Chris Koetke

President, Complete Culinary LLC; Oak Park, IL

Chris Koetke, CEC, CCE, HAAC has worked in culinary arts for more than four decades, with experience in many facets such as teaching, consulting, recipe development, product development, cooking equipment development, kitchen design, writing, presenting, performing and cooking. Currently, Chris is president of Complete Culinary LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to the comprehensive view of food and beverage, chairman of the Feed the Planet Committee of Worldchefs and pioneer of a new concept in post-secondary culinary education at the Sun Valley Culinary Institute in Idaho. For 20 years of his culinary career, he devoted his professional life to culinary education, principally at Kendall College and then in managing 48 campuses in 12 countries. Before culinary education, he worked as a chef in gastronomic restaurants and in some of the finest restaurants and patisseries in the United States, France and Switzerland. Koetke has an MBA from Dominican University and a BA in French literature from Valparaiso University. He has been honored with the Outstanding Alum from the Brennan School of Business at Dominican University, Alumni Achievement Award from Valparaiso University and Worldchefs Educator Award. His industry involvement has also included hosting his own television show for five years, writing for prominent newspapers and trade publications, speaking at international events and authoring a culinary textbook, The Culinary Professional. Chris is an expert on food concept development, culinary sustainability and culinary applications of amino acids as flavor elements. (Oak Park, IL)