Meet Ben Kramer, the nationally celebrated chef who has helped change the culinary landscape of Western Canada.
Chef Kramer helped establish Winnipeg as one of the most vibrant food scenes in North America. He was one of the first to champion the use of local, sustainable ingredients and Ocean Wise certified fish at the dynamic Dandelion Eatery.
He then accomplished what most thought couldn’t be done: he helped found and run an institutional food services program at the University of Winnipeg that became a model of excellence, world-wide.
As the Executive Chef of Diversity Food Services, Chef Kramer championed a social enterprise approach and introduced a sustainable menu to the campus community based on the belief that everything should be made from scratch using local ingredients.
His team transformed cafeteria dining into a culinary experience of the first order. Diversity served thousands of meals a day at four on-campus restaurants and at FortWhyte Alive.
They had a large catering presence in the city and you could even find Diversity products in local grocery stores.
Chef Kramer left Diversity in August of 2015 to focus on what he finds most satisfying – working directly with individual clients to create individually crafted menus.
Kramer is innovative, outgoing and personable. You’ll have seen his recipes featured in several food magazines and books. He’s a favorite guest on Winnipeg`s live morning television show and he continues to work with a passionate commitment to sustainability and quality.
His clients have included:
The G8 Interfaith Summit, featuring a variety of vegetarian, Halal and Kosher selections
Raw Almond, a temporary restaurant on the frozen river
Table for 1200/1201 – the longest dining table in Canada
Grazing in the Field, a 5-course menu served on a dairy farm
A meeting of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where Kramer and his team served over 3,000 lunches each day
Food services at the Winnipeg Folk Festival - 3 meals a day for 4000 people, the green room, the artists lounge and all band riders.
Food security and giving back have always been a major pillars in every business he has been involved in.
Since 2014, Ben has partnered with Community Food Centres Canada and helped launch Made with Love where his team, in partnership with NorWest Co-op Community Food Centre, has produced and delivered almost 100,000 meals to some of Winnipeg’s most vulnerable.
Ben was also instrumental in gathering food from restaurants that were shutting down during the pandemic and using that food to create nutritious meals for community partners and agencies.
Whether he’s creating the menu for an intimate brunch, a private in-home dinner or a conference gathering of thousands, Chef Kramer applies the same principles– use local, sustainable, organic ingredients as much as possible with flare and imagination.
Chef Kramer and his team will collaborate with you to create a memorable small-scale gathering of friends and family, or a flawless formal banquet.
