Speaker Profile

Ben Chapman

Founder, Kiln, Smoking Goat, Brat

Birmingham native Ben Chapman opened his first restaurant, Soho’s Smoking Goat, in 2014 without any history in food work whatsoever. He relocated to London a little over a decade ago to study History of Art. Though he didn’t graduate, the young entrepreneur opened an art gallery, promoting the work of emerging talents, including a pre-White Cube Eddie Peake. Following his time at The Courtauld, Chapman worked as a DJ, and eventually took a trip to Thailand, which ignited in him a passion for the country’s native cuisine, and became the basis of his present vocation. His wide-ranging and illustrious background undoubtedly gives him the freshness of an outsider’s perspective.