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    Chef

    Benjamin Higgins

    Discipline
    Chef
    Portrait of Benjamin Higgins

    Portrait of Benjamin Higgins

    i. Biography

    The Climb

    Professional training at The Arizona Culinary Institute gave Benjamin Higgins a baseline in kitchen discipline before he moved into service settings that each required a different kind of control. The through-line is practical range: learn the standards, hold the line under pressure, and adapt the work to the room in front of you. Owner/operator work at a BBQ food truck in Eastern Arizona put Higgins in a format where speed, timing, and judgment are part of the daily brief.

    In that kind of service, the cook has to manage volume without losing the shape of the food, and the operation lives or dies on consistency from one order to the next. Banquet cooking at Geordie's shifted the work from individual tickets to synchronized service. That role calls for coordination, timing, and a steady hand when the kitchen is feeding many guests at once, with no room for drift between prep, pickup, and the pass.

    Working as chef on a National Geographic adventure cruise ship added another layer of logistics to the craft. A kitchen at sea has to deliver polished food while moving through a setting that is shaped by travel, storage, and constant planning around the conditions of the ship. At Christopher's at the Wrigley Mansion, Higgins now works as Chef de partie, a station role built on repetition, reliability, and attention to detail.

    The position rewards cooks who can keep their section moving cleanly while supporting the larger rhythm of service, which is where his range across truck, banquet, sea, and fine-dining settings becomes useful.

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    Recognition

    Higgins's formal credential is his training at The Arizona Culinary Institute.

    ii

    FAQ

    Asked of Benjamin

    • Where did Benjamin Higgins train or study?

      Benjamin Higgins trained at The Arizona Culinary Institute.

    The Sunday email

    Read about chefs like Benjamin Higgins in the Sunday email.

    Every Sunday we send a lead story and up to four more about the chefs, winemakers, sommeliers and hoteliers behind the restaurants, bars, wineries and hotels we cover.

    See a sample of the Sunday email

    Free. One email a week, and you can unsubscribe from any issue.