Chad has always had a love for food and his main influence was his grandma’s home cooking. He frequently called her to discuss recipes and techniques and would often recreate her recipes when he got home from school so he wouldn’t have to suffer through another meal cooked by his mother. Chad’s official culinary career began after the housing market collapse of 2008 when he traded in his hammer for a chef ’s knife. While attending culinary school in Minneapolis he was introduced to the world of culinology and with an interest in science and engineering and a passion for the culinary arts it was right up his alley.
Chad has always had a love for food and his main influence was his grandma’s home cooking. He frequently called her to discuss recipes and techniques and would often recreate her recipes when he got home from school so he wouldn’t have to suffer through another meal cooked by his mother. Chad’s official culinary career began after the housing market collapse of 2008 when he traded in his hammer for a chef’s knife. While attending culinary school in Minneapolis he was introduced to the world of culinology and with an interest in science and engineering and a passion for the culinary arts it was right up his alley, so upon completion of culinary school he decided to pursue a BS in culinology from Southwest Minnesota State University where he discovered his fondness for product development.
Chad came to the Frito Lay Culinary Innovation Center in January of 2011 as a culinary extern and is still here in 2018 continuing to grow his career and helping to propel the PepsiCo culinary network into the future. Throughout his time at PepsiCo Chad has been able to hone his product development skills by working alongside some of the best scientists, engineers and chefs the industry has to offer. He is now the development chef for the North American division of the global snacks group.