Kent Buell

Kent Buell is the Culinary Director for Greener by Default, where he channels a lifelong passion for creating more sustainable and equitable food systems into practical, plant-forward culinary strategies. His dedication is rooted in a lifetime of experience, from a youth spent in the woods and on farms of the Midwest to a pivotal moment in Guatemala. There, after witnessing firsthand the human and environmental cost of the conventional food supply chain, he was driven to "find a better way." This conviction led him to co-found Tacorazon, a farm-direct restaurant where he helped build a local, organic food system from the ground up—a successful model that continues to thrive today.
With a foundation of formal French and Japanese culinary apprenticeships, Kent's long and distinguished career has been marked by a commitment to culinary excellence, including formative moments like meeting farm-to-fork pioneer Alice Waters in the mid-1980s and being invited to cook for one of Julia Child's birthday celebrations. He spent the past near 20 years in various leadership roles with Bon Appétit Management Company, where he honed his expertise in managing complex, from-scratch food systems at a national scale, and leading chef teams to find ethical food solutions. Throughout his career, he has remained a passionate advocate for small farm startups and the farmers and field hands who feed us.
Today, as Culinary Director at Greener by Default, Kent uses this wealth of hands-on experience to help other organizations navigate the shift to more plant-forward menus. He acts as a crucial bridge between high-level sustainability, wellness, or animal welfare goals and the day-to-day realities of the professional kitchen. His approach is pragmatic and flavor-focused, providing hands-on training, behavioral science, and data-driven solutions that prove plant-based dining is not only good for the planet, but good for business. He lives what he teaches, tending to a small acreage on the edge of the North Wisconsin woods, where his lifelong passion for growing and cooking continues.