About Chef Dave Krider

Chef Dave Krider has been in the restaurant business since age 15, starting at a pizza and pasta restaurant in Long Beach. What began as a teenage job became a lifelong calling — one that took him through the United States Navy, restaurant ownership, commercial kitchen design, and more than two decades of professional catering.

Navy Foundation

In the early 1980s, Dave received formal culinary training at the San Diego Commissioned Officers' Club, United States Navy. The discipline, precision, and ability to execute at scale that he developed in the Navy became the foundation for everything that followed — a foundation that has now served him for over 40 years.

A Career Built on Versatility

After the Navy, Dave's career took him across the East Bay. He worked as Chef at the Walnut Creek Railroad Station and Mastersons (1982–1985), then as Sous Chef at Vintage House in Orinda (1985–1987). He spent a decade as a personal chef and restaurant consultant, helping others build successful kitchens and menus.

Dave's entrepreneurial spirit led him to own and operate multiple businesses in Pleasant Hill, where he has been a resident for over 30 years. He owned One Hour Cleaners for eight years and then opened Paradise City Cafe (1995–1997). He served as Executive Chef at Sugar Barge Resort on Bethel Island before launching his personal chef business, Dave's Traveling Cuisine, in 2001.

All Occasions Catering

In 2004, Dave's personal chef business evolved into All Occasions Catering — now operating as Dave's Cuisines. Over the next two decades, he built a client list of more than 75 organizations, from PG&E and Wells Fargo to the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and the City of Pleasant Hill.

Dave has served as Executive Chef at Kaiser Hospital's Diablo View Cafe in Walnut Creek (2013–2014) and ran the kitchen at Orinda Park Pool (2016–2018). He designed the kitchen for Chef Touch Commercial Kitchen in Albany — one of the largest commercial kitchens in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Haute Stuff Story

In May 2019, Dave purchased Haute Stuff Cafe in downtown Martinez — a business he had intermittently worked with for 20 years under the original owners. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Dave's shop was vandalized. The community rallied to help, but Dave refused donations, asking neighbors instead to support all downtown Martinez businesses — not just his own.

That moment captured who Dave is: a chef who puts community first.

Still Cooking

Today, Dave continues to cater events across the East Bay while partnering with Fishermen's Catch Market & Restaurant in Pittsburg, where he helped open the restaurant and design the menu, kitchen, and staffing. His 10 signature menus serve everything from corporate breakfasts to Hawaiian luaus, and every dish carries the quality and precision of a career that spans more than four decades.

Career Timeline