Bio

After opening 40 restaurants over the last 30 years, James Beard Foundation Award-winning restaurateur Kevin Boehm has established himself as one of the world’s foremost hospitality visionaries. Kevin, along with his partner Rob Katz, has built a restaurant group based on great chefs, inspired design, and enlightened hospitality. Born in 1970, Kevin grew up in Springfield, Illinois, and told his mother at age 10 that he wanted to open his own restaurant one day. After attending the University of Illinois for two nonconsecutive years, he dropped out and moved to the Florida Panhandle to start working in restaurants and embark on a self-directed on-the-job hospitality education. After enduring homelessness, fist fights, and six months working at an amusement park, he wrote an embellished resumé that landed him a coveted captain position at Beach House Restaurant. Within a few years, he’d squirreled away enough money to open a six-table restaurant in 1993 in Seaside, Florida, the picture-perfect location where Peter Weir’s The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey, was filmed. In 1995, he opened Indigo Wine Bar in the same town, and helped cater for the movie’s dailies screenings. Restaurants in Springfield, Illinois, and Nashville, Tennessee followed. By age 30, Boehm had opened and sold four restaurants. In 2002, Boehm partnered with Rob Katz to form what in time became Boka Restaurant Group. Eventually, they would open 36 places in less than 20 years. The group’s many accolades and accomplishments include 18 James Beard Award nominations, two Food & Wine Best New Chefs, 13 consecutive Michelin Guide stars for Boka, and 6 Boka Restaurant Group restaurants on Chicago Tribune’s Top 50 list.