My name is Matthew Moyer; I’ve cooked for tens of thousands of people. The restaurant kitchens that I’ve operated have cooked for hundreds of thousands of guests. In the world of regional brewpub groups, food is fundamental; however, beer is king. In the world of professional chefs, it’s about cookbooks, online video presence, and TV shows. Since I was never involved with TV shows or wrote a cookbook, you won’t find much about my accomplishments online. Let me further introduce myself and a few of the reasons I’m writing this.
I was an important part of the fledgling brewpub segment of American restaurants. I trained management staff for 15 brewpubs across America and a few other pubs along the way. The restaurants I had been involved in were hugely popular and considered successful leaders in a notoriously tough business.
From 1996-1999, I was responsible for training the management staff in kitchen operations at John Harvard’s Brew House (14 locations). Our store in Roswell, Georgia, was the training store—the opening management staff of 10 restaurants trained in kitchen operations under me. I was part of establishing the culinary program that operated John Harvard’s Brew House for 30 years.
From 1999 to 2018, I was the Executive Chef of The Great Dane Pub and Brewing Company in Wisconsin (five locations). During my time as the Executive Chef, with the fantastic team of The Great Dane’s chefs, brewers, staff, and proprietors, we expanded from one location to five award-winning brewpubs. This made us the largest operating brewpub group in the state and one of the largest in America. (As of 2024, The Great Dane has been in business for 30 years and has expanded to Japan.)
In my 35-plus years of building, staffing, and operating restaurants, I have built on proven systems and developed a simplified teachable approach. After opening a new pub just weeks before the Covid pandemic, dealing with my demons, and seeing the entire industry get tossed on its head. I have decided to start The Kitchen System Blog. Hopefully, some of what is here can help fix what has happened to the industry.
I will show you how to build the systems in some of America’s most successful brewpubs. I will show you how to do it simply, saving you time and money. We are going to take a journey from concept to reality. I hope to teach you a few things and share some insight on operating a restaurant kitchen. Whether you are a seasoned operator or new in the game, I plan to be a resource for you.
With that said,
Welcome, and I am honored to have you here. I hope you enjoy our journey together and that I can teach you something along the way.
Have a pleasant day, lead a balanced life.
Matthew Moyer – The Kitchen System Blog @ kitchensystem.org
