Meet our founders

Mitch Omer

When college football star Mitch Omer walked away from a full-ride scholarship at Iowa State, his furious father told him “don’t come home.” Thus at 19 he ran up to Ely, MN, lied his way into his first kitchen job, and started cooking at age 19.

Inspired after meeting world-renowned chef Jacques Pépin, Omer fervently worked up to 3 jobs at a time, gaining priceless experience under great chefs while trying to balance a wild home life that included unfettered drug and alcohol abuse. Finally on an even keel after a proper diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder, Omer sold almost all of his possessions and (along with his wife Cyn and BFF Stevie) opened Hell’s Kitchen in May of 2002.

Sadly, Mitch passed away in 2015, but we will never (ever) forget his bigger-than-life creativity and amazingly generous heart.

Cynthia Gerdes

Having grown her own business (local toy store chain Creative Kidstuff) to over $14M annually, it was a snap for Puerto Rican spitfire Cyn to offer to help her husband Mitch start Hell’s Kitchen. “A small restaurant? How hard can it be?”

Can you guess what happened? Yes, running the business end of one of the most-booked restaurants in the country consumed ALL of her time, so she sold her toy stores in order to remain sane while focusing on her CEO “job from Hell.”

In 2020, when Cyn turned over Hell’s Kitchen to its employees, she, too became an employee-owner while remaining at the helm as our fearless CEO. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree: Cyn also continues to help her wildly creative daughter Katy Gerdes grow her own business (Angel Food Bakery) downtown and at MSP Airport. To reach Cynthia, send an email to Cyn@HellsKitchenInc.com.

Steve Meyer

Happy as hell to have a good cooking career at several great Twin Cities restaurants, Steve often followed Omer’s lead and jumped from place to place to work as his Sous Chef whenever Omer was fired (which was not exactly rare). So when Mitch opened his own place, Meyer was lured straight to Hell. “Steve’s the hardest working line dog in the business,” explained Mitch, “and I wouldn’t do my own restaurant without him.”

We got a two-fer as well: Steve's wife Kim spent 18 years as our Business Manager, keeping us all “in line” and helping make sure all of our ducks still marched in a row until she and Steve retired in 2020.

Good luck trying to connect with Steve; he’s happily retired to his fishing cabin and barely even talks to us anymore!