The Chef Assembly brings national chefs and food writers to Charlotte on November 2 and 3

The Chef Assembly, a conference for restaurant and hospitality professionals, is coming to Charlotte on Monday, November 2, and Tuesday, November 3, with panels at the Johnson & Wales University campus on West Trade Street in Uptown. Tickets cost $175 and include meals and a Monday evening party, Unpretentious Palate reported on October 1.

The event was created by Mike Traud, a Johnson & Wales graduate, and this year the conference expands to the Southeast with Charlotte as host. The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority is a sponsor and sees the conference as part of an effort to raise the city’s national profile for food, according to Unpretentious Palate.

The Chef Assembly at a glance

The schedule and logistics, according to the event’s Charlotte page:

• Day one runs from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, November 2, with breakfast, morning and afternoon panels and lunch.
• A post-party starts at 4:30 p.m. on Monday at The Goodyear House in NoDa.
• Day two runs from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3.
• Sessions are at Johnson & Wales University, which the event page lists at 801 W. Trade St., and tickets are sold through Resy.

Who is speaking

The program leans national. Panelists include Raleigh chefs Cheetie Kumar and Ashley Christensen, and no Charlotte chefs are on the program, Unpretentious Palate reported. Traud told the publication that each Charlotte speaker would mean one fewer national guest, and that local chefs act as hosts and ambassadors while the visitors eat their way around the city.

The Monday sessions, according to the published agenda, cover the following:

• A trailblazer talk with chef Nok Suntaranon, moderated by writer Jeff Gordinier.
• Mentorship, with EJ Lagasse, Cheetie Kumar and Chad Williams, moderated by Mackensy Lunsford.
• Restaurant economics, covering technology, scaling and business opportunities, moderated by Talia Berman.
• Cuisine and culture, moderated by Pervaiz Shallwani, with Isabel Coss, Silver Iocovozzi, Meherwan Irani and Serigne Mbaye.
• Chef wellness resources, moderated by Andrew Zimmern, with Chris Shepherd, Jen Hidinger-Kendrick and Steve Palmer.

Tuesday morning opens with a session on modern restaurant criticism moderated by Tom Sietsema, with Henna Bakshi, Lyndsay Green, Mike Jordan, Erin Byers Murray and Joshua David Stein. A panel on chef branding, awards and events follows, moderated by Hanna Raskin with Susan Bae, Karl Gorline, James London and Julia Sullivan. The closing panel, What Is Southern Food?, is moderated by Toni Tipton-Martin, with Ashley Christensen, Cassidee Dabney, Adrian Miller, Ashleigh Shanti and Erick Williams.

The restaurant economics panel on Monday brings together Molly Irani, Effie Richardson, Jill Tyler and Chip Wade. The event’s speakers page identifies several of the visitors:

• Andrew Zimmern is an Emmy winner and four-time James Beard Award winner who works in television and as a chef and writer.
• Toni Tipton-Martin is a food journalist, culinary historian and editor who has won the Julia Child Award.
• Chip Wade is the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, and Steve Palmer founded the Indigo Road Hospitality Group and co-founded Ben’s Friends.
• Chris Shepherd co-founded the Southern Smoke Foundation, and Jen Hidinger-Kendrick founded The Giving Kitchen.
• The writers include Lyndsay Green, a restaurant critic at the Detroit Free Press; Mackensy Lunsford, a senior dining reporter for The Tennessean; Erin Byers Murray, editor in chief of The Local Palate; and Hanna Raskin, founder of The Food Section.

Why the visitors authority is backing it

The CRVA helped bring the Michelin Guide and Top Chef to Charlotte, Unpretentious Palate reported. Laura White, the agency’s chief brand and strategy officer, told the publication that the next step is supporting thought leadership in food, either by sending local chefs to collaborate at events in other states or by bringing industry leaders to Charlotte to show them the city’s restaurant scene.

The conference also spills into dining rooms. In past years, the gatherings have led to collaborative dinners and friendships between chefs, Unpretentious Palate reported. Several dinners pairing local and visiting chefs are planned around town this time, with Rada and Supperland among the hosts, according to Unpretentious Palate.

Who is behind it

Traud is an attorney, chef and educator who holds law, doctoral and business degrees and cooked in restaurant kitchens before teaching hospitality law, according to the event’s website. The site describes the conference as a room where industry veterans and newer voices can have unscripted conversations, share practices and build working relationships. He founded and chaired the Philadelphia version of the conference from 2013 to 2023, and the event, formerly called The Chef Conference, has also gathered in New York. The site says the conference has hosted Massimo Bottura, Mashama Bailey and Will Guidara over the years.

Traud called the Charlotte event a 20-year full-circle moment after his graduation from Johnson & Wales. Before planning this conference, he had not been back since Peter Reinhart hosted a bread symposium in 2017. “The city is night and day,” he told Unpretentious Palate.

The host campus

Johnson & Wales has more than 1,200 students on the Charlotte campus, according to the university’s website, along with more than 30 student-run clubs and 14 varsity athletic teams. The university lists arts and sciences, business, food innovation, hospitality and health and wellness among its program areas there, and highlights a 16-month accelerated nursing degree. The campus sits near Truist Field and Bank of America Stadium.

Breakfast and registration open at 8:30 a.m. both days, and Monday’s lunch and dessert break runs from noon to 1:15 p.m., according to the agenda.

After Charlotte, The Chef Assembly heads to San Francisco on November 16, and tickets for that event go on sale October 15, according to the event’s website.

Have a tip about this story? Send it to us through our contact form.