Interview with Special Guest, Mr. Ralph Brennan

Ralph Brennan is a third-generation restaurateur. Known affectionately by his culinary staff as “The Taster-in-Chief”, Ralph entered the family business in the early 1980’s after a successful stint as a CPA with Price Waterhouse & Company. A long-time food service industry advocate, Ralph served as the 1995-1996 Chairman and President of the National Restaurant Association (NRA). An NRA Director since 1984, Brennan also served as the 2000-2001 Chairman of the NRA Educational Foundation. In 1997, the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA) honored Ralph Brennan with its highest honor—the prestigious Gold Plate Operator of the Year Award. Ralph is a Past President of the Louisiana Restaurant Association and the New Orleans Restaurant Association. He was the chairman of the board of New Orleans’ Ernest N. Morial Convention Center from 1998-2005. Ralph remains active on the board of New Orleans’ Children’s Hospital and served as chairman in 2003-2004. He and his wife Susan are the proud parents of Kathryn, Patrick, and Kristen, and live in New Orleans.

The New Orleans-based Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group is owned and operated by Ralph Brennan and includes French Quarter restaurantsBACCO and Red Fish Grill, Ralph’s on the Park in mid-City New Orleans, and Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen at the Disneyland® Resort in Southern California. Each of these award-winning restaurants celebrates the cuisine and hospitality of classic and contemporary New Orleans and is staffed by a team of hardworking professionals dedicated ‘to making people happy’.