Thomas Keller Net Worth 2024, Biography, Personal Life, Professional Career, and Everything
Thomas Keller is a famous chef, restauranteur, and cookbook author. He is the only American Chef who has been awarded a three-star Michelin rating simultaneously for two different restaurants, Per Se and The French Laundry. He developed his passion for cooking at a young age and worked at various restaurants in his early years.
Keller gained success after opening The French Laundry, which received many awards. After its popularity, he opened Bouchon, Per Se, and Ad Hoc restaurants.
Let’s explore Keller’s net worth, personal life, professional career, and more.
Category | Details |
---|---|
Real Name | Thomas Aloysius Keller |
Profession | Chef, restaurateur, cookbook author |
Date of Birth | October 14, 1955 |
Age | 69 years |
Birthplace | Camp Pendleton, California, U.S. |
Parents | Edward Keller, Betty Keller |
Partner | Laura Cunningham |
Siblings | Joseph Keller |
Net Worth | Estimated $20 million |
chef Thomas Keller |
Net Worth 2024
As of 2024, Keller’s estimated net worth is approximately $20 million. He earned most of his wealth as a successful restauranteur and cookbook author, and his restaurant ventures contributed significantly to his financial success.
Early Life
Keller was born to Edward Keller and Betty Keller on October 14, 1955, in Camp Pendleton, California. His mother was a restaurateur, and she made him assist her after her cook got sick. When his parents divorced, he moved to Palm Beach, Florida, with his mother.
Keller spent his summers working at the Palm Beach Yacht Club during his teenage years. There, he started as a dishwasher and later became a cook, which is when he discovered his interest in cooking.
Professional Career
Keller worked as a cook in Rhode Island during the summertime. One summer, a French Master Chef discovered his passion for cooking and asked him to cook meals at The Dunes Club. Henin taught Keller the basics of French cuisine.
Keller worked in various restaurants in Florida after learning many things from The Dunes Club. Then, he moved to Catskill, New York, and became a cook at a French restaurant called La Rive. He built a smokehouse to cure meat and developed relationships with local livestock purveyors there.
Keller left La Rive after three years when he could not buy it from the owners. He then moved to Paris and worked at various Michelin-starred restaurants. In 1984, he returned to America and joined La Reserve as chef de cuisine in New York.
In early 1987, Keller opened his first restaurant, Rakel, specializing in French cuisine. The New York Times rated it two stars. However, its popularity decreased in the late 1980s after the stock market bottomed out and Keller left the restaurant.
After leaving Rakel, Keller worked as a consultant and chef in various parts of New York and Los Angeles. In 1992, he discovered a restaurant in Yountville, California, that had previously been an old French steam laundry. 1978, Sally Schmitt and her husband converted the building into A French laundry.
Keller was interested in buying that property, raised $1.2 million, and bought it. In 1994, he re-opened the restaurant, which has received numerous awards. Following the success of the French Laundry, Keller opened Bouchon in 1998 with his brother Joseph Keller. The following year, he published his cookbook, The French Laundry Cookbook, which won three International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) awards.
In January 2004, Keller opened Bouchen’s outlet in Las Vegas. The following month, he opened Per Se restaurant in the Time Warner Center complex, which earned three Michelin stars. In 2006, he opened “ad hoc” in Youthville, which serves family-style comfort food every night.
Personal Life
Keller engaged his long-time girlfriend, Laura Cunningham, French Laundry’s former general manager, in April 2009.
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