PETER KEITH
Chef, Entrepreneur, Community Builder
Working his way from 14-year old dishwasher to an award-winning chef and entrepreneur in just ten years, Peter Keith has never been one to back down from a challenge. After winning international cooking competitions, working in some of Canada’s top restaurants, and earning degrees in culinary arts and business, Peter was ready for more. He followed his relentless spirit and opened “Meuwly’s” - a celebrated charcuterie brand and boutique retailer in Edmonton.
He's a passionate speaker on topics of team leadership, mental health, and business innovation, and engages in thought leadership around the future of the food industry in an ever-changing world. He’s learned how to empathize and connect with creatives, c-suite, and customers alike - and he mentors other professionals to do the same in their roles. He is also a founding member of “In the Weeds,” a nonprofit focused on mental health and wellness for restaurant workers.
Peter has quickly become a sought-after voice in Western Canada’s food and small business ecosystem and was awarded the Culinary Federation’s “Canadian Chef of the Year” and Canadian Foodservice & Hospitality’s “Top 30 Under 30” in 2020.
“If you’re serious about being a chef, you’ll have to get out of Edmonton…”
This was the advice I heard countless times, beginning the day I walked into my first restaurant job at the age of 14.
“Edmonton doesn’t have the type of kitchens where top chefs are made.”
For many years, there may have been some truth to this. Edmonton had a few standouts - Hardware Grill, Jack’s, the Convention Centre… (and I was fortunate to work at each one) but the rest of the country hadn’t discovered us yet.
Young cooks cut their teeth at one of the city’s countless chain restaurants, graduated NAIT’s acclaimed culinary program, and then many left town to play in the “big leagues.” Following my apprenticeship, I spent a fun couple of years competing in international culinary events such as the IKA Culinary Olympics, I packed up and moved to Vancouver.
I was eager to experience life in one of the world’s most exciting cities, and ready to learn from some of the country’s top chefs. My time in YVR was full of growth, challenge, and discovery. I fell in love with the ocean, the lifestyle, and the bustling food scene. However, I eventually realized that Edmonton wasn’t finished with me yet.
Realizing that there is an “expiry date” to the career-span of a line cook, I came back to Alberta in 2014 to figure out my path. I began a University degree, hoping to combine my love of food and restaurants with some formal business acumen. I took stock of the city I grew up in, and began to notice how much had changed in the short time I’d been away - award-winning restaurants were popping up, the farmer’s markets were booming… Edmonton’s mainstream food community was suddenly talking about Kombucha, Foraging, Craft Beer (only a few years behind the rest of the world) and even charcuterie.
It was around this time that I realized, it was up to us to shape Edmonton into a city where young chefs would migrate to, instead of escape from.
That’s how Meuwly’s was born.
Glendon Tan, William Kotowicz, and I sat down for brunch at Little Brick Cafe one morning in the spring of 2016. We left at least three hours later, full of excitement and a long list ideas for Edmonton’s first artisan charcuterie shop and local food market.
In its first few years, Meuwly’s has had very little to do with Edmonton’s food renaissance - rather, we’re more a product of this environment - but I hope that we’re contributing to a vibrant, sustainable system in which people better understand and appreciate the food they’re eating. I hope that we’re helping turn our city into a destination for those who want to eat the best food, learn from the best chefs and artisans, and become the best at whatever they love to do.