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18 • FOODSERVICE EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES • OCTOBER 2015 chef's corner Kurt Fleischfresser , Director of Operations, Vast; Owner, The Coach House; and Co-Founder, Western Concepts in Oklahoma City K urt Fleischfresser started cooking in the cafeteria kitchen of Oklahoma State University while attending college. He went on to become a widely renowned chef and restaurateur for 30 years. His resume reads like a history novel, with years of accolades after frst training under fne-dining French master Chef Bernard Cretier at Le Vichyssois outside of Chicago as a young chef, and then working in various restaurants in Scottsdale, Dallas and Oklahoma City. He joined The Coach House in 1987 as head chef, taking ownership of the restaurant in 2004 and continuing its legacy, which will celebrate 30 years next month. Throughout his tenure, Fleischfresser helped transform Oklahoma City, co- founding Western Concepts, a restaurant group with — at one point — 28 concepts throughout the city, including Sushi Neko, Musashi's, Wills Café, Will Rogers Theater and the Lobby Bar. He also regularly mentors up-and-coming chefs, many of whom have gone on to open their own trendy restaurants in this fast-growing and dynamic culinary destination. Fleischfresser was awarded by L'academie de Gastronomie Brillat-Savarin in 2009 for his contributions to the culinary arts. Now, as director of operations of Vast in the skyscraping Devon Tower, Fleischfresser helped develop the menu, train the staff and bring this newcomer to the next level, highlighting seasonal cuisine to showcase the best local and regional specialties just like he has for years at The Coach House and his other restaurants. FE&S;: You have so much going on with Vast, The Coach House, Western Concepts and regular travel — how do you balance it all? KF: We have a wonderful team in place at all of our concepts so I knew taking the job at Vast was the right thing to do. My son is one of the managers at The Coach House and our chef de cuisine is David Henry, who has been my right-hand man for over 15 years. My daughter is the event coordinator at Will Rogers Theater, and I get together with my partner and direc- tor of operations for Western Concepts regularly. Tuesday afternoon we meet with most of the restaurant managers and Friday I meet with The Coach House crew, but will pop in and out, so I try to stay involved. FE&S;: The Coach House has had a long run. Are you planning any changes? KF: We will be celebrating the 30th anniversary in November, so we are planning some changes to keep things interesting and exciting. Those are still in development.