Kelley Schmidt has joined the Four Seasons Hotel
St. Louis as Executive Chef.
Kelley has joined the hotel from the Four
Seasons New Orleans where he worked as Executive Sous Chef.
He has been with the Four Seasons family
for 17 years, first joining Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale as a
cook while still in culinary school.
Growing up on the rolling plains of North Dakota,
Kelley was inspired as a child by the lavish feasts
his grandmother would cook for family celebrations and holidays.
Inspired further by famed chefs and writers such as Emeril Lagasse, Paul Prudhomme, Jacques Pepin and Anthony Bourdain, Kelley
set off to search out his hunger for all things delicious (and to
avoid the bitterly cold winters) by attending culinary school at
Le Cordon Bleu at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute in Arizona.
After working at the Four Seasons Resort
Scottsdale, he continued his career at the former Four Seasons
Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, before joining the
preopening team of Four Seasons Hotel Denver, where among numerous
accomplishments, he launched the popular Edge steakhouse in 2010.
In 2016, Kelley moved to Hawaii to open Four
Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina as Sous Chef Tournant and in late 2017 he helped lead the opening of Mina’s Fish
House, with the Mina Restaurant Group before joining the
opening team at Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street, Boston in
2019, where later, as Senior Sous Chef, he led the culinary team
and all F&B operations.
In 2021, he moved to Four
Seasons Hotel New Orleans in preparation of opening Miss River,
the much-anticipated restaurant by Alon Shaya, celebrating
spirited takes on classic Louisiana cuisine. In August 2022, he
was promoted to Executive Sous Chef overseeing the hotel’s F&B offerings, including Donald Link’s Chemin à la Mer,
pool, in room dining, banquets and catering.
“I am so excited to join the team in St. Louis, it
is an incredible opportunity on so many levels. The city has such
a vibrant and evolving food scene, which is really energizing and
I’m thrilled to become part of it. And, of course, it’s an honour
to work with such a talented team of craftspeople at the hotel,”
Kelley said. “The way I relate to a new place or city is
through food and regional influence. When I look back I remember
the meals and the good times; this feeling is what I hope to bring
to the visitors of Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis.”
