Zack Grumet

Zack Grumet began his culinary career as a child in Long Island, New York, where he spent every Thursday cooking with his mother. In five hours they would prepare the family’s weekly supply of bread, rolls, cakes, pies, and cookies.

At age eighteen, he moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, and apprenticed at Kupel’s Bake and Bagel, where he was trained in kosher-style baking by his mentor and master baker Ralf Schwartz. Grumet fondly recalls Schwartz urging, “Make it nice or don’t make it at all,” as he repeatedly banged his rolling pin on the table for emphasis.

After five years, Grumet returned to New York, married, and continued to work in ethnic and specialty food shops while taking classes at the Culinary Institute of America.

Grumet was a featured chef on the award-winning television series Great Chefs and appeared in multiple episodes of the Great Chefs of America series.