Kim Rothrock

Kim Rothrock has more than 20 years of experience in specialty foods and the foodservice industry.

Her passion for fine food began at age 5, baking fresh fruit pies with her grandmother--who never used a recipe or measured anything, except by eye, feel and taste. Cooking with her mother, who followed recipes with precision from the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, Kim gained an appreciation for the endless quest of discovering new tastes.

After receiving a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts from the University of Texas, Kim began her career as a store manager for a New York City based specialty food market showcasing an assortment of 200 plus cheeses.  She continued on as a buyer for the several of the most innovative specialty food retailers in Manhattan, including Balducci’s and Dean & DeLuca, launching many now well-known specialty branded food products.

Kim is a self-trained Chef, and an award winning Pastry Chef, and has put out fires for many top New York City restaurants. She traveled extensively throughout Europe during her pastry externships in Paris at Le Hotel Bristol and Laperouse restaurant intent upon learning as much about food cultures as possible. A famous restaurant critic’s review of Kim’s dessert menu stated that “each and every dessert makes you feel like a very lucky child”.

For the white tablecloth and hotel foodservice business, Kim spent 5 years building a pastry and chocolate ingredient division for a leading national specialty foodservice distributor and importer. Her product development repertoire includes hundreds of desserts, pastries, and confections as well as fine food ingredients. She has also successfully created and established several signature private label product lines now in national distribution.

Kim currently serves on advisory boards for artisan chocolate makers and frozen pastry manufacturers and is a contributing writer to confectionery and pastry trade magazines. She holds the honor of being one of the first inductees to the Institute of Culinary Education’s Alumni Hall of Achievement. In her free time, she travels extensively, searching out the newest food product trends, techniques and ingredients.