Meet Feast Your Eyes’ New Executive Chef: Mason Snyder

A New Chapter of Culinary Excellence Has Arrived with a Focus on Embracing Pennsylvania’s Rich Agricultural Heritage 

(Photo by: Abhi Sarkar Photography) Chef Mason poses for a photo with our new Raclette Station at our Radnor Hunt Launch Party

Feast Your Eyes is excited to welcome our new Executive Chef Mason Snyder to team Feast. Mason is a classically trained chef with over a decade of kitchen experience from Pennsylvania to Prague. Chef Mason is in his element both in the kitchen and out on the farm, where he believes the best ingredients live. His passion for farm freshness and the natural beauty of the bounty while working with local farms is driving innovation in food design at Feast. 

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to grow the culinary brigade at Feast while expanding our relationships with local Pennsylvania farms. I truly believe Pennsylvania and the region grow some of the best ingredients in the country, and we should be proud of it and show it off. My goal is for Feast to source 30% of our ingredients locally within the next year,” says Mason.  

Chef Mason and Anthony Lehman (CEO & Owner of Feast) pose for a photo with Dan Lurie, Farm Manager for Erdenheim Farm, our current local provider for tomatoes and micro-greens.

Chef Mason’s culinary journey is like no other.  

It began young on Pennsylvania farms, eating fruit and vegetables off the land. While attending high school, Mason worked as a cook every night after school at Smugglers Notch Ski Resort. After graduating high school, Mason served with the US Air Force as an intelligence analyst for 12 years. Never losing his love for food, Chef Mason graduated from the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts and set off to apprentice in critically acclaimed Michelin-starred and James Beard awarded restaurants both in the US and internationally. He worked in McCrady’s Tavern under Chef Orlando Pagan, a chef who had earned his Michelin stars at the Village Pub in San Francisco. Mason also gained experience working with Chef Roman Kintler of La Finestra in Cucina in Prague, and at Philadelphia’s Fork and a.kitchen, where he grew his food design portfolio under the guidance of Chef Eli Collins and honed his business acumen with Ellen Yin and Chef Luke Eschbach.

Left: Chef Mason with Chef Roman Kintler of La Finestra in Cucina. Right Chef Mason during his days in the Air Force.

“Chef Pagan set me off on the right path when I returned to the culinary world after being in the Air Force and taking a break from cooking. His guidance and knowledge has stuck with me. Chef Kintler helped me discover that being a chef can be fun, even with its time demands. If you work with the right team, develop your own style, and source the right ingredients everything will fall into place,” says Mason. 

While the kitchen is Chef Mason’s home, the outdoors is his culinary playground. Sourcing local ingredients from local small family farms are his driving force in his food designs. For four years, Mason ran his own catering business, The Cowboy Chef, to make food local, support the local economy, and put the ownership back into farms.  

Mason stepped further into his natural element when he joined Chefs vs. Wild, a TV show where world-class chefs are dropped into the wilderness to create gourmet meals from foraged ingredients. He called it one of his biggest accomplishments in his professional career. “I loved being able to share the story of food – whether it's the origin of ingredients, to the elements and environments plants must grow in,” says Mason. 

Left: Chef Mason during his days of owning and operating The Cowboy Chef. Right : Promotional graphic for Chefs vs Wild.

Now as part of the Feast experience, Chef Mason is embracing his Pennsylvania roots, his love of local ingredients, and his extensive kitchen experience to drive Feast’s innovation in food design. 

“Chef Mason’s leadership has been nothing short of impressive, demonstrating a profound grasp of catering as both an art and a business. His dedication to sourcing thirty percent of Feast’s local ingredients in a year and exciting people about their food experience continues Feast’s high standards and innovative culinary styles,” says Anthony Lehman, CEO & Owner of Feast Your Eyes.  

And we need to mention Chef Mason was a professional rodeo athlete for nearly six years. Get to know more about Chef Mason and our culinary team as you enjoy our food at your next event. You will love the food and our team as much as we do.  

Chef Mason during his days as a professional rodeo athlete