Mark French: Chef and Owner, Silver Fork Restaurant, Manchester

Mark started working full time as an apprentice to a German chef in Baltimore when he was 16 years old. Five years later, he moved to Kansas City, where he began a 10-year career with Hilton International, working in Toronto and Puerto Rico. He was named the executive sous-chef at the Caribe Hilton when he was 23 years old and three years later was appointed executive chef at the Ponce Hilton. At the time he was the youngest executive chef with Hilton International and received international recognition. After four years he and his wife, Melody, opened an award-winning restaurant in Ponce, Puerto Rico, which they owned and operated for 13 years before deciding to return to the United States. They moved to St. Louis, where Mark became a private chef for a professional football player for two years.

When Mark’s brother told them of the perfect space in Manchester, they jumped at the chance to once again run their own fine-dining restaurant and opened the Silver Fork in 2011.