In the early days, 5-year-old Clint Jolly followed his dad around the family’s northern Nevada butcher shop, angling for choice cuts and a turn with the knives.
At 13, Clint was preparing dishes for customers, and gaining the hands-on entrepreneurial experience that eventually would grow the family business into a $10 million empire.
Now, Clint is has taken his insatiable curiosity and sense of culinary adventure on the road, in an epic journey to learn why we eat the way we do.
“The world provides,” he says. “Every culture has a food story, and every person who prepares it tells their story through the food.”
Believing in the power of food to bring people together to create lasting memories, Clint explores the cultures and culinary stories of the world and brings them back home to share with fellow Nevadans. This discovery of different regions and their local edible offerings deepens his knowledge of the craft, enriching his culinary story telling abilities and allows him to create innovative, tale-telling dishes such as “The Buffalo Who Roamed Too Far,” a bison dish with South American influence.
As Clint’s star rises on the national scene, he is still dedicated to mentoring Carson High School culinary students. Under his tutelage, Carson High has won five first place victories in the state’s National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s ProStart Invitational™ restaurant management and culinary arts competition, and taken second nationally.
Award winning cuisine:
Finalist, Farm to Table Chef’s Challenge, August 2016.
Chopped Champion: Food Network’s Chopped: Impossible Restaurant Challenge, 2016.
2016 Nevada Mentor of the Year, National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s ProStart Invitational™ restaurant management and culinary arts competition celebrating Clint’s work with the Carson High School culinary program.
International Foodservice Executives Association (IFSEA) Master Certified Foodservice Executive.