Laurent Empereur, was born and raised in the French Alps in a small town called Bourg-Saint-Maurice. By the age of 13 he enlisted in cooking school and spent the next seven years learning the craft at school, and in various high-end restaurants and hotels in France.

Over the past 25 years Laurent has honed his skills working in Michelin stars restaurants, castles in the UK, and farm to table establishments, starting at Peter Hoffman's (largely regarded as the chef that started the whole movement here in the US) Savoy Restaurant in Soho, NYC, back in 2001.

His love for food and cooking came into play in 2017 when he started thinking about hiking the Appalachian trail and reconnecting with the Great Outdoors. After researching what people ate on long distance hiking trips it became clear to him that his only option was bringing his own food. A little more research naturally brought him to dehydration so, he bought a dehydrator and got to work.