TITLE: executive chef, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
RESIDENCE: Hernando, Miss.
BIRTH DATE: Nov. 18, 1970
HOMETOWN: Birmingham, Ala. 
EDUCATION: attended Sullivan University, Louisville, Ky.; certified executive chef and dietary manager, American Culinary Federation
PERSONAL: married, three children
CAREER HIGHLIGHT: winning three gold medals at ACF competitions

The thought of “hospital food” would lead few chefs to envision what Miles McMath has helped create within the foodservice program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Combining a country boy’s love of farm-fresh foods with deep experience amassed in dining rooms such as Brennan’s in New Orleans and The Peabody hotel in Memphis, McMath has brought flair, quality and variety to the 2,000 meals served daily at the legendary cancer research hospital.


A former owner-operator of three of his own Memphis-area restaurants — Timbeaux’s, The Boiling Point and Junior’s — McMath was wary of “cooking hospital food” when approached about the St. Jude job in 2006. But when his wife insisted the devoted father could no longer travel for work, the more normal lifestyle the job offered led him to consider it seriously. The cafeteria and kitchen were undergoing a $15 million renovation, and the directors wanted to give the food quality a similar overhaul. Given the chance to write St. Jude’s menus from scratch, McMath signed on for the most rewarding challenge of his life.


What’s so significantly different about St. Jude’s food compared to other hospitals?


For one, 95 percent of the meals we sell are retail. We have only 60 beds, so most of our meals are for outpatients, staff and family.


We have multiple stations around the cafeteria that serve food from different regions of the world. We smoke real barbecue, we have guys rolling sushi, a top-notch pastry chef, a Mediterranean station, a pizza station, a Weight Watchers station, and some of those stations change weekly.


We’re also an [American Culinary Federation]-approved apprenticeship facility, which says a lot about the cooking we’re doing here.


How has the job shaped your view of what hospital food should be?


I look at it this way: Just because somebody has a bad knee doesn’t mean you should serve him bad food. The food here actually was already good, but we wanted to raise it to another level. There was nothing keeping us from making restaurant-quality food for visitors to the hospital and trying to do the same for the kids, even with their diet restrictions. And since we have patients coming from around the world, meeting the standards for all their different ethnic diets really makes it challenging.


Do you ever miss working in typical restaurants?


It was a great experience to work in so many different places and have my own restaurants. But the hours! I’m so passionate about food and cooking that I would do it to the extreme, and that would not be healthy for my family. This is the best quality of life I’ve ever had while working. I’m home by 6, off most weekends, and I can actually take vacations. When I do work longer hours, my wife looks at the mission of what we’re doing here, and she’s more forgiving than if I were out there doing it just for dollars.


How did the weekly farmers market get started at the hospital?


We source a lot of local produce here, and we wondered how we could extend that. We have 15 different local producers who come by every Friday. The hospital has a staff of 700 people who spend a lot of time at work. So to be able to walk out of your job and go to a farmers market right there, we think that’s a pretty good thing.


You also grow a great deal of produce on-site, right?


We have a lot of ideas here, and I asked if there was any way we could grow our own herbs outside K-Café, and next thing I know, it’s happening. After that I wondered if we could grow vegetables on the rooftop. I was told that was out of the question, but then somehow my retail manager, Mary Schuchaskie, came up with 2 acres of ground across the road [in downtown Memphis]. As word spread about what we were doing, a company donated materials for 24 raised beds. We passed the hat for money to get it started, and we got $1,100. Then we asked employees to donate tools, and you couldn’t believe what they dropped off.


I understand you’ve helped train former jail inmates to cook.


I really wanted to start a culinary school for homeless people and ex-offenders, but it hasn’t happened yet. I realized that a lot of the best people I’ve worked with in kitchens had been in trouble or had tough times growing up. And even though some of the kids I’ve worked with have come from some of the best culinary schools in the world, they’re usually no match for the other guys. So I have done some training, but I’d like to do more.


You clearly believe working in health care foodservice is a viable alternative to traditional restaurants. How do you spread that message to other chefs?


There’s definitely a better, different perception of hospital foodservice today. I’d say every hospital in Memphis is staffed with culinary grads now, and it wasn’t like that 15 years ago. Nothing I’ve done has been more rewarding than what I’m doing now to care for our patients through food, so I tell people this has become a dream job.