Former CPG Executive Turned Private Chef Competes at the 35th Annual Taste of Vail

Denver, CO — March 2026

Most people who spend 15 years building consumer brands for companies like Anheuser-Busch, FanDuel, and Gymshark don't end up competing in chef showdowns on the streets of Vail. Steve Ingber isn't most people.

On April 2, 2026, Ingber — founder and executive chef of Denver-based private chef and dining company MileHighCook — competed in the Buckhead Meat Apres Tasting & Chef Competition as part of the 35th Annual Taste of Vail. The event ran from 3 to 6pm on the Streets of Vail, where more than 25 chefs cooked live in a high-energy showdown, with guests voting for their favorite dish in a People's Choice format.

From CMO to Executive Chef

The pivot from Chief Marketing Officer to working chef wasn't a midlife crisis. It was a long time coming. Ingber had always been drawn to the culinary world — he touched it throughout his marketing career — but never as a chef. When the opportunity came to formally train, he took it. He completed an abbreviated culinary program at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, California, then spent time moving across the country, absorbing food cultures and hospitality philosophies from different regions before landing in Colorado.

Colorado wasn't an accident. It was a choice. The mountains, the ski culture, the way people in resort communities host and gather — that energy matched what Ingber wanted to build. He launched MileHighCook from Denver and has spent the past three years growing it into something the private chef industry rarely sees: a real brand, not a marketplace listing.

What MileHighCook Has Built

MileHighCook operates across Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Arizona, with chefs stationed in resort and luxury communities including Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, Telluride, Park City, Jackson Hole, Sedona, and Scottsdale. The company has completed more than 500 events since launching, ranging from intimate two-person dinners to 150-person corporate retreats, and has been featured in Food & Wine, Yahoo, and Voyage Denver.

Every chef on the team is trained, background-checked, and food safety certified. Every event is fully insured. The experience is custom-crafted for each client from the first phone call.

That philosophy is what Ingber brought to Vail on April 2.

"I spent years building other people's brands. At some point I had to ask myself what I actually wanted to build. That question took me across the country and eventually into a professional kitchen. I chose Colorado because this is where that answer lives — in the mountains, in the ski culture, in the kind of hosting people do here. Taste of Vail feels like the right stage to say: this is real, this is who we are."

— Steve Ingber, Founder & Executive Chef, MileHighCook

The Buckhead Meat Apres Tasting & Chef Competition is one of the signature events of Taste of Vail, now in its 35th year. Guests attending experienced a full afternoon of tastings from more than 25 chefs alongside pours from 55-plus wineries, with the Chef Competition at the center of it all.

For anyone considering a private dining experience in Vail or the broader Colorado mountains, MileHighCook's approach is simple: listen first, cook second. No templated menus. No ego. Just the kind of food and hospitality that sticks with you.

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