Keith m schroeder, c e. c executive chef

Keith Schroeder began his culinary career at the Mobil 5 Diamond and DiRoNA award winning Nikolai’s Roof at the Atlanta Hilton and Towers in 1994 after graduating top of class from the School of Culinary Arts at the Art Institute of Atlanta. Mr. Schroeder went on to work for the legendary French Master Chef Jean Banchet at the highly celebrated restaurant Riviera before earning the role of Chef de Cuisine at the French-country hideaway Countryside Café, located in the prestigious Big Canoe community in the Blue Ridge Mountains. In addition to his passion for food and beverage, Schroeder maintains an appetite for life-long-learning, technology and the arts.

After Countryside Café, Chef Schroeder became the Executive Chef at North Park Square, a breakthrough bistro at Georgia’s Historic Marietta Square. The restaurant was recognized by WHERE Atlanta Magazine as one of Atlanta’s Hottest New Restaurants in 1999, and went on to achieve critical acclaim in Southern Voice and the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, in addition to having earned the chef a television appearance on Fox’s Good Day Atlanta in the same year.

Schroeder continued to hone his food and beverage expertise as Executive Chef at the exclusive caterer Table Tales in Lower Manhattan before being recruited by New England Culinary Institute (NECI) in Burlington, Vermont to teach a new generation of culinary professionals. In 2003, Schroeder was promoted to Executive Chef at NECI, and at the age of 29 became the youngest Executive Chef in the school’s history. While with NECI, Chef Keith represented the school on the nationally televised The Insider’s List on the Fine Living Network. Schroeder is proud to have a number of former students in significant roles at some of the finest restaurants and inns in the country.

Schroeder went on to collaborate with former mentor Chef Dean Thomas on a public-private culinary education partnership between the Barona Casino and a local community college in San Diego, California before returning to Atlanta in 2006 as Director of Food and Beverage/Executive Chef for the Marriott Atlanta Northwest, a HEI Hotels and Resorts holding. Chef Schroeder assumed $7 million P&L responsibilities at the Atlanta Marriott Northwest while traveling the country as part of the HEI’s Chef Council, a food and beverage task force. As part of the task force, Mr. Schroeder played a critical role in creating inter-brand standardized menus for brands including Hilton, Marriott, Embassy Suites, Sheraton and Westin.

In October of 2009, Mr. Schroeder was named Executive Chef at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North. Chef Schroeder brings new culinary life to the picturesque Lakeside Grill restaurant with his unique blend of contemporary southern cooking, global perspective, and farm-to-table focus. Schroeder has already partnered with a number of local and organic producers in shaping the future of Westin Atlanta Perimeter North’s cuisine, and uses only sustainable seafood on his menus. The chef’s creations can be savored in the casually-elegant environment of Jasmine Lounge, as well, and is particularly grand when experienced in one of the hotel’s gorgeous ballrooms.