Paul J. Kenny

Paul Kenny grew up primarily in suburban New York. His dad was a college dean at Pace University and his mom taught junior high and then college mathematics. His dad had a doctorate in rhetoric and his mother had a masters in mathematics. With this “right brain – left brain conflict” in his genetics the author’s biggest complaint was that “while brains ran in the family it was unfair that when it came to him they walked”.

After finishing business school he started

his career with General Foods Corporation in

White Plains New York and married the love of his life Susan Herbert Kenny. Life as a corporate nomad started with 5 years in New York then moved him to California, then to Delaware and finally to Memphis Tennessee. It was sort of like right coast, left coast, right coast and then the middle of America. Through these moving years his daughter Jennifer was born in California and then son Brian was born in Delaware. Susan decided that moving was fine for two, but she wanted her children growing up in one place. Hence what was planned to be a six month stint in Memphis has led to over 25 years and counting.

This personal and career background has been a perfect lead into Supper Clubs. His parents loved to entertain at dinner parties and moving quite often led to using socializing over a meal as a way to meet new friends in new places. Hence, Paul and Susan have been in all types of supper clubs for over 30 years. There have been big clubs, small clubs and everything in between. Along the way they have had a lot of great meals, made a lot of mistakes, but most importantly made many great friends.

Paul’s career in the food business has also been a cornerstone. As General Foods morphed into to Kraft Foods his career settled into over 20 years with Kraft Food Ingredients. KFI was a small company within Kraft focused on food ingredients. This small company within a large company allowed the author to have stints in finance, sales, marketing and operations in both domestic and international markets. The author led the marketing team at KFI for years. Technology was a key competitive advantage for KFI and the marketing and sales team used Culinary as a way to explain that advantage. This allowed the author to work with a great team of chefs, travel the world, experience great cuisines and then bring ideas back to his neighborhood supper club.

Everyone likes to socialize over a meal especially the author. Whether you are using Supper Clubs to make new friends or getting together with old friends, good food along with good wine leads to good times.