There’s a new Chef Conference in town: Spin-off will be corporate-sponsored, bring national culinary stars to Philly

The Philly Chef Conference has drawn high-profile chefs and food journalists to Philadelphia for an annual meeting of the minds for 10 years. Hosted by Drexel University’s hospitality management department, the conference was anchored by chef-driven panels and Q&As that dissected hot topics and emerging themes in the restaurant industry. It was founded in 2013 by Mike Traud, a lawyer-turned-chef-turned-instructor who organized the event as Drexel’s hospitality management program director.

Things will be a little different in 2024: Come April, there will be an entirely new conference, though it will feature familiar faces and formats. This event, simply called the Chef Conference, is not affiliated with Drexel. Instead, it’s sponsored by Visit Philadelphia and the American Express-owned reservation website Resy. And while many of its discussions will still take place in University City, venues citywide are getting involved — including top restaurants like Friday Saturday Sunday, Palizzi Social Club, and Her Place Supper Club.

The split from Drexel may be due in part to the fact that admissions to the school’s hospitality management program have been paused as of fall 2022. University spokeswoman Niki Gianakaris said the pause is a response to market demands. (Drexel’s culinary science and food science departments are unaffected and remain “a strong component of our academic portfolio,” Gianakaris said.)

Gianakaris noted that the Philly Chef Conference, which is a Drexel trademark, will continue. “We are evaluating the design of the conference and expect to make an announcement regarding our plans later this fall,” she said in a statement.

No longer employed at Drexel, Traud sees opportunities for the new Chef Conference. He’s expanded the conference’s schedule to four days, from April 12 to 15, and has finagled a star-studded lineup that includes Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver, chef and TV host Andrew Zimmern, New York Times journalist Kim Severson, and local luminaries like Ellen Yin, Michael Solomonov, and Chad Williams, to name a handful. (Former Inquirer food editor and Bon Appetit editor Jamila Robinson is also slated to attend.) He estimates tickets will run around $300, a roughly $50 increase on the cost of last year’s industry-only tickets.

Unfettered by academic bureaucracy, the Chef Conference will also feature consumer-facing dinners and chef residencies, Traud said, touting a yet-to-be-confirmed international chef. That’s a marked difference from previous years, when the conference — while open to the public — almost exclusively served as a forum for conversation among industry professionals.

“Bringing in outside chefs is wonderful to engage in conversation, but there’s also the opportunity to allow them to present their food and serve our general public,” Traud said.

That change is one reason Visit Philadelphia is co-sponsoring the event, financially and with the full force of its marketing channels. Chief communications officer Alethia Calbeck said Visit Philadelphia has always been a champion of the Philly Chef Conference under the Drexel banner, but leapt at the chance to throw its weight behind this new entity.

“When we look at motivations to travel to Philadelphia, our culinary scene always ranks as one of the top drivers ... The Chef Conference expanding and opening up to consumers as well really set up a nice opportunity for us,” Calbeck said. “Knowing that Philly can stand as this convener of both national and global culinary talent and become a place where people talk about what’s next in food — that’s an exciting proposition to be able to offer as part of the visitor experience here.”

The tourism organization sees the new conference as a “destination-defining opportunity,” Calbeck said. “There really isn’t a comparison to any other event in the food space.”

Esquire editor Jeff Gordinier, who has appeared at the Philly Chef Conference and will appear at the Chef Conference, agreed the event is unique.

“There are many food conferences. For some reason, this one stands out. People enjoy it. And believe it or not, that’s rare,” Gordinier said. “Part of the reason that’s true is because the Philadelphia food scene itself is so exciting.”

Gordinier also cited Traud’s knack for organizing forward-looking panel discussions. “There are a lot of conferences that look backward or embrace a kind of stasis — they bring in chefs who are extremely well-known but represent the establishment. And this conference brings in some of those chefs, but it also brings in folks who represent the cutting edge,” he said.

While the Chef Conference is technically brand-new, you can expect that tradition to continue in its programming. Traud polls industry contacts throughout the year about who they’d like to see speak and what topics they’re interested in. He’s still finalizing details, but he has settled on three main panels for 2024: equality in the bar and beverage industry, motherhood in the restaurant industry, and sobriety in the restaurant industry.

“That’s the beauty of this conference. It’s always a challenge for me to put together this puzzle, collect all these pieces and topics, and see how they all fit and how it all comes together,” he said.

Ticket sales for the Chef Conference start Dec. 1-4 for previous attendees. They’ll be available to the public starting Dec. 5 at www.thechefconference.com.