Michael Brunton is our new Executive Chef. He grew up in Central Florida (Satellite Beach and Orlando) where he met his bride Leanne of 23 years. They have raised two sons, Matthew and Andrew, who are both in college.
Michael’s passion for food and cooking began in High School where he learned everything he could from his Mom. He even enjoyed opening up the cookbooks to try something new, especially if he had never seen or heard of it before. They did not get to go out to restaurants very often.
When he found out he could do this for a living, he enrolled at Johnson and Wales University to get a degree in Culinary Arts. After graduating Magna Cum Laude, he continued on at the University of Central Florida to earn a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management and then an MBA.
Chef Michael has worked in fine dining steak houses, but really found his calling in banquet style cooking at First Baptist Church of Orlando where he often cooked for 800 to 1000 guests. Upon moving to Asheville, he joined the team at Ridgecrest Conference Center, where he cooked for all ages, sometimes over 2000 guests three times a day.
He is happy to continue to use his culinary experience and skills to serve residents throughout the entire campus along with his great teammates at Deerfield. He is looking forward to being here for many years to come.