Executive Chef Royer Smith, a Philadelphia native, has succeeded in developing a reputation for preparing cuisine which consistently garners superb reviews from his clients. Royer has been proudly serving at the Pennsylvania Convention Center since 1996.
Chef Smith began his career in food service as a pantry man for Helen Siegel Wilson's L'Auberge, which was famous for its fifteen-year relationship with James Beard. Royer has also worked as the executive chef at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, La Terrasse and the 20th Street Café. In August of 1985, Chef Smith joined the highly regarded catering firm Frog Commissary, where, for almost eleven years, he helped make this Philadelphia institution one of the most successful and prestigious catering firms in the United States.
"I believe that in a business where budgetary concerns are of utmost importance, and an attempt to present food that's creative, interesting, and of value to the customer is also important, a contemporary chef can not do better than to look to the various ethnic cuisines of the world. That's where you will find ingredients, flavors, colors, aromas, and textures that are interesting, unusual, delicious, and almost always (surprisingly) very accessible to the American palate. That's where you will find ingredients that are relatively inexpensive. That's where you will find the inspiration for an endless supply of dishes that will keep our customers, and our staff, interested in what we're doing." --Chef Smith
In addition to being a talented chef with a passion for cuisine from around the world, Royer is an avid recreational bicyclist. He has been commuting by bicycle for almost twenty years - rain or shine - and one of the greatest vacations of his life was a three-week, 900-mile ride through the Canadian Rockies.