A fourth-generation Puget Sound native, Kurt Beecher Dammeier is an entrepreneur, investor, chef, restaurateur, food manufacturer, retailer, and educator. He is the owner and head chef of Sugar Mountain, a creative food company that is home to extraordinary restaurants and food brands including the award-winning Beecher’s Handmade Cheese and The Butcher’s Table, one of the nation’s top steakhouses. Kurt has also spent over ten years entrenched in the American Wagyu space as the owner and operator of Sugar Mountain Livestock, home to a suite of progressive, high-end American Wagyu beef brands, including Mishima Reserve, WinterFrost, Watershed Ranches, and GTT. With each business, Kurt’s goal is to demonstrate how quality ingredients make for delicious meals without the use of industrial additives like food colorings, flavor enhancers, or preservatives. Beyond restaurants and retail, Kurt is effecting change in people’s eating habits through his cookbooks, Pure Flavor and Pure Food, and with The Beecher’s Foundation (501c3). In addition to promoting clean ingredients, Sugar Mountain also significantly invests in plastics and carbon reduction.