San Diego's Consortium Holdings Loses Its Director Of Kitchen Development

October 5, 2022

Chef Kat Humphus is the latest big-name chef to leave the employ of San Diego's Consortium Holdings hospitality company (The Lafayette Hotel, Ironside Fish & Oyster).

After more than three years with the company, Chef Katherine Humphus is departing Consortium Holdings, where she most recently served as the Director of Kitchen Development. Consortium hosted a going away party at the company's recently closed The Lafayette Hotel, which is in the beginning stages of aÌý$26 million, complete renovationÌýthat will add eight new bars & restaurants to the historic property. Earlier this year, CH lost its corporate executive chef Jason McLeod, who was with the company for over a decade.

Chef Kat Humphus became a San Diego culinary star when she was appointed the Executive Chef at the Cohn Restaurant Group's Ocean Beach BO-beau at age 22. Those famous BO-beau Brussel sprouts - yea that's Chef Kat's recipe. On the last day of 2014, then 26-year-old Kat left her position as pretty-much the corporate chef of the Cohn Group to become her own boss. She launched her own cooking website, Kat's Kitchen Collective, the very next day, which she later evolved into a meal kit delivery company named Savory Made Simple. After over a year of operation and more than 10,000 meals donated to Feeding America San Diego, Chef Kat closed Savory Made Simple in 2017 and joined the team at North Park's Tribute Pizza. In May 2019, Chef Kat joined Consortium Holdings and quickly worked her way up the ranks to become a culinary director of the company's many area restaurants.Ìý

In addition to being a graduate of the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and the valedictorian of her high school class, Kat is a longtime drummer, a passionate traveler, a licensed skydiver, a former-vegan, and a native San Diegan. During her early culinary career, Chef Kat worked in the kitchens of some of the most critically acclaimed restaurants in the country, including Wylie Dufresne's now-defunct WD~50 in Manhattan and Thomas Keller's The French Laundry in Napa Valley. She has been a finalist on Food Network's Beat Bobby Flay and won an episode of Guy Fieri's Guy's Grocery Games.

Chef Kat is taking a hiatus from the San Diego restaurant industry and will be moving to Northern California's Bay area to work for a company called , which provides "practical solutions & hands-on training to institutional food service programs." With Kat's departure, Consortium Holdings has plans to appoint certain chefs that have helped with R&D and training to bigger roles within the company. CH eventually intends to hire a "Heart-of-House Operations manager."

Consortium Holdings has over 20 bar & restaurants concepts around San Diego, including Neighborhood, Noble Experiment, Youngblood, Polite Provisions, El Dorado, Craft & Commerce, False Idol, three Underbelly locations, Dover Honing Co. modern barber shop (which remains closed since the beginning of the pandemic),ÌýIronside Fish & Oyster,ÌýBorn & Raised, Raised By Wolves, Morning Glory, Fortunate Son,ÌýJ & Tony's Discount Cured Meats and Negroni Warehouse,ÌýSeneca Trattoria, The Reading Club,ÌýPart Time Lover,ÌýEuropean-style La Pensione Hotel,ÌýCoronado's La Avenida Inn, and The Lafayette Hotel. The company is also working on incoming Mediterranean bar & restaurant Leila, which isÌýunder development in North Park.ÌýTafazoli also purchased the shopping plaza at 3401 Adams Avenue in Normal Heights, which sits across the street from Blind Lady AleHouse and approximately a half mile from CH's Polite Provisions. The space is currently being used as a workshop and storage area, and there is no word on additional plans for the complex.Ìý

For more information about Consortium Holdings and its concepts, visit , and follow to stay apprised of her journey.Ìý