Certified Research Chef Jody Denton received his formal culinary training in Dallas and fine tuned his skills through apprentice programs at some of the top restaurants in Europe. Jody returned to the States and started his career in the mid 80s at the Mansion at Turtle Creek in Dallas. In the 90s, Jody served as executive chef at restaurants for Wolfgang Puck, Mark Miller, and restaurateur Richard Melman. In the late 90s Jody took his talents to San Francisco where he took charge at the popular restaurant Lulu. While there, he expanded the operations to include two more highly acclaimed restaurants and a line of specialty foods that won numerous awards at the NASFT Fancy Food Show and were sold through high end retailers including Whole Foods and Dean & DeLuca. Most recently, Jody designed the menu and operations for Restaurant Revolution for renowned chefs Rick Tramanto and John Folse. The restaurant is scheduled to open early next year at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans.

In Jody’s role as Executive Research Chef for the Frito-Lay Culinary Innovation, he will leverage his culinary talent to enhance product development through the iCrave process; provide culinary support and leadership for foodservice vendors, customer teams and brand activation team; conduct skills building and trends immersions workshops through the CIC, and provide leadership for the culinary team and culinary support associates.