Dean James Max

Years of Participation

Chef Dean James Max is the chef owner of DJM Restaurants which specializes in farm to table food and beverage concepts. Chef Max has been in the food industry all his life where he started on his families small produce farm learning to grow vegetables at a young age, then getting his degree in business marketing, and after studying in Florence, Italy to return to a culinary internship with Ritz Carlton. Over the last 30 years, he has opened dozens of restaurants concepts and won all kinds of culinary awards from James Beard best chef nominations, to King of American Seafood, and wrote two cookbooks in the down time. Chef Max has produced an entourage of culinary masters who came up under him and lives proud in his legacy of culinary development of F&W Magazine Best chef winners, Top chef finalists, Hells Kitchen finalists, and successful restaurant leaders.