Woody Back

Years of Participation

Chef Woody Back launched his career in the hospitality industry as a host, server and bartender in New York restaurants. Those positions coupled with a household understanding of Southern cooking traditions fueled Back’s passion for the food business and inspired his career trajectory. Back graduated from Johnson & Wales University College of Culinary Arts and immediately following became the sous chef at Havana in Norfolk, Virginia: a fine dining restaurant, lauded for its Cuban-American flavors, where he stayed for eight years. Back climbed the kitchen ranks to executive chef and was then offered the opportunity to join Coastal Grill on Virginia Beach as chef de cuisine. Family ties lead Back to Georgia where he joined Tom Colicchio at Craft (Atlanta), and later Linton Hopkins at Holeman and Finch, and Restaurant Eugene. Now, as the executive chef at Table & Main (Roswell) and the newly-opened Coalition Food and Beverage (Alpharetta), chef Woody Back serves as a role model for responsible food sourcing and agricultural sustainability. Back is the President of the Roswell Farmers and Artisan Market, and an active member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and The James Beard Foundation, debuting his skills at the prestigious James Beard House in the fall of 2016. For more about chef Back, Table & Main, and Coalition Food and Beverage please visit www.ROHospitality.com.