Joe Goetze

Managing Partner, Culinary & Bakery

Joe Goetze’s official title is managing partner, culinary & bakery, but in his restaurants he’s simply known to everyone as Chef Joe. He’s the man responsible for all of the innovative food and leading the culinary teams across Farmers Restaurant Group (FRG). Chef Joe’s extensive experience includes a degree from the Culinary Institute of America, and years spent developing menus and running kitchens at notable restaurants around the country.

Chef Joe started working with Mike V and Dan in 1997 and joined their VSAG team in 2004, where he’s worked on a variety of successful ventures, becoming an integral part of FRG in 2008. He aims for authenticity in every recipe and strives to create, as he likes to put it, “exactly what people are expecting, but better.”

Aside from enjoying the creative experience of menu development for each restaurant, Chef Joe is passionate about delicious, fresh baked bread. “The bread we are baking is fantastic,” he says. At approximately 118,000 loaves per year, that is a lot of delicious bread, all made with flour primarily sourced from the state-owned North Dakota Mill.