We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Keith Pears. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Keith below.

Keith, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

Both my parents are Chefs and my grandparents owned a Chinese Western Cafe in Vancouver where I grew up. I spent a lot of my early years with my grandma as my parents were always working in the kitchen. My mom would often host staff parties and large family gatherings at our house. My mom did a good job at always surrounding me with food, good food. Everything was always made from scratch. Other family members often bringing over their “signature dish”

After high school I was already working full time with my mom as a prep cook/dishwasher but she really influenced me to go and complete culinary school. If I didn’t like it the least I could have is an apprenticeship in culinary.

My mom travelled to France with my dad and brought back a dvd and cookbook by a chef named Michel Bras. At the time no one was doing what he was doing. My mom let me look at the book and told me to watch the dvd once a week. I watched it many times but not once a week :) It was very influential for me. I always loved art class in high school and to me his food was art. Once I saw that I double downed on my skill set.

At the age of 25, I was still working for my mom and I was now a 1st cook. She asked me to go into my first cooking competition. I played sports all throughout high school so I was quite competitive. I couldn’t practice, it was very last minute. I read through the rules, showed up with a few dirty pans and was like, lets go. I made it through a few rounds and lost in the finals. I was addicted to that rush which me brings me to representing Canada now 20 years later at the Bocuse d’Or 2025.

My mom always brought the best out of me. She pushed me to be better.
I can really say if it wasn’t for my mom I wouldn’t have the success I have today.

Keith, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I touched a little on this in the previous question. I was pretty much born into my industry. When my mom couldn’t find a babysitter I was brought to work and left in the large soup kettles – so I’ve been told, I don’t remember this part :)

I laugh at this all the time now but it’s part of my story. When I was in my late teens. I wanted to be a pop star. I was with an agency and had my headshots done. I was taking a hip-hop dance classes, vocal lessons, an extra in tv shows & movies. Trying to pursue this boyband dream I guess my mom saw something in me and pushed me into culinary school.

I played team sports my whole childhood. Growing up I looked up to my uncle a lot who was on the high school football team, I would often try to piggyback and play with the older kids. Once I reached high school I joined the rugby team and in grade 9 I scored the winning try. Playing senior high school basketball was competitive. They were exhilarating feelings. So naturally I got into cooking competitions. The many different cooking competitions have taught me a lot. Especially the ones I have lost. You never really lose, you just get better at your craft. You learn cleanliness, orderliness, prioritizing, new techniques, professionalism, strategy. All these things make you a better cook, chef, leader and better person outside of the kitchen.

My inspirations come from every day life. My kids inspire me a lot. I want to show them that you don’t have to be the smartest person in class. You just need to love what you do, commit yourself, do things for the right reasons and good things will happen. Everything will fall into place the way its supposed to.

Once I started to really love what I do, it came for me around the age of 25. I had told myself since I was already doing this for 10 years since I started when I was 14 I mine as well double down and make this my thing. I started to take on higher positions in the kitchen, I started working in an open kitchen. I was able to interact more with my guests and I got to see how good food made them feel. It was an instant gratification that you can’t really explain but it’s a big reason why I continue to do what I do.

I truly believe that teamwork and people are everything in any business. Especially now in my career where cooking isn’t the only thing I have to think of. It’s the biggest focus for me other than the food. I have been able to build good trust and rapport with my colleagues and some now I still have on my team from when I first moved to Toronto 7 years ago and have followed me from hotel to hotel to restaurant. It’s really rewarding to witness my team live out their passion and achieve their goals with me. This means everything to me. It’s also another reason why I continue to do what I do.

I think what separates me about other chefs is I’m just a little bit different than others. I’m unique. Cooking is feeling but it is also an art. To cook is an artform, the way you move but also how the food looks and Michel Bras really taught me that. Now I look at gardens, art in museums, paintings, street art, they all inspire me to make food look different. Sometimes look abstract or look like not what it sounds like on the menu.
I look at what style of cooking I like or what I like to eat and I like it all. I like simple diner food like sandwiches, soups, burgers, I like all ethnic cultural food, I like pub food, I like eating and drinking together but I also love fine dining. I like food that takes time to create.
Being born half Chinese half Caucasian (mix of a few different things) with a stepdad who was French. Growing up in Canada being surrounded by so much diversity. I love Asian flavours so you will see that a lot in my cooking.

All my life experiences, personal hobbies and how I want my customers to feel contribute to what I serve in my restaurants but my cooking is really 3rd culture cooking, a blend of global influences.

Because I love all styles of food and all styles of dining. I see myself building my empire of restaurants & bars. At some point you will find a Keith Pears restaurant that will suit your liking.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think the biggest thing that what non creatives need to know about me particularly as a Chef or I think really all creatives, I just didn’t want to speak for everyone. Is that I can’t be restricted, micro managed or kept in a box. There is moments where things will flow and they will keep flowing and sometimes it won’t. Sometimes it’s more forced out so I’ve learnt to be more in tune with myself and my emotions so that it can flow more consistently and when I saw flow I just mean being creative with my thoughts and ideas.
Being in tune with my myself and emotions is knowing when to say something when to not. Exercise! Staying active is really key for the mind which can allow you to stay being creative. This is a non negotiable for me. I exercise 5-6 times a week.
Investing in yourself is key. Exercise is one of them. But also things like other self care regimens that help contribute to a clear mind. Whatever that is for yourself, yoga, massages, hydrotherapy, listening to podcasts, reading, meditating.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built an organic audience by staying true to myself. When I first started I wanted to share all the cool things that me and my team were doing.
As I grew in my career and my mind grew, my following grew. I wasn’t chasing followers for any particular reason. I wanted to share those cool things but also try to speak some wisdom and add value to whomever wanted to listen or watch it.

Anyone starting their social media presence I would say the same thing. Stay true to who you are. Don’t try to be someone or something you aren’t. I think the general public will find a way to relate to you if you allow them to. So be relatable. Follow the trends and act quick on the trends. When you’re posting something, think how can “this” add value to my following? How will this make them a better cook, a better travel expert, a better musician or whatever it is.
Keep things fun!
I don’t think you should be too uptight on social.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://keithpears.ca
• Instagram: @keith_pears
• Facebook: Chef Keith Pears
• Linkedin: Keith Pears
• Twitter: Chef Keith Pears

Image Credits

Owais Rafique