With a calvinistic disgust for poor service and a near-religious conviction that people should experience the art of fine dining, Peter Knipp has found himself a very good niche-business indeed. Founded in 1996, his company Peter Knipp Holdings Pte Ltd (PKH) now publishes the bi-monthly Cuisine and Wine Asia magazine (C&W Asia) for chefs and F&B professionals in Asia as well as the weekly-updated, award-winning website. And over eleven years, PKH has built a solid reputation in the field of kitchen consultancy the company offers complete restaurant concepts and innovative kitchen designs for operators with a vision but not the expertise. PKH also provides IT solutions through BytesAsia Pte Ltd (BytesAsia); notable clients include Unilever Food Solutions and Winterhalter.
Through it all, Knipp is best known among the culinary and wine glitterati as the towering savant who, jointly with the Singapore Tourism Board, introduced the revolutionary World Gourmet Summit (WGS) in Singapore in 1997. The annual parade of dinners and masterclasses by some of the most respected chefs in the world, wine tastings and a plethora of dizzying gastronomic activities, has become one of the most widely anticipated events on the country s social calendar. Not only has WGS won numerous accolades in Singapore, WGS has also garnered international encomiums, annually winning PKH the International Festivals & Events Association (IFEA) Pinnacle Awards.
But being on top of his game is hardly new for the German-born entrepreneur who began his ascent in the culinary world as a chef apprentice at the Berlin Hilton at 17, and worked his way across the famous kitchens in Switzerland, Canada and New York before arriving in Asia over 20 years ago. In fact, many locals still have fond memories of the former bearded executive chef of the Raffles Hotel and his Harley Davidsons before he extended his passion into the corporate world. It is an understatement to say that this is one chap who is in the know; after all he is responsible for bringing earth shattering names like Santi Santamaria, Philippe Legendre, Tetsuya Wakuda, Charlie Trotter and Jean Georges Vongerichten to this island during WGS over the past few years. With the bar raised so high, the quadri-lingual Knipp has a mammoth task to keep the food and wine scene in Singapore even more exciting in the coming years, something which he is only too keen to do. We re fast entering the fast food society, so we ve got to be careful about preserving our culinary culture. I want to show people the way to keep some of the old traditions alive. I want to show people what the true experience of wining and dining and good service can be like, Knipp says.
