About Us

Welcome to ChefShop.com - Where Exceptional Food Begins with a Story

ChefShop.com is a specialty food retailer based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1999, ChefShop.com was one of the first content-driven e-commerce sites, blending storytelling with carefully curated selections of high-quality, hard-to-find ingredients from around the world. Since its founding, we’ve been on a mission to bring rare, artisan-crafted ingredients to cooks who care about quality and authenticity. We travel the world (and sometimes just down the road) to find producers who grow, ferment, mill, and make with purpose. At ChefShop, every product has a reason for being here—it’s been tasted, tested, and chosen with care.

We’re more than a marketplace; we’re a curated pantry. We’re here for home cooks, chefs, and anyone curious about what great food can be. Whether you’re baking with Sicilian stone-ground flour or drizzling single-estate olive oil from Tuscany, you’ll know exactly where it came from—and why it matters.

Our values are grounded in:

Curation with Integrity – Every product we carry is carefully selected for its quality, origin, and authenticity.

Connection Through Sharing – We share not just ingredients, but the stories, traditions, and recipes behind them, fostering deeper culinary understanding.

Care in Every Detail – From sustainable sourcing to personalized customer service, we approach everything we do with a genuine commitment to people, planet, and taste.

The People

Eliza Ward is a founder of ChefShop.com. Her passion for flavorful and functional foods is reflected in her commitment to sourcing exceptional products and educating consumers about their origins and uses.

Before launching ChefShop.com, Eliza worked at Microsoft as a Senior Marketing Manager before bringing her marketing expertise into the culinary world. Her dedication to quality ingredients and sustainable practices has made ChefShop.com a trusted destination for food enthusiasts seeking unique pantry staples.

Today, Eliza manages the Seattle storefront and oversees the company’s daily operations, strategic business development and partnerships, marketing, sales channels, product selection, and overall financial and risk strategy.

Tim is a founder of ChefShop.com. Before launching the site in 1999, Tim created a food content site for MSN, which laid the foundation for ChefShop.com. With a background in photography and film production, he previously produced children’s educational videos, including "Earth to Table" in 1995, focused on local production and healthy eating. This project inspired his mission to connect consumers with artisan food producers, farmers and food experts.

Today, Tim is the driving force behind the ChefShop newsletter and website, crafting engaging written content and sharing insights and stories about ingredients like honey and olive oil. He manages website development and is responsible for the principal photography that visually showcases ChefShop’s unique products and recipes. Tim’s work ensures the brand’s voice remains consistent, authentic, and engaging.