Chef Jason Boniface, Cob & Pen
Born right outside Boston, Massachusetts, Executive Chef Jason Boniface grew up in New Hampshire. As the third-generation chef in his family, Jason is a true lifer in the restaurant industry. After high school he attended culinary school in New Hampshire where he graduated top of his class. Post culinary school Jason traveled all over the United States, cooking everywhere he went and taking in all the culinary knowledge available from wherever he visited. After about 5 years of consistent travel he came back to his roots in the Boston area where he started working for celebrity chefs Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonette. Under their mentorship, he learned all about farm to table cuisine, master butchering, charcuterie, and head to tail cooking. After many years of working alongside them, Jason decided he had enough of the cold New England winters and decided to move to Florida where he had a good core group of friends. He spent almost 7 years as the Executive Chef of Red Door striving to make his cuisine out of the box and fun to eat. In September of 2019, Jason made the decision to leave Red Door to join the amazing team at Cob & Pen. With a new environment came the ability to put a new lively spin on his already inventive culinary creations. Jason has been at Cob & Pen for over a year now, and he loves what he does and loves doing it every day of the week. More exciting things lie ahead for Jason and anyone he cooks for as he continues honing his craft and elevating his passion for food and the culinary arts.
Community Leader Karli Hughes, 4-D Engineering
My name is Karli Hughes and I have been a Lakelander my entire life. It has been a joy raising my three children in the same city that I grew up in. I have always loved the strong sense of community that Lakeland has to offer.
I am both honored and excited to be a community leader this year for Top Chef. I am thrilled to be partnered with Chef Jason Boniface of Cob & Penn, one of my favorite spots! We have a lot of fun in-store for our community and can’t wait to share it with you all! But most importantly, I am excited to raise money for a cause that will always be near and dear to my heart! Fun fact- the Achievement Academy will always be so easy for me to give back to because my daughter, Em, attended for three, wonderful years that my family cherished every minute of.
