Sodexo chef earns honors

Timothy Grayson recieves Chef of the Year award

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Grayson

Executive Chef Timothy Grayson, one of the head chefs of Georgia College’s new dining facility, The Max, was recently named 2011 Chef of the Year by the United States Sustainable Pork Association.

After entering several of his own recipes into the competition, including pork from different regions in the United States, Grayson was chosen as their top chef. He received a cash prize, a trip to their culinary center in Seattle, Wash., as well as monetary donations to charities of his choice. One specific organization that he chose is Kiva. 

“The U.S. Sustainable Pork Association is donating $5,000 to Kiva, which I’m very happy about,” Grayson said.

Kiva gives microloans to entrepreneurs in developing countries to get their ventures off the ground or to expand existing operations.

Grayson will also be featured in a commercial segment on the Food Network entitled “Great Chefs Use Pork.” The air date of this segment is yet to be determined.

Grayson’s culinary beginnings originated in a rather humble manner. During his undergraduate studies at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Grayson began working at Walt Disney World. He described it as almost a “spur of the moment” type of decision to begin his culinary career.

“When I started working at Disney, it was like they looked at one guy and said ‘alright, you go work at the Dumbo ride and you’re going to be cooking.” Grayson said. “But I really took a liking to it.”

After spending a few years working at the Walt Disney World resort, Grayson caught wind of an offer Disney gave it’s employees overseas. Disney would pay for his tuition to go to school at Ecole de Cuisine in Paris, France as long as he covered his own expenses while there. He moved to Paris, earned his culinary degree, and went on to get his Master’s in Hotel and Hospitality Management at the Ivy League Cornell University Kellogg School in New York.

Since obtaining his degrees, Grayson has taken on many culinary ventures. He has co-owned an award winning restaurant named Cafe Europa in Orlando. The establishment is known for its exceptional Eastern European cuisine. He also went on to work for a company responsible for managing several country clubs, which included their eateries. For two years, Grayson worked out of their catering unit at Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby.

“I worked as the Executive Chef doing the catering for two years at the Kentucky Derby. A grand total of 175,000 people would come during a one week period, and we would seriously serve tractor trailers full of food to them. The section I worked in dealt with a lot of the celebrities that would come to the races, starting with the Kentucky Oaks the first weekend and ending with the Kentucky Derby.”

It was after this that Grayson decided to travel the world, working on several major cruise lines and hotels, manning their kitchens.

“I was living out of Little Rock, Arkansas and traveling the world,” Grayson said. “I did this for several years before moving back to the states.”

Grayson began working for Sodexo a few years prior after hearing of an offer to work in Wisconsin. Yet, the Southern chef had issues adapting to the harsh winters of the North.

“It would get down to 39-below some nights,” Grayson said. “One morning I woke up and couldn’t move my car out of my garage because my tires were frozen to the garage.”

Luckily for Grayson, an opportunity opened up here at Georgia College about five months ago. He is both closer to his family, who primarily live in the South, and far enough from the North that he may remain thawed this year.

Chef Grayson has also written for several publications, having his own column for a Wisconsin newspaper, and has also been featured as a food writer. These days, he focuses on ensuring that those of us who stuck with our meal plans get a delicious meal on a daily basis.

John DePaola, the new manager of The Max, is very pleased with Grayson’s success.

“We are very happy to have Chef Timothy Grayson here with us and we are excited to tap in to a lot of his resources,” DePaola stated.

For more information on Chef Grayson and some of his recipes, visit USPorkProducers.com.

Posted by ConnorJohnson on Aug 25 2011. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.