Kenneth Gilbert
GROVE BAY HOSPITALITY GROUP TAPS CHEF KENNY GILBERT AS VICE PRESIDENT OF CULINARY OPERATIONS
Gilbert, a ‘Top Chef’ Alum, is Set to Lead Culinary Operations Across All Grove Bay Restaurants
MIAMI, FL (October X, 2022) – Grove Bay Hospitality Group announces that Top Chef alum Kenny Gilbert will take the role of Vice President of Culinary Operations across the group’s eight existing restaurants. The homegrown restaurant group is known for its stunning portfolio of award-winning restaurants including the Michelin-star rated Stubborn Seed, helmed by Top Chef winner Jeremy Ford; Coconut Grove’s newest waterfront dining destination Bayshore Club; Red Rooster Overtown, in partnership with Marcus Samuelsson; Glass and Vine; Mi’Talia Kitchen & Bar, Root & Bone and Stiltsville Fish Bar with chefs Janine Booth and Jeff McInnis; and CH’I.
Chef Kenny Gilbert will relocate to Miami from Jacksonville, where he will oversee the culinary operations across all restaurants within Grove Bay Hospitality Group, working closely alongside the group’s chef partners. Gilbert will be responsible for menu inheritance, compliance and food quality and will implement procedures to continue to elevate the group’s high restaurant standards.
“Chef Kenny Gilbert knows how to run a tight kitchen,” says Ignacio Garcia-Menocal, CEO and co-founder of Grove Bay Hospitality Group. “And he is also a very talented chef who will bring an overarching culinary approach to each unique restaurant concept. We’ve worked with him in the past and know what he brings to the table.”
“Miami is a beautiful city with a colorful food scene and some incredible culinary talent. I’m so excited to join the Grove Bay team and bring some of my signature cooking style and operational expertise to the group’s restaurants,” says Kenny Gilbert.
“By forming this partnership we are working to further elevate our culinary experience for guests,” says Francesco Balli, CEO and co-founder of Grove Bay Hospitality Group.
Chef Kenny Gilbert is recognized for his big personality during his appearance on Top Chef in season seven, but the Cleveland native’s passion for cooking developed years before his appearance on the hit TV show. The award-winning chef and restaurateur was raised surrounded by a love for food that blossomed at an early age.
Though he grew up in Cleveland, Gilbert had culinary influences sprouting from the South thanks to his father’s passion for barbecuing and, with that love for the all things culinary that he learned from both his mother and father, Gilbert started to man the kitchen in his own home, taking the lead on Thanksgiving dinners by age 11.
With a career that stretches over two decades, Gilbert’s professional career began following his graduation from the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute. He then went on to become an apprentice in the garde manger kitchen at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Amelia Island. After earning the position of Chef de Cuisine at age 23, he secured the coveted AAA Five Diamond Award during his time there. Gilbert later moved to Colorado to work at The Inn at Lost Creek, where he would then audition for Top Chef season seven.
Since airing in 2010, Top Chef opened a world of opportunities for Gilbert. The Cleveland chef went on to participate in a number of national TV segments including Beat Bobby Flay, where he actually did beat the famed chef; Cutthroat Kitchen; The Today Show and more.
Gilbert also served as the Executive Chef at Bajan Blue at Sandy Lake Resort in Barbados, where he had the opportunity to travel the world, cooking and training in Japan, Spain, Frances, the Bahamas and Bermuda. With a broad worldview and a plethora of culinary techniques and styles under his belt, Gilbert will now oversee Grove Bay Hospitality Group’s restaurant operations and menu development. Putting culinary at the forefront, Gilbert will incorporate his broad knowledge of different cuisines into each restaurant.
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ABOUT GROVE BAY HOSPITALITY GROUP
Founded in 2010, Grove Bay Hospitality Group is a Miami-based award-winning restaurant group that creates innovative and memorable dining experiences through its critically-acclaimed restaurants. Voted one of South Florida Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” in 2022, Grove Bay is led by three partners, Co-Founders/CEOs Francesco Balli and Ignacio Garcia-Menocal and COO Eddie Acevedo, who bring decades of combined hospitality experience to the group’s collective of nine (9) unique restaurants. Grove Bay is home to Michelin-star restaurant Stubborn Seed in Miami Beach, a partnership with Top Chef winner and James Beard Award semifinalist Jeremy Ford. In 2020, Grove Bay partnered with renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson to open Red Rooster Overtown, a recipient of Michelin’s Bib Gourmand award. Grove Bay also owns and operates Stiltsville Fish Bar, Root & Bone Miami and Mi’talia Kitchen & Bar with chefs Janine Booth and Jeff McInnis; Glass & Vine in Coconut Grove; Public Square in Coral Gables; and is the operating group behind CH’I in Brickell. In summer 2022, Grove Bay opened Bayshore Club, a stunning open-air waterfront restaurant in Coconut Grove, accessible by land and sea, and part of the Regatta Harbour project. In late 2022, the group will partner again with Jeremy Ford to open Beauty and the Butcher in Coral Gables. www.grovebaygroup.com
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