRSU41,6252,644,436
Alexandros AldousRSU41,6252,644,436
Christina PolychroniRSU41,6252,644,436
PappasRSU28,9541,839,448
James LeddyPSU22,3781,421,674
Alexandros AldousPSU20,8861,326,888
James LeddyRSU19,9301,266,153
Alexandros AldousRSU18,6011,181,722
Christina PolychroniPSU16,3401,038,080
PappasRSU15,9131,010,953
James LeddyPSU14,231904,095
Alexandros AldousPSU13,281843,742
Christina PolychroniRSU11,135707,407
James LeddyRSU11,051702,070
Christina PolychroniPSU10,391660,140
Alexandros AldousRSU10,314655,248
Christina PolychroniRSU7,113451,889
05

Incentive-plan design — the Compensation Discussion & Analysis

CEO STI target (% of salary)
CEO LTI target (% of salary)
Independent consultant
Clawback policy
Anti-hedging
Anti-pledging
06

Say-on-pay — recent advisory votes

Meeting yearMeeting dateForAgainstAbstainSupportOutcome
20262026-05-0818,756,22218,005,96262,93151.02%Passed
20252025-05-0929,728,7032,098,27936,21693.41%Passed
20242024-05-1032,677,4682,318,11260,34193.38%Passed
20232023-05-1232,522,1481,336,92153,47496.05%Passed
20222022-05-1317,008,76015,245,91664,72052.73%Passed
20212021-05-1430,815,513636,77143,11097.98%Passed

Rows are labeled by annual-meeting year, with the meeting date beside each; the vote held in a given year acts on the prior fiscal year's compensation.

Say-on-pay — history, company's computation

Meeting yearMeeting dateApproval — company's computation
20262026-05-0851.02%a
20252025-05-0993.41%b
20242024-05-1093.38%c

a. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on Proposal 1 because they are not considered votes cast.”.

b. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on Proposal 1 because they are not considered votes cast.”.

c. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on Proposal 4 because they are not considered votes cast.”.

Approval percentages are the company's own reported computations under its own stated standard, not recomputed by Velarion. Where a company does not state a standard, none is assumed.

08

Director compensation — fiscal year 2025

DirectorCash feesStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentiveAll otherTotal
Aylwin LewisIndependent · Nominating and Corporate Governance (Chair) · ESG · Compensation (Chair)$97,692$134,993$0$232,685
Lester OwensIndependent · Audit (Chair)82,500134,9930217,493
Ivy BrownIndependent · Audit · Nominating and Corporate Governance · ESG (Chair)74,519134,9930209,512
Steven F. GoldstoneIndependent · Nominating and Corporate Governance67,500134,9930202,493
Debra Walton-RuskinIndependent · Audit · Compensation67,500134,9930202,493
Richard PeretzIndependent · Audit · Compensation62,933134,9930197,926
Wendy WeinsteinIndependent · Nominating and Corporate Governance · ESG57,260134,9930192,253
John PappasEmployee director0000
Christopher PappasEmployee director · Board Chair0000
09

Board fee structure and ownership guideline

Annual cash retainer$45,000
Annual equity retainer$135,000
Per board meeting fee$0
Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov)25,000 / 20,000 / 15,000
Stock ownership guideline$675,000
09b

Total cost of the board

ComponentFY2025
Cash retainers and fees$509,904
Equity awards (grant-date value)$944,951
All other compensation$0
Total cost of the board$1,454,855

Computed as the sum of the director compensation table rows above; inputs and formula shown in the register.

10

Disclosed peer group — fiscal year 2025

The compensation peer group as the company disclosed it in its own proxy — the reference set behind the percentile above.

10a

Peer reciprocity

Of the companies Chefs' Warehouse names as compensation peers, which name it back in their own disclosed peer groups. A peer set the market reciprocates reads differently from one selected in a single direction.

Reciprocity shown where the peer's own current proxy has been read — each mark is cited in the register to that peer's filing. A dash means the peer's current proxy was read and names no reciprocal group including Chefs' Warehouse.

10b

Chief executive pay against the peer group

Most recent fiscal-year chief executive compensation at each disclosed peer, taken from that company's own proxy statement.

RankCompanyFYChief executiveSalaryStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentiveTotal
1Chefs' Warehouse2025Christopher Pappas$1,200,302$17,084,933$0$3,536,143$21,961,898
2US Foods Holding Corp.2025David Flitman1,399,23113,296,89502,577,86818,063,586
3Sysco Corporation2025Kevin Hourican1,392,30810,086,9012,499,9891,616,00016,228,599
4United Natural Foods, Inc.2025Sandy Douglas1,050,0006,668,31101,908,6489,655,175
Performance Food Group Companynot in coverage universe

Each peer's compensation is from its most recently filed proxy; fiscal years differ by company. Each peer's figures come from its own filings; the subject company is highlighted. Peers whose chief executive compensation is outside our coverage universe are stated as such, never left blank.

10c

Incentive design against the same peers

CompanyAnnual incentive payoutLong-term vehicle mixPSU measures include TSRCompensation consultant
Chefs' Warehousenot disclosednot disclosednot disclosednot disclosed
Performance Food Group Companynot disclosednot disclosednot disclosednot disclosed
Sysco Corporationnot disclosednot disclosedNoSemler Brossy
United Natural Foods, Inc.121.2%PSU 60 · RSU 40Yes — Relative TSR Modifier (S&P 400 Mid Cap)FW Cook
US Foods Holding Corp.102%RSU 50 · PSU 50NoMeridian

Read from each company's Compensation Discussion and Analysis: annual incentive payout as a percentage of target, the disclosed long-term vehicle mix, whether performance-share measures include a total shareholder return component, and the retained compensation consultant. “Not disclosed” appears only where the company's filing does not state the item.

11

Source register

Each figure's location is given both for the eye (section · page · table · row · column) and for a script (table/row/column index and exact character span in the filed document). Any figure can be independently confirmed against the source.

#SupportsDocumentFiledAccessionLocation in document
1Section 01, Christopher PappasDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Summary Compensation Table – Fiscal Years” · page 36. As printed: 21,961,898. Filing ↗machine: r2 · c27 · span 466902–466912
2Section 01, John PappasDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Summary Compensation Table – Fiscal Years” · page 36. As printed: 8,495,385. Filing ↗
3Section 01, James LeddyDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Summary Compensation Table – Fiscal Years” · page 36. As printed: 4,280,277. Filing ↗machine: r8 · c27 · span 479432–479441
4Section 01, Alexandros AldousDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Summary Compensation Table – Fiscal Years” · page 36. As printed: 4,103,028. Filing ↗machine: r11 · c27 · span 485607–485616
5Section 01, Christina PolychroniDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Summary Compensation Table – Fiscal Years” · page 36. As printed: 3,568,524. Filing ↗machine: r14 · c27 · span 491777–491786
6Section 03, James Leddy RSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 562826–562833
7Section 03, James Leddy RSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 561239–561248
8Section 03, Alexandros Aldous PSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 566923–566930
9Section 03, Alexandros Aldous RSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 573942–573949
10Section 03, Alexandros Aldous PSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 568846–568853
11Section 03, Alexandros Aldous RSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 572355–572364
12Section 03, Christopher Pappas PSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 533558–533567
13Section 03, Christopher Pappas RSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 540587–540596
14Section 03, James Leddy PSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 557728–557735
15Section 03, James Leddy PSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 555803–555810
16Section 03, Christopher Pappas PSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 535486–535493
17Section 03, Christopher Pappas RSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 538999–539008
18Section 03, John Pappas PSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 546611–546618
19Section 03, John Pappas RSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 551710–551719
20Section 03, John Pappas RSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 550122–550131
21Section 03, John Pappas PSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 544684–544693
22Section 03, Christina Polychroni PSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 579962–579968
23Section 03, Christina Polychroni PSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 578039–578046
24Section 03, Christina Polychroni RSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 585056–585063
25Section 03, Christina Polychroni RSUDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 583469–583478
26Section 08, Aylwin LewisDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 232,685. Filing ↗machine: span 798373–798380
27Section 08, Lester OwensDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 217,493. Filing ↗machine: span 799597–799604
28Section 08, Ivy BrownDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 209,512. Filing ↗machine: span 795916–795923
29Section 08, Steven F. GoldstoneDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 202,493. Filing ↗machine: span 797149–797156
30Section 08, Debra Walton-RuskinDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 202,493. Filing ↗machine: span 802054–802061
31Section 08, Richard PeretzDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 197,926. Filing ↗machine: span 800823–800830
32Section 08, Wendy WeinsteinDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 192,253. Filing ↗machine: span 803281–803288
33Section 08, John PappasDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. Filing ↗
34Section 08, Christopher PappasDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. Filing ↗
35Section 02, Christopher Pappas 2026-05-04Form 42026-05-050000947871-26-000493Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
36Section 02, Christopher Pappas 2026-05-04Form 42026-05-050000947871-26-000493Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
37Section 02, Aylwin Lewis 2026-05-08Form 42026-05-110000947871-26-000511Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
38Section 02, Richard Peretz 2026-05-08Form 42026-05-110000947871-26-000515Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
39Section 02, Debra Walton 2026-05-08Form 42026-05-110000947871-26-000516Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
40Section 02, Steven F. Goldstone 2026-05-08Form 42026-05-110000947871-26-000512Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
41Section 02, Lester Owens 2026-05-08Form 42026-05-110000947871-26-000513Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
42Section 02, Wendy Weinstein 2026-05-08Form 42026-05-110000947871-26-000514Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
43Section 02, Christina Polychroni 2026-05-19Form 42026-05-200000947871-26-000567Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
44Section 02, Christopher Pappas 2026-06-01Form 42026-06-030000947871-26-000611Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
45Section 06, 2026 voteForm 8-K2026-05-110000947871-26-000509Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 51.02% (votes for as printed: 18,756,222). Filing ↗
46Section 06, 2025 voteForm 8-K2025-05-140000947871-25-000510Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 93.41% (votes for as printed: 29,728,703). Filing ↗
47Section 06, 2024 voteForm 8-K2024-05-140000947871-24-000474Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 93.38% (votes for as printed: 32,677,468). Filing ↗
48Section 03b vehicle mix (computed)ComputedcomputedRSU / PSU / Options grant-date fair values summed per officer from the grants table; % performance-vested = PSU ÷ (RSU+PSU+Options).machine: formula: sums + PSU ratio
49Section 09b board cost (computed)ComputedcomputedCash 509,904 + equity 944,951 + all other 0 = 1,454,855, summed across the director compensation table rows.machine: formula: Σ = 1,454,855
50Chefs' Warehouse (subject), Section 10b CEO totalDEF 14A2026-03-250001517175-26-000012CEO total compensation as printed in Chefs' Warehouse's own proxy. As printed: 21,961,898. Filing ↗machine: r2 · c27 · span 466902–466912
51US Foods Holding Corp., Section 10b CEO totalDEF 14A2026-04-020001665918-26-000022CEO total compensation as printed in US Foods Holding Corp.'s own proxy. As printed: 18,063,586. Filing ↗machine: r3 · c27 · span 953895–953905
52Sysco Corporation, Section 10b CEO totalDEF 14A2025-10-020000096021-25-000147CEO total compensation as printed in Sysco Corporation's own proxy. As printed: 16,228,599. Filing ↗machine: r2 · c9 · span 2488720–2488730
53United Natural Foods, Inc., Section 10b CEO totalDEF 14A2025-11-050001020859-25-000058CEO total compensation as printed in United Natural Foods, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 9,655,175. Filing ↗machine: span 888114–888123
54Section 10a, United Natural Foods, Inc. reciprocityDEF 14A0001020859-25-000058United Natural Foods, Inc.'s most recent proxy was read; its disclosed peer group does not include Chefs' Warehouse. Filing ↗
55Section 10a, US Foods Holding Corp. reciprocityDEF 14A0001665918-26-000022US Foods Holding Corp.'s most recent proxy was read; its disclosed peer group does not include Chefs' Warehouse. Filing ↗
56Section 10a, Sysco Corporation reciprocityDEF 14A0000096021-25-000147Sysco Corporation's most recent proxy was read; its disclosed peer group does not include Chefs' Warehouse. Filing ↗