Kaimana Chee is the owner of Chef Kaimana LLC, and the Executive Chef of Uncle’s Hawaiian Grindz, a modern Hawaiian restaurant in Fallston, MD. Over the past decade he has served as a Brand/Chef Ambassador for several companies including Sweegen (stevia), Sensegen (flavors and fragrances), Grounded (plant-based cheese) and Eat JUST (plant-based egg, lab grown meat), a cutting-edge food technology company. Chef Kaimana has traveled to over 30 countries as an advocate for the JUST and GOOD MEAT product-lines promoting sustainable, delicious and healthier food products. He has played an integral role is helping to raise over $400M in capital investments for multiple food startups.
Chef Kaimana identifies his multi-ethnic upbringing as one of the key contributing factors in developing his passion for food. Starting his professional culinary journey on a food truck a decade ago, he has since earned a collection of culinary accolades that include numerous television appearances and culinary competitions.
Background
While Chef Kaimana never attended formal culinary school, he gained experience catering large parties and Hawaiian Lu’au with his family. Food had inevitably become a passion of his, but not once did he see it as a full-fledged career opportunity. In 2007, he opened Sava’s Lunchwagon on the north shore of O’ahu serving local communities contemporary Hawaiian food. In 2008, he moved to the Washington, D.C. region and worked in several positions at an international development organization. Chef Kaimana soon became a mainstay working his way up to Director of IT Training and Continual Service Improvement. To engage his passion, he opened a catering company, Kaimana’s Katering and a few years later, began his tenure as a resident chef instructor at one of Washington D.C.’s premier recreational cooking schools, CulinAerie.
In 2014, Chef Kaimana experienced continued success when he appeared on Season 4 of Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games in which he was featured as a chef contestant and performed an original song. In May 2015, he was selected as Macy’s featured chef of the Cherry Blossom Festival and a few months later competed at the National Museum of the American Indian’s (NMAI) Iron Chef Competition. Chef Kaimana won the coveted title of the Smithsonian’s NMAI Native Chef of the Year.
In 2011, Chef Kaimana realized his growing potential, when he auditioned and was selected as one of the top 100 home cooks in America to compete in Gordon Ramsay’s MasterChef on Fox that premiered in June 2012.
In January 2016, Chef Kaimana appeared on Alton Brown’s Cutthroat Kitchen and became the first chef in show’s history to win the competition without receiving a single sabotage from his chef opponents. He was also selected as one of 16 competitors to return to Guy’s Grocery Games in the first ever Redemption Tournament. Chef Kaimana has appeared in several national restaurant/food publications and has been featured on dozens of news programs and podcasts. Other materials can be provided on request.