Chef Tom French is a seasoned chef, consultant, and trainer with over 40 years of professional foodservice experience. He has worked in some of the countries best known restaurants and hotels. After 20 years as a chef in New Orleans he moved to the Pacific Northwest and joined the newly formed Common Meals, now called FareStart. FareStart is a non profit organization which provides job training for homeless and disadvantaged individuals in the foodservice industry. As Executive Chef and Operations Manager he helped catapult the organization into the national spotlight as a leader and model for social entrepreneurial ventures. During his tenure the Seattle organization became the largest single provider of contract meals for HeadStart, ECEAP, and childcare centers, Aging and Disability Services, and homeless shelters, serving thousands of healthy, nutritious meals each day. As part of the city’s Emergency Services Delivery Team he oversaw a restructuring of the emergency food delivery system for participating agencies. FareStart continues to thrive and expand its model in other cities in the US.
Chef Tom’s international humanitarian effort on behalf of abandoned children in Kamchtaka, Russia was the focus of a nationally televised PBS special and he continues to work for innovative strategies for hunger relief in Kamchatka. His work on a salmon recovery project in Kamchatka helped launch the first ever social enterprise venture in Russia Far East. He also served on the City of Seattle Health Services Advisory Committee for three years and has been the recipient of the US Mayors anti hunger award.
Chef Tom has taught foodservice management classes at Bastyr University, and designed a lifeskills course for Fremont Public Association specifically for Somali Refugee Women transitioning from welfare to workforce. He teaches cooking and nutrition classes for low income families with an emphasis on families receiving WIC or foodstamp assistance or who rely on foodbanks.
As the former owner of a highly focused catering firm called Tableau, his company specialized in sustainable practices and organic food. Tableau provided exclusive food services to the Whidbey Institute for four years. Tom also served as the Center Director at the Whidbey Institute for two years.
As the lead partner for Optimum Resources he and his team are currently working as consultants to a consortium of organizations to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for the community that addresses school nutrition, prevention of childhood obesity, integration of the local growing community, job training opportunities for young people and local business involvement.
He is currently working with four major school districts and three hospitals in the Puget Sound region to develop pilot projects and long term strategies that demonstrate best practices models and provide a roadmap for food sustainability.
For the past ten years he has been active in sustainable agriculture, international hunger projects, homelessness, and social justice issues related to food. His accomplishments include the founding of the Bountiful Table, the Heart of America Bus Tour, and the Foundation Stone Project; a will based learning program for adolescents. He is a founding member of the Cascade Harvest Coalition, serves on the steering committee for the Farm to School Connections Team in conjunction with Washington State University, is a member of the advisory council for Sustainable Seattle and serves as the Washington State Policy Liaison for the National Patient Advocacy Foundation.
Chef Tom is an active advocate for healthcare policies that promote healthy lifestyle, preventative action and a patient bill of rights. He frequently speaks across the country for a just, sustainable and viable foodshed which provides equal access to healthy food for all. He is a writer and father of two boys age 9 & 7 who take their lunch to school everyday.
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