Bruno Ponsot

Chef Instructor, International Culinary Center, Campbell Chef Bruno Ponsot was born and raised in the eastern French town of Besançon. At the age of sixteen, he entered an apprenticeship to become a chef. After two years, he graduated first of his region, he then fulfilled his military obligations in the French Navy. After that he worked in Burgundy, did a brief stint in London's Trader’s Vic’s, and then returned to France to work at the world renowned Paul Bocuse Restaurant in Lyon as a pastry chef. He then did an externship at the famed Gaston Lenôtre Patisserie in Paris, as well as a season with Alain Ducasse on the French Riviera before emigrating to Orlando, Florida where he spend the next 23 years as a chef in various successfully acclaimed French restaurants such as Le Coq Au Vin before opening his own bakery & café, Bruno’s Gourmet Kitchen, which he ran for 9 years. He is now a culinary instructor at the International Culinary Center in Campbell. Ponsot has won a total of 12 medals in American Culinary Federation sanctioned cooking competitions; 3 gold, 7 silver, 2 bronze. In his spare time, Ponsot enjoys gardening, playing guitar, tennis or the famed French card game "tarot”.