Keith A. Lord
Director of Culinary and Operations, The Wild Thyme Company, San Diego, CA
Keith A. Lord is the Director of Operations & Culinary at The Wild Thyme Company in San Diego, CA. He is a graduate of the prestigious New England Culinary Institute in Essex Vermont. His twenty five year career has taken him from Roy’s Kahana Bar and Grill in Maui, Hawaii to working together with Chef Mark Franz of Farallon in San Francisco, at the Lark Creek Inn. From Pat Kuleto’s Buffalo Grill to 20th Century Fox reinventing the Studio’s food service program and Special Events. At the posh Linq Restaurant|Lounge in Beverly Hills, Lord continued to expand his taste for “global cuisine”. For the past decade, Keith was the Corporate Chef of Festivities Catering & Special Events, TK&A Custom Catering and The Picnic People in San Diego California, helping the growth of an already established leader in the Catering field. This led him to become involved with both Catersource and the ICA to speak, teach and cook at their respective conferences Catersource, and The Art of Catering Food. Lord has worked alongside some of the worlds most renowned Chefs such as Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, London, Partick O’Connell at the Inn at Little Washington in Virginia and most recently with Matthew Orlando of Amass & NOMA in Copenhagen.
- Where do you find inspiration?
I draw inspiration from the artwork I create & through anything visually stimulating. From doodles on cocktail napkins to "classically defined" art (whatever that means). By treating power dining sessions as the true contact sport it truly is. I'm motivated by driving at frenetic speeds, amazingly loud music, social media, and anything random or completely unusual. I plan my travels based on the foods, cuisines & restaurants I want to sample & have the curry stains on my passport to back that up. I like to spend time in the kitchens of other Chefs, enjoy being extremely well caffeinated. - What excites you most about the year ahead in the catering and event industry?
The partnership we have at The Wild Thyme Company, the growth of the team and of the business. - If you could design or cook for any famous event, what would it be and why?
To be a part of “Cook it Raw” which brings together Avant-Garde Chefs and traditional food producers together to explore the possibilities of cuisine providing true exchange, preservation, understanding and development of knowledge and skills.
