Christian Rodriguez has always had a passion for food and hospitality.  

Originally from Puerto Rico, Christian moved around with his military family and the one way for his parents to keep the family connected to their culture was always through their food and cooking.

Prior to beginning his culinary career, he attended Le Cordon Bleu in Atlanta where he graduated with honors. From there, he made his debut at Five & Ten in Athens, Georgia before making the move to Atlanta and diving into the city’s food scene. As a chef for Grateful Tables Restaurant Group, he helped launch multiple concepts that all stemmed from the success of Rosebud in the Virginia Highlands. Amid his adventures with Grateful Tables, he took some time to expand his horizons and open the first Barcelona Wine Bar in the Southeast with the Barteca restaurant group where he was really able to shine in Spanish cuisine. 

Most recently, Christian was the Chef and Chief Operating Officer of High Road Ice Cream where he oversaw all operations and helped manage the exponential growth of High Road as he assisted in growing the company from 1 branded line of products to 5 brands made in-house.

He was invited to cook at the James Beard House in 2018 as a Georgia Grown chef among other appearances at the well known New York City institution. He also co-founded Georgia Together in 2020, a non-profit organization created for COVID relief during the pandemic.

He enjoys traveling, both personally and professionally, to explore and absorb other cultures and their culinary expressions.  Having been to Italy to attend the SIGEP Dolce World Expo, Ecuador with Republica Cacao to learn about the heart of making chocolate, or Tanzania to speak at the Bi-Annual Symposium for Vanilla, Christian has definitely cherished all of his experiences around the world. 

When he’s not on the go, he enjoys staying physically active, UGA football, and concocting culinary adventures for his family and friends.