Chef Alan Fairhurst is Senior Executive Chef at Scoma's, San Francisco, where he has cooked since 1999. In addition to his duties as Chef, he is involved in the creation and launch of Scoma's new all natural seafood cakes (www.scomasretailfoods.com). He is a graduate of the California Culinary Academy and a member of the San Francisco Professional Food Society. Prior to joining Scoma's, Chef Fairhurst cooked with Michel Richard and Alain Giraurd at Citrus in Los Angeles and with Carlo Middione at San Francisco's Vivande Porta Via.

Chef Fairhurst's family has been involved in the food and hospitality industries since the mid-1800s when they first started their coffee farms in Guatemala, Central America. The family still owns and operates the coffee farms, along with a hotel opened more than 100 years ago. Born in Southern California, but raised in Guatemala, Chef Fairhurst credits his grandmother for instilling in him a deep love of food and conviviality. His grandmother was the consummate hostess and recognized in him a talent that she nurtured with her vast knowledge of all things 'food.'

A San Francisco resident, Chef Fairhurst is an avid hiker, Alpine skier and children's soccer coach, when he's not cooking.

Steeped with a family tradition of quality and service, San Francisco's most popular and venerable seafood restaurant first opened in 1965, when brothers Al and Joseph Scoma took over a six-table coffee shop to serve fishermen on the wharf. Using their mother's recipe collection, the Scoma brothers' humble café became so popular that today it serves more than 400,000 locals and visitors annually.