Chef William King

William H.P. King
Vice President of Training & Culinary Development

Bill King has been in and around the restaurant industry his entire life.  Raised in a family in which virtually everyone was in either the restaurant, hotel or specialty foods business, the influences began early for Bill. 

During and after attending Cornell University’s School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration, Bill worked in restaurants and hotels in and around his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, in the Philadelphia area and on the Atlantic Shore. One of his first jobs was as a line cook at the original Phillip’s Crab House in Ocean City, Maryland, at that time, one of the country’s busiest and most highly regarded seafood restaurants.

After rising to the position of Sous Chef in the Sheraton Hotel organization, Bill moved to the west coast, settling in Oregon where he was named Executive Chef at Pearl St. Station in Eugene at the young age of 24.  He soon opened his own catering business, became the Executive Chef at the Aurora Colony Inn, one of Oregon’s prized locations for country dining, and moved to Portland to own and operate Savoir Faire, a French café and charcuterie rated at the top of Portland’s casual dining scene in early 1980’s. 

In 1985 Bill joined McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants to assist in the opening of the company’s fifth restaurant. In 1986, he was named Executive Chef at the Original McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant in downtown Portland.  His steady advancement from Executive Chef to Regional Senior Chef to Director of Special Projects has positioned him as Vice President of Training & Culinary Development today.  This position combines the duties of Corporate Chef with a variety of other responsibilities including development of training systems, corporate purchasing, facility design, new restaurant opening and development and oversight for the company’s more than 70 restaurants.

Throughout the years, Bill has authored the McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant Cookbook, was named Consulting Chef to the State of Oregon and served as Lead Chef to the Pacific Northwest’s Culinary Presentation at Silverado, a prestigious American Culinary Federation event in Napa Valley.  Bill was one of the founding members of the Share Our Strength organization’s Taste of the Nation fundraiser, which he co-chaired in Oregon for 10 years.  This event is now the leading fundraising event for hunger relief in the United States.  His most recent project is authoring A Chef’s Bounty, a cookbook celebrating Oregon’s culinary culture, published October 2007. Next up is the second in the Chef’s Bounty series: The Vintners Kitchen. Due in October 2008.

Over the years, Bill has been recognized with numerous culinary awards including three gold and three silver medals from the American Culinary Federation, voted on by a panel of the organization’s Certified Master Chefs. In 1987, Bill won the title of Oregon Seafood Chef of the Year and went on to become a semi-finalist in that year’s American Seafood Chef of the Year contest.

To keep his culinary skills fine-tuned in a position when managerial administrative duties occupy much of his time, Bill accepts occasional requests to prepare lavish multi-course dinners and wine pairings for private groups and charity organizations.  After more than 38 years, Bill is a culinary professional who is not only in his prime, but at the top of his game.