Ann Kim

Ann Kim Speaker Biography

Ann Kim is the Chef/Owner of Pizzeria Lola, Hello Pizza and Young Joni, all located in Minneapolis. As a Korean immigrant raised in Apple Valley, Minnesota, Ann attributes her culinary palate and love of cooking to her mother and grandmother, from whom she learned to make traditional Korean staples such as doenjang, gochujang and kimchi.

In 2010 Ann opened Pizzeria Lola, a wood-fire pizzeria that has been lauded both locally and nationally. Her second restaurant, Hello Pizza, was inspired by her college days in New York City, where sustenance came in the form of a daily slice.

Young Joni, which debuted in 2016, is known for its eclectic, genre-bending menu of signature pizzas and other wood-fired dishes. In 2017, the Minneapolis Star Tribune named Young Joni as Restaurant of the Year, and it has since topped numerous “best of” lists, including GQ's Best New Restaurants in America and Esquire’s Best Bars in America. In 2019, Ann became the first woman and person of color from Minneapolis to receive the prestigious James Beard Award for “Best Chef Midwest," which celebrated her vision and cookery at Young Joni.

In September 2022, Chef Ann was featured on Netflix's Chef's Table: Pizza (season 7, episode 3). The episode explores Ann's story, from immigrating to the United States in the late 1970s to leaving her acting career and opening restaurants to winning the James Beard Award in 2019. The episode is now streaming on Netflix.

In addition to her role as Chef/Owner of three distinctive Minneapolis-based restaurants, Ann drives the culinary vision for Kyndred Hearth, the flagship restaurant at Omni Viking Lakes Hotel, a partnership between Omni Hotels and the Minnesota Vikings.

Chef Kim’s work has been widely featured in news outlets such as The New York Times, Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, Forbes, Food & Wine, Wall Street Journal, Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” CBS Saturday’s “The Dish" and "The Splendid Table.”