Through vivid storytelling, Kevin unravels the weight of secrets and struggles, including the metaphorical and literal "embolisms" that once constrained him. This hard-earned narrative of self-discovery resonates with emotional depth and left me profoundly impacted. The Bottomless Cup is a deeply moving and masterfully crafted memoir.

- Angela Bassett, Academy Award winning actress

An eye-opening, entertaining, and unflinchingly honest memoir that reads like The Tender Bar meets The Bear

James Beard Award–winning restaurateur Kevin Boehm has opened 40 restaurants in his 30-year career. He’s worked with hard-core line cooks and celebrity chefs, suffered embarrassing setbacks, and won Michelin stars. Today, his Boka Group is one of the most successful restaurant companies in the world.

But Kevin’s path was a complicated one. A turbulent family life and a shocking revelation about his father drove him out into the world in search of a home. He found one in restaurants. Amidst other gifted and damaged people, he discovered the magic of hospitality and the thrill of a dining room on the edge of chaos.

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After opening 44 restaurants over the last 30 years, James Beard Award- winning restaurateur Kevin Boehm has become one of the world’s foremost visionaries in the field of hospitality. Kevin has a built a restaurant group based on great chefs, inspired design and enlightened hospitality.

Born in 1970, Kevin grew up in Springfield, Illinois and told his Mother at age 10 that he wanted to open his own restaurant one day.

After attending the University of Illinois for two years, Kevin dropped out and moved to the Panhandle of Florida to start working in restaurants and begin his education in hospitality. He survived homelessness, fist fights, and six months working at an amusement park before he wrote a highly embellished resume that landed him a coveted Captains position at Beach House Restaurant. After working in the industry for just a few years, he saved enough money to open a six table restaurant in 1993 in Seaside, Florida.
More than 30 years later, Kevin and his partner Rob Katz have received many honors including 20 James Beard Finalist nominations, 13 consecutive Michelin stars for Boka, and they were awarded Outstanding Restaurateurs in America in 2018.
Kevin has been a guest judge on Top Chef, played himself on "The Bear," writes for both Esquire and Fast Company, and has spoken on stages all over the globe.
He lives in Chicago and is a father of three.

The Bottomless Cup

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The Bottomless Cup .

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“The Bottomless Cup is a riveting page-turner of a memoir, overflowing with moving storytelling about life, longing, and self-discovery. Kevin Boehm’s beautiful writing provides an extra helping of smiles and gasps - especially for anyone who’s ever wondered about the ups and downs and ups of restaurant life.”
Danny Meyer, author of The New York Times Bestseller “Setting the Table.”
“Bottomless Cup is the surprising, at times harrowing, heartbreaking and compelling story behind one of our country’s most ambitious restaurant industry leaders. With clarity and self-awareness, Kevin Boehm peels back layers of childhood anguish along the winding road to self-discovery and success, revealing a side of himself otherwise carefully camouflaged by the celebrated dining rooms over which he presides.”
Gail Simmons, Food Expert, TV Host and Author of Bringing It Home
“There is nobility in hospitality—unbelievable power in pouring yourself into the restoration of others. But in this beautiful and inspiring story, Kevin Boehm shows us all how sometimes answering the call to serve is the best way to restore ourselves.”
Will Guidara, The New York Times Best selling Author and James Beard Award-Winning Restaurateur
“If you met Kevin Boehm today, you’d see the consummate front of house person polished, warm, able to anticipate and solve any problem, kind. To read this emotional, deep and entertaining book and to learn about his upbringing and the challenges he faced, is to see that none of it came naturally or easily. This is a book of hope and warmth and kindness.”
Brian Koppelman, Film Writer, Producer and Director (Rounders, Runaway Jury, Oceans Thirteen, Billions)
Who knew the starry-eyed guy I met in college would make himself into one of the country’s great restauranteurs? This is a relentlessly entertaining and very funny book about American entrepreneurship, about Chicago (now a great food town; thirty years ago, not so much), and about a man who taught himself how to live and build while working through some very confusing elements of his own origins.
Dave Eggers, author of The Eyes & the Impossible
The Bottomless Cup is a raw, powerful exploration of the exhilarating highs and dark lows of Kevin’s personal, professional and psychological lives. From shocking family secrets to frenetic restaurant scenes to poignant battles with himself and his past, Kevin is brutally honest and insightful throughout. His humanity, vulnerability and passion resonate in a way that is deeply moving and leaves the reader wanting more of this entertaining, challenging memoir.
Theo Epstein, Legendary Baseball Executive and Fortune Magazine’s #1 Leader in the world