Thomas Keller Net Worth and Biography

Thomas Keller is an American, restaurateur, cookbook writer, and one of the richest chefs in the world, with an estimated net worth of $150 Million. He is the only American chef awarded simultaneous three-star Michelin ratings for two different restaurants.

Bio Data

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Biography

Thomas Keller was born on October 14, 1955. His mother was a restaurateur who employed Thomas as help when her cook got sick. He began his cooking career, working at the Palm Beach Yacht Club as a dishwasher, before becoming a cook. It was at this point, that he discovered his passion for cooking and the perfection of the hollandaise sauce.

During summers, he worked as a cook in Rhode Island. One summer, he was discovered by French-born Master Chef Roland Henin and was tasked to cook staff meals at The Dunes Club. Under Henin’s study, Keller learned the fundamentals of classical French cooking. He also worked various cooking positions in Florida and soon became the cook at a small French restaurant called La Rive in New York. After three years at La Rive, he left and moved to New York and then Paris, apprenticing at various Michelin-starred restaurants.

Career

Keller returned to America in 1984 he was hired as chef de cuisine at La Reserve in New York, before leaving to open Rakel with a business partner in 1987.  In 1980, Keller split with his partner at Rakel and took various consultant and chef positions in New York and Los Angeles.

In the spring of 1992, he came upon an old French steam laundry in Yountville, California that had been converted to a restaurant. He spent nineteen months raising $1.2 million from acquaintances and investors to purchase the restaurant, then opened in 1994. Over the next few years, the restaurant earned numerous awards, including from the James Beard Foundation, gourmet magazines, the Mobil Guide (five stars), and the Michelin Guide (three stars).

After the success of The French Laundry, Thomas, and his brother, Joseph Keller opened several restaurants in different locations across  America including New York, Las Vegas, and Miami.

Thomas Keller published French Laundry Cookbook in 1999n and  “The Bouchon Cookbook” in 2004. Other cookbooks that he has written or contributed are The Food Lover’s Companion to the Napa Valley, Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide, Ad Hoc at Home (2009), and Bouchon Bakery (2012).

He also served as a consultant for the 2007 Pixar animated film Ratatouille, allowing the producer to intern in the French Laundry kitchen and design a fancy layered version of ratatouille, “confit byaldi”, for the characters to cook. In the American version of the film, he plays a cameo appearance as a restaurant patron.

Honors and Accolades

Keller and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997. The restaurant is a perennial winner in the annual Restaurant Magazine list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World.

In 2005, he was awarded a three-star rating in the inaugural Michelin Guide for New York City for his restaurant Per Se, and in 2006, he was awarded three stars in the inaugural Michelin Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area for The French Laundry. He is the only American chef awarded simultaneous three-star Michelin ratings for two different restaurants. He currently holds eight Michelin stars total: three at Per Se, three at The French Laundry, one at Bouchon, and one at The Surf Club Restaurant.

Keller’s  French Laundry Cookbook won three International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) awards for Cookbook of the Year, Julia Child’s “First Cookbook” Award, and Design Award in 1999.

Thomas Keller Net Worth

Thomas Keller is one of the richest chefs in the world, with an estimated net worth of $50 Million. He made a huge part of his fortune as a successful restauranteur and cookbook Author.

Prior to the opening of The French Laundry, Thomas Keller started a small olive oil company called EVO, Inc. in 1992, with his girlfriend of the time, to distribute Provençal-style olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Recently, Keller started marketing a line of signature white Limoges porcelain dinnerware by Raynaud called Hommage Point (in homage to French chef and restaurateur, Fernand Point) that he helped and a collection of silver hollow ware by Christofle. He has also attached his name to a set of signature knives manufactured by MAC.