Jason Hernandez
Chef Jason Hernandez is a senior culinary executive with more than 25 years of experience leading menu innovation, kitchen systems, and culinary strategy for national restaurant brands, foodservice organizations, and commodity boards. His career spans high-impact leadership roles across multi-unit and legacy brands where culinary excellence directly supports relevance, growth, and operational performance.
As a fractional Chief Culinary Officer and Founder of Blade & Tine Culinary, Jason partners with executive teams to modernize menus, design scalable culinary platforms, and strengthen brand identity through disciplined, consumer-driven innovation. He is known for translating culinary vision into executable systems by aligning creativity with operational realities across development, sourcing, and kitchen execution.
Jason has held various senior culinary leadership roles, including Corporate Executive Chef at Ascent Hospitality, Director of Culinary at BJ’s Restaurants, and Vice President of Culinary and Kitchen Operations at Eureka!. His work has shaped iconic concepts such as St. Elmo Steak House, Harry & Izzy’s, and Burger Study, and he continues to advise top-200 restaurant groups and leading commodity boards including the National Mango Board, California Avocado Commission, Great Lakes Cheese, and Hungry Planet.
Trusted for his collaborative leadership style and strategic foresight, Jason delivers crave-worthy, scalable menus and high-performance kitchen systems, helping brands compete, evolve, and win in an increasingly complex marketplace.