Who Hires The White House Executive Chef? (It's Not The President)

There are not many jobs more stressful than being a professional chef, and there is probably no chef more stressed than the executive chef of the White House, who is under pressure to deliver food to the most notable clientele of them all: the First Family of the United States and their guests. According to famously jacked White House chef Andre Rush, the role required complete focus, attention to detail, and a total lack of complacency. As far as being under pressure at work, it doesn't get much harder. So who actually decides which chef gets to shoulder the burden to make lunch for the President?

It's not the President's job: It's the First Lady's. In 2005, Laura Bush made history by naming Cristeta Comerford as the first female executive chef of the White House. Comerford was then rehired by Michelle Obama during the Obama Administration, and continued in the role throughout the Trump and Biden administrations until her retirement in 2024. Her assistant Tommy Kurpradit was named acting executive chef, a position he still holds today, as Melania Trump has still not named an official successor, according to the White House Historical Association. This First Lady tradition was started back in 1961, when Jacqueline Kennedy named Rene Verdon the first executive chef. Since then, all First Ladies except for Melania Trump have followed in Jackie's footsteps by determining who is head of food for the heads of state.

Cooking and preparing food for the first family is serious business, and might be even harder than you think. There are a plethora of weird rules, and every detail must be scrutinized if a White House chef wants to keep their job. Every morsel of food, from extravagant dinners to a handful of grapes in a bowl, must be screened and approved by the cooking staff; no outside food, even a stick of gum, can be handed over if it hasn't been given a rigorous test to make sure it's President-worthy. The executive chef also has an expansive team behind them, complete with sous chefs, kitchen assistants, prep workers, and servers that are all on call 24/7 to make sure there are no rumbly tummies in the Oval Office. 

Despite all these pressures and the need for perfectionism, executive chefs tend to have long stints in the White House. Since 1961, only seven chefs have held the honor. By the time Comerford retired, she had served five administrations across three decades. Their secret? Resilience, talent, and expertise to be sure, but also: the food doesn't have to be that good. As long as the President is far from hungry, executive chefs are doing their job right, especially since an unsatisfied First Lady will get them out of a job quicker than you can say, "Hail to the Chief."