ATE is much more than a company, it is about celebrating people & brands that embody the purest passion for their craft. Rob’s passion in life (aside from his family) is the culinary arts. It has always been a vivid source of imagination, growth, inquisitiveness and nourishment over a 20+ year career. ATE is the culmination of Rob’s creative spirit, love and appreciation of the culinary arts and the romance of “all things epicurean.”
Chef Corliss was a 1988 cum laude graduate from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.
His culinary career began at the renowned Mobil 5-Star, 5-Diamond Williamsburg Inn located in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. The historic resort is the premier venue for international cuisine, dignitaries, Heads of State and world Summit meetings. Chef Corliss received the prestigious Chef of The Year and President’s award in 1993 from the Virginia Chefs Association. He also garnered numerous gold medals in ACF sanctioned culinary shows and was the cookbook liaison and contributing writer for Culinary Secrets of Great Virginia Chefs, a 1995 Rutledge Hill Press Cookbook. His community and professional involvement included: hosting culinary lectures and demonstrations for various organizations, participating/teaching in high school culinary programs, live television shows, Secretary of the ACF Virginia Chefs Association and running a personal catering business. Chef Corliss was also part of a 30 person culinary team sent to Russia on a cross-cultural educational exchange in 1991.
Upon departing from an 8-year tenure at the Williamsburg Inn, Chef Corliss accepted his first Executive Chef position at the exclusive White Hart Inn located in Salisbury, Connecticut. During his tenure Chef Corliss was honored at an event at the fabled James Beard House as a guest chef at and received culinary accolades from the New York Times. His community involvement included: teaching in local junior high schools.
His next tour of duty was as Executive Chef for the 4-Diamond, Conde Nast Traveler Gold List resort, Spring Creek Ranch located in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. During his tenure The Granary restaurant received the prestigious DiRona Award from 1997-2000. This was the first time a restaurant in Wyoming received this honor. Chef Corliss was honored as a guest chef as part of America’s Best Hotel Chefs series at the James Beard House in 1999. This marked the first time a chef/restaurant in Wyoming received this honor. His community and professional involvement included: host of the 5th largest wine auction in America and President of the ACF Wyoming Chefs Association. In 1998 chef Corliss had the privilege of being selected to open (from construction to fruition) the first Aman Hotel property in North America. The hotel was Amangani, located in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This was a partnership with Spring Creek Ranch, where chef Corliss served as Executive Chef for both properties.
In 1998 chef Corliss proudly received one of the industry’s highest accolades with induction into the Resort Food Executives Committee (RFEC). The RFEC is comprised of Executive Chefs from North America’s top resort hotels, with its mission focused solely on the continuing education of fellow culinarians.
In 2000 chef Corliss’s career path led him to the Executive Chef position at one of Florida’s premier private clubs – Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club. His new appointment was followed with his third invitation from The James Beard Foundation. Chef Corliss was 1 of 65 American chefs selected to participate in a three-day celebrity chef event /culinary program at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Upon returning from the Olympics, he had articles, detailing the experience, published in the National Culinary Review and Johnson & Wales magazine.
Later in 2002, Chef Corliss returned to the resort hotel world and accepted his first international Executive Chef position at the celebrated Hotel Palmilla located in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico. Conde Nast Traveler ranked Pamilla as one of the world’s top 25 resort hotels and top 10 Latin America Hotels & Resorts. Travel & Leisure ranked Palmilla in the top 25 World’s Best List.
Rob wanted to round out his career and applied his vast skill set to foodservice marketing – joining Noble; a leading food marketing agency, as Corporate Executive Chef in 2003, focusing on national accounts & new product innovation. His client experience was with MasterFoodServices, PepsiCo, Tyson, CH Guenther, Frito Lay, Otis Spunkmeyer, Burger King, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Wendy’s to name a few.
He later joined the Marlin Network in 2006; launching & serving as Vice President for Food IQ. Food IQ was a dynamic, creative insights/culinary group that focused on the consumer and strategically translated this across the entire client food terrain. In this role Chef Corliss oversaw all aspects of culinary/consumer-trend insights operations for the company; accentuating and building our client’s brands and growing this new division. His client experience was with Nestle, Checkers/Rally’s, Denny’s, Mission Retail, Mission Foodservice, Torani, Splenda, Daisy Brand Cottage Cheese.
Today, as founder of ATE, you will find Chef Corliss passionately creating the next big strategic culinary idea for foodservice agencies, manufacturers, restaurants & independent start-ups. ATE’s focus on flavor lends culinary expertise to client ideations, menu & recipe development, food tours and food styling. Rob has written for leading national trade publications and ben featured on radio, TV and videos. Rob also loves rolling up his sleeves working alongside the farmers, community & schools of Missouri, establishing localized sustainability/health & wellness programs. He is quite active with the school districts/community, perpetually teaching our kids a connection to their food, environment & wellness. Rob serves, in a volunteer role, as the Executive Chef of Wellness for the Nixa School District and also serves on SHAC (the School Health Advisory Council). He is also on the board of SUAC (Springfield Urban Agriculture Coalition) and has helped create thriving garden-culinary programs throughout the Springfield, Missouri area.