Matthew Kenney

Early life

Born in Connecticut and growing up on the coast of Maine, Kenney developed a relationship with nature and the outdoors. After graduating from the University of Maine with a degree in Political Science he followed his love for food and became a chef. He attended the acclaimed French Culinary Institute, now the International Culinary Center, learning classical culinary techniques. Upon graduating (1990), he worked at various high-profile kitchens in New York City.

Career

Kenney opened his namesake restaurant, Matthew's, in 1993 and gained immediate notoriety for innovative, Mediterranean inspired cuisine, twice earning a James Beard Foundation nomination for Rising Star Chef and becoming Food and Wine Magazine's 1994 Best New Chef. With traction in the NY restaurant scene, he continued his career by opening a group of restaurants: Mezze, Monzu Canteen, Commune and Commissary.

In 2004, Kenney shifted his focus from Mediterranean and Contemporary American Cooking to vegetables. His passion for yoga, wellness and animals influenced his decision. That year, Kenney and partners opened a vegan restaurant, Pure Food and Wine, in New York City. Kenney left that venture in 2006 to launch his own lifestyle company and continue writing books on the subject of plant-based cuisine. Pure Food and Wine has been featured twice in New York Magazine's "Top 100 Restaurants" and 5 times in Forbes Magazine's list of "All Star New York Eateries."

In 2009, Kenney opened his first culinary academy in Oklahoma City. It was the first state accredited culinary school specializing in plant-based cuisine. In 2012, he moved the renamed Matthew Kenney Culinary Academy to Santa Monica, CA and relocated his company to Los Angeles.

In 2016, Kenney became involved in a documentary film about the impact of eating animals on the environment. The film is scheduled to be released in Spring of 2017.

Matthew Kenney Cuisine

In 2012 Kenney formed Matthew Kenney Cuisine, a California-based, integrated lifestyle company offering a variety of plant-based services and products. The company operates in five market segments, including hospitality, education, media, products and services. Holdings of the company include more than a dozen restaurants operating or in development, 8 culinary and lifestyle academies, 12 books and a number of strategic partnerships and licensing relationships. The company is privately held by a small like-minded ownership group with members from United States, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. Kenney is the Founder and CEO.

Hospitality

Matthew Kenney Cuisine owns and operates multiple plant-based restaurants including: Plant Food + Wine (in both Venice, CA and Miami, FL), Make Out in Culver City, CA, Matthew Kenney NM in Beverly Hills CA, Oliver's in Montecito CA, Essence in London, New York City's Double Zero and Plant Cafe in Bahrain. The company has also launched MK Wellness, a plant based yoga and travel brand.

PlantLab Culinary

In 2009,[14] The Matthew Kenney Culinary Academy opened in Oklahoma City, OK as the world's first state licensed raw food educational center in the world.[15] The Academy immediately received students from around the globe and in 2012 opened a 2nd location in Santa Monica, Ca. Matthew Kenney Academy Online launched in 2012 as an extension of Matthew Kenney Culinary. The online format lets students participate from their own kitchen and offers more than a dozen courses dedicated to the plant-based lifestyle including Culinary Nutrition, Sports Nutrition and Plant-Based Food Photography. Kenney opened at Plantlab on the coast of Maine in 2014, Venice, CA in 2015 and Miami, FL and New York City in 2016. In 2017, the assets of the academy platform were sold and renamed to PlantLab Culinary. PlantLab Culinary is launching additional locations in Barcelona, Sydney, Paris, London and Berlin in 2017. The Academy's foundations are its four-week courses, Fundamentals of Raw Cuisine, Advanced Raw Cuisine, Professional Techniques and Food Future. In 2015 Matthew Kenney Culinary was featured in Food & Wine magazine as one of "Best Cooking Classes Around the World."[4] Matthew Kenney Culinary Alumni have launched restaurants and business around the world, and include a number of published authors, developers of consumer packaged products and wellness leaders.

Media

Kenney published his first cookbook, Matthew Kenney's Mediterranean Cooking, in 2004, followed by Big City Cooking in 2007.

In 2004, he co-authored Raw Food Real World and went on to publish 7 additional raw food books including Everyday Raw, Entertaining in the Raw, Raw Chocolate, Everyday Raw Desserts, Everyday Raw Detox, Everyday Raw Express, Everyday Raw Gourmet and Plant Food. He also published a memoir, Cooked Raw, in 2015. He is currently writing his 13th book, Plant Lab Cookbook in collaboration with Chef Scott Winegard and Photographer Adrian Mueller. This book is scheduled to be published in 2017 by Regan Arts, a division of New York-based published house Phaidon. Kenney has launched 2 apps and is a collaborator on an annual calendar named Simply Raw, with the photographer Lynn Karlin.

Kenney is also a speaker. He has given two TEDx talks titled, "Crafting the Future of Food" at TEDxAmericanRiviera and "Are You Feeding Your Body or Feeding Disease" at TEDxOKC. In both, he speaks on the inadequacies of the Standard American Diet and the negative impact processed foods and meat have on our health, presenting the benefits to our health and planet of a raw plant-based diet. Kenney has been a keynote speaker at a number of events and speaks regularly at high-profile events around the world about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle.

Kenney has been featured in high-profile media outlets including Vogue Magazine: "Chef Matthew Kenney on the Plant-Based Revolution Coming Soon to a City Near You" January 25, 2016 and Forbes Magazine titled: "Meet the Man Building A Plant-Based Food Empire" December 5, 2016.

Kenney is a columnist for the New York Based Observer and launched his first column: "Why I am Vegan" on September 12, 2016. His second column went live on December 5, 2016, titled: "These Vegan Instagram Stars put Traditional Food Critics to Shame".

The work of Kenney and Matthew Kenney Cuisine is being featured in an upcoming documentary being created by Untold Films and produced by James Cameron which details the impact of eating animals on the environment.

Kenney regularly donates his time and resources to a number of Animal Rights organizations.

Services

An aspect of Kenney's brand is an innovative menu development, where the company develops proprietary content to be distributed to its affiliate partners, consulting clients and its own projects.

Since becoming a well-known plant-based chef and lifestyle educator, Kenney has sourced private chefs for athletes, models, and entertainers. The company owns and operates Pure Chefs Worldwide, which specializes in chef placement.

Matthew Kenney Cuisine has consulted on a number of projects for brands who wish to elevate the plant-based offerings on their menus. The growing list of clients includes the public company, Jamba Juice.

Books

Awards