Jeff McInnis was born to do two things: fish and cook. And, in the best situations, he’s doing both.

He grew up in the Florida panhandle in a place called Niceville (true story) where waterfront property was not yet reserved for the elite. With the ocean as his ‘playground’, you could almost always find him on a fishing boat reeling, peeling, cleaning and cutting Redfish, Cobia, shrimp and whatever else was caught that day. So, it was no surprise that at 16 he was already cooking on the line at The Marina Cafe.

In the summer, he would head inland to join his grandparents in Alabama on their working farm. They raised chickens, hogs and horses, grew their own vegetables, churned their own butter and made their own blackberry jelly preserves from fresh picks of the day. They got up early. They went to bed late. They ate what they raised. To others it’s the definition of the “farm-to-table” concept that’s become the new restaurant buzzword. To Jeff it was just the way things were, a way of life.

When he was 18, Jeff left Florida to go cook in Charleston, SC, where he dove even deeper into low country cuisine. “I found it very hard to leave this Southern Belle and spent 6 years cooking, fishing, and livin’ in Charleston,” says McInnis.

Jeff sought to broaden his palette and began a series of culinary adventures; First as Sous Chef at Asolare, a Caribbean-Asian restaurant in St. John, Virgin Islands. Next, in San Francisco, at fine dining Asian-French restaurant Azie, where he learned Japanese cuisine from renowned sushi chefs while at the same time polishing his French techniques. And then to rural Virginia, where he worked at Keswick Hall, an exclusive 5-star hotel built on Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Estate and owned by the Orient Express. Named Fossett’s in honor of Jefferson’s chief cook at Monticello, Edith Fossett, the restaurant served up Southern/French cuisine in a fine dining atmosphere.

It was here that Jeff was able to begin mixing his passion and talent for fine Southern cooking.

Executive Chef, Culinary Ambassador
State of Florida Department of Agriculture

Justin Timineri, certified executive chef, author and international culinary ambassador is helping the world to rediscover simple healthy cuisine.

Justin was born in Florida and exposed at an early age to the many cultures and unique and various cuisines from this diverse part of the country. His straight forward approach to cooking relies on simple ingredients combined with fresh seasonal produce and serves as a model for the new American cook.

The culmination of his work experience, from an event chef for NASCAR, PGA and the Kentucky Derby to several top chef positions around his hometown of Tallahassee, including serving as chef at the Governors’ Mansion, led him to his current duty as Culinary Ambassador for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

With a natural passion for food and people, Justin is constantly working to improve the way people eat. Justin’s responsibilities include promoting all of Florida’s freshest commodities, creating new recipes, attending trade events around the world, performing cooking demonstrations and educating children on the value of healthy food choices and proper nutrition.

Justin’s philosophy on food is a simple one: “Cooking should always be fun, simple and flavorful”. He always keeps nutrition in mind and enjoys cooking with fresh, local and regionally harvested foods.

Please describe what it is like to be Florida’s Culinary Ambassador:
It is an amazing honor to be Florida’s culinary ambassador, but the position also comes with great responsibility. . Some of my responsibilities include promoting all of Florida’s nearly 300 commodities, creating new recipes using Fresh From Florida products, attending trade events around the world to showcase our state’s abundant resources, coordinating efforts with other Florida chefs, performing cooking demonstrations and educating children on our state’s growing seasons and the value of healthy food choices and proper nutrition.

Chef Ben Schneller is creating new flavors and fans at the Southernmost Beach Cafe in Key West, Florida. Chef Ben went to the Southern California School of Culinary Arts to begin his culinary career. From there he went back to his home state of Wisconsin to open his own restaurant, which featured fresh locally-grown and caught ingredients. From there he decided to move south and closer to the ocean. No better place than Key West, Florida in 2003.

Once in Key West, Ben became the Executive Chef of local steakhouse “The Commodore,” serving high end steaks and local fare on the historic seaport.

From there Ben moved on to help open a new Brazilian steakhouse just off of Duval Street called Braza Lena.

In December 2009, Ben took the opportunity to become the Executive Chef of The Southernmost Beach Café, an up and coming beachfront restaurant at the south end of the island. Ben combined his classical French training with Caribbean and local Florida Keys influences and created fresh new breakfast, lunch, dinner and catering menus.

By utilizing only the freshest in local seafood and produce, Ben has created  menus that have become not only local favorites, but the go-to choice of tourists and seasonal snow birds also.

Whether you want to enjoy sunrise with a cup of coffee, watch sunbathers with a frozen drink, or dine under stars while enjoying a glass of wine, the Southernmost Beach Café has incredible entrees that will suit your every dining desire.  Fine cuisine at affordable prices overlooking the ocean where Duval Street meets the Atlantic.

Please describe your restaurant concept.
It is fine cuisine, at affordable prices, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Growing up in Boston, Chef Kelly Marshall started her career in the hospitality industry as a cook at the age of 16 and hasn’t looked back. As a senior in high school, she attended Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island and earned a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts while working in her first hotel, the Radisson Airport Hotel in Warwick.

After graduation Marshall began her career in culinary management at a Boston institution, Legal Sea Foods, and from there worked in several food service establishments and taught college culinary classes.

After a particularly bad winter, Chef Marshall and her husband moved to Tampa, where she was hired as executive sous chef at the (then Quorum Hotel Tampa) Wyndham Tampa Westshore and was promoted to executive chef before the age of 30.

Marshall juggles the responsibility of running culinary operations for the 272 room Wyndham Tampa Westshore, including the Blue Water Grill restaurant and 12,000 square feet of meeting space, with being a mother to two little girls.

In 2011 Marshall and her team swept three of three awards at Top Chef of the Year Tampa Bay 2011: Top Chef of the Year, Top Philanthropic Chef of the Year, and Best Table Design.
Please describe your restaurant concepts:

The Blue Water Grill at the Wyndham Tampa Westshore is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. A full-breakfast buffet is offered seven days a week featuring everything from healthy choices, like fresh berries and macadamia muesli, to the far more decadent “best bacon you’ve ever had,” as well as an a la carte menu. Bistro-style lunch and dinner menus focus on great sandwiches, inventive salads and delicious soups and mains.

Chef Bob Axenfeld is a seasoned veteran of the culinary industry having worked for a number of high-end resorts and country clubs in his 28-year career. At Hyatt Regency Bonaventure, Axenfeld is responsible for coordinating all day-to-day operations, including creating and developing menu concepts, training staff and ensuring corporate quality control and standards, at all the food and beverage outlets on the hotel’s 23-acre property.

Axenfeld has led Hyatt Regency Bonaventure in receiving the AAA Four-Diamond Award for the past three years, along with becoming the first restaurant in Broward County to offer sustainable seafood.
In addition, Axenfeld leads all Hyatt Hotel Chefs for information on allergens, teaching and developing recipes for both allergens and alternative diets. Axenfeld has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines as well as television and radio programs for his culinary creativity and talent. Most recently, Chef Bob Axenfeld was featured on Channel 7’s “A Bite with Belkeys”, Deco Drive and Univision Latin Television.

Prior to his position at Hyatt Regency Bonaventure, Axenfeld served on the culinary staff at Hyatt Regency Jacksonville, Florida. Axenfeld also served on the culinary team at Maxim’s De Paris and L’ Omnibus in New York City, as well as Epping Forest Yacht & Country Club, Hilton & Towers Hotel, River City Brewing Company and Adam’s Mark Hotel all in Jacksonville.

Axenfeld has been recognized by the Chaine des Rotisseurs for excellence in the culinary arts and received a Richard T. Keeting Award for outstanding achievement in food preparation and service.  He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.

Shane Schaibly is corporate chef for Front Burner Brands, Inc., a full-service and fast-casual restaurant management company headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Front Burner Brands, Inc. is affiliated with dynamic and niche-specific brands including The Melting Pot, the premier fondue restaurant franchise with more than 140 locations in North America, Burger 21, the “beyond the better burger” franchise concept with two locations and expected rapid growth, and GrillSmith restaurants with six locations in Tampa, as well as other concepts in development.

On the culinary side, Schaibly is responsible for overseeing the research, development and cost planning for all of Front Burner Brands’ menu offerings. He personally creates and assists in the procurement of all new menu items for The Melting Pot and Burger 21, and additionally assists in the menu development of GrillSmith restaurants. Schaibly works closely with The Melting Pot’s existing vendor partners and research and development chefs to ensure the fondue chain is putting out exceptional food every time and that the additional Front Burner Brands concepts will benefit from the already established relationships in these fields.

Shane also oversees the beverage department with responsibilities including creating and procuring all ingredients for The Melting Pot’s new signature cocktails which are released to coincide with the Big Night Out (limited-time feature menu) as well as overseeing the current core wine program and beverage offerings.

Prior to joining The Melting Pot, Schaibly served as lead pastry chef and sous chef for Café Ponte in Clearwater. Schaibly also previously served as a cook at The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach, and graduated at the top of his class from Johnson & Wales University in North Miami.

Co-Owner
Great Southern Restaurant Group

Jim Shirley is co-owner with Collier, Will, and Burney Merrill of the Great Southern Restaurant Group, Inc., which owns The Fish House, Atlas Oyster House, and The Fish House Deck Bar in Pensacola, Florida, and is co-owner—along with the Merrill’s—of the Great Southern Café in Seaside, Florida. For years he wrote a weekly column, Good Grits!, for the Pensacola News Journal, and now writes on a regular basis for the newspaper’s columns Chef’s Corner and Wine Time.

Chef Jim is a member of the state board of directors of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA) and vice president of the Northwest Florida Chapter of FRLA, founder and president of the Society of Great Southern Chefs, and a member of the Southern Foodways Alliance. As an active community leader, he dedicates time to many charities, including the Children’s Home Society of Florida (a board member of the Western Division) and is a board member of the Autism Society of the Panhandle.

Jim opened his first restaurant, Madison’s Diner, in Pensacola in 1995, opened the Screaming Coyote in 1997, and the Fish House in 1998. His style of cooking is one that he calls modern Southern cuisine. As the son of a Navy pilot who was stationed all around the world, Jim learned to enjoy a variety of cuisines from many cultures. But he always went back to his roots—his grandmothers’ traditional Southern cooking. His expertise is combining different flavors in ways unlike anyone else. He has appeared on the Travel Channel’s show “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.” He was also chosen to go to Washington, D.C., to feature his signature dish, Grits à Ya Ya, in “A Taste of the South” event.

Describe Emeril’s Restaurant in Orlando.
We specialize in Emeril’s “New New Orleans” cuisine, which at its essence is Creole cooking with global influences using local Florida products. We use a lot of seafood and make everything from scratch. We’re lucky to have a great agriculture community so we draw from that and get inspired by what comes in the door. At lunch, people are excited to get out and explore the parks, so we keep things fresh and flavorful.