- Source of Wealth: Restaurants
- Age: 64
- Birth Place: Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, USA
- Nationality: American
- Date of Birth: October 14, 1955
- Occupation: Restaurateur, Chef
Thomas Keller is a chef, restaurant owner and cookbook writer who has an estimated net worth of $130 million. He earned his net worth through his many restaurant businesses, as an award winning chef, and as a renowned author of his own cookbook, “The French Laundry Cookbook. He was also a consultant for the films Spanglish and Pixar’s Ratatouille.
Keller was born on Thomas Keller in Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California. His mother, who was a restaurateur, would occasionally ask for help from Keller whenever her cook got sick. After his parents divorced four years later, the family moved East and then settled in Palm Beach, Florida. As a teenager, Keller worked as a dishwasher at the Palm Beach Yacht Club before rising as a cook. That is when he discovered his passion for cooking while perfecting the hollandaise sauce (formerly known as Dutch sauce).
Thomas Keller worked in Rhode Island during summers. It was there where he was discovered by by French-born Master Chef Roland Henin and he was assigned to cook meals for the staff of The Dunes Club. Because of Henin, he was able to learn the fundamentals of classical French cooking.
Keller went on to work for various restaurants until he was able to put up The French Laundry in California. Since then, he has won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997. His restaurant was also a long-time winner in the annual Restaurant Magazine list of the Top 50 Restaurants of the World.