advisory board / ..

Advisory Board Member: Chef Christopher Lewis

Chris Lewis, is a chef by trade, and the President and CEO of Lewisfoods Inc, one of the top ten contract caterers in the country, established in 1996.

Strategic planning, vision, financial management and growth analysis are his strengths. He is very involved in the development of new products, market research and the implementation of new technologies. Chris is happily married with three boys. He and his family live in Binbrook, just outside of Hamilton.

After completing the Apprenticeship Program and obtaining his CFQ in the early 80's, Chris spent several years working in various kitchens across Canada. At the time there was great demand for professional chefs and he was able to choose which areas of the industry he wanted to focus on. The one constant that kept his interest and continued to challenge him was learning the business side of being a chef.

He took the knowledge and skills he had developed to the market and assured management and shareholders that the food service component of their business could be profitable and accountable. It has been Chris's experience that many chefs have great skills and confidence in preparing and displaying exceptional food but they have not mastered the Big Picture of ensuring that a food service program can be sustainable.

He is often in the position of interviewing and hiring dozens of chefs for various positions within his company. He can find out fairly quickly the level of skill an individual has on the "kitchen side" of the business, but according to Chris, "it takes much more time to prove skills in the accounting side, and this trial process continues to costs businesses thousands of dollars every year."

Over the past twenty-five years Chris has focused his time on trying to find ways to simplify this learning. He is constantly developing new training programs and simple measuring tools to allow chefs to set attainable, financial goals and achieve them.

It is his hope that by participating on the Advisory Board from an industry perspective, he can provide this knowledge for inclusion into student programs. Chris believes that there is a serious lack of standards in Canada for the Professional Chef and he encourages continually improving the benchmark of the Professional Chef trade in Canada.

He believes the government needs to step up to the plate and help establish comparable standards with similar trades in order to help Canadian Chefs gain a better worldwide reputation. "Hopefully Advisory Boards such as this one can play a part in getting us there." said Chris.