174: Chef Gerard F. Craft | Its All About We

In this episode we discuss: taking a risk and pulling the trigger; being extremely competitive; how being the hardest working is more powerful than being the most talented worker; and the importance of having an insatiable desire to read and learn.

A native of Washington, D.C., Chef Craft became addicted to the restaurant life while living in Salt Lake City as a snowboard photographer. Chef Craft went on to cook at Bistro Toujours in Park City, Utah and Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, California as well as a stage at Ryland Inn in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey before making the leap to open a restaurant of his own. In 2005 at the age of 25, Chef Craft started it all with Niche restaurant in St. Louis Missouri. Today The Niche Food Group includes Taste by Niche, Brasserie by Niche, Pastaria and opening soon Porano Pasta. Chef Craft’s creative yet simple food has earned him recognition as a Food & Wine Best New Chef, Inc. magazine’s “Star Entrepreneurs under 30” as well as this year’s James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef: Midwest.