Benjamin Tyson
Butterlamp Bread & Beverage | Nashville TN
July 2026
Benjamin Tyson grew up in Massachusetts admiring his mother's cooking before attending the New England Culinary Institute (NECI) right after high school. The NECI's Chef Curtiss Hemm, an early mentor, helped Tyson secure his first industry job at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina in 2008. He later connected Tyson to a rare opportunity to work as a lodge chef at Aman Resorts in Bhutan. There, Tyson fell in love with cooking and with Bhutanese culture.
After three years, Tyson moved back to Massachusetts to help open the Inn at Hastings Park as an executive sous chef. He then jumped at the opportunity to stage at Rising Stars alum John Shields' Riverstead Inn. He'd eaten at Shields' Town House years prior and, compelled by his vision, eventually moved to Chicago, Illinois to help open Smyth as Shields' chef de partie. Within a year, he was promoted to head chef. After three years there, Tyson moved on to become chef de cuisine at Three Blacksmiths, a 20-seat restaurant in Sperryville, Virginia.
When the pandemic hit, Tyson moved to Nashville, Tennessee to open Audrey as the chef de cuisine, but instead co-founded the group's nonprofit Patchwork, an organization that helps fight food insecurity through chef-driven meals. During this time, Tyson and his wife, Katie Rose Tyson, began laying the foundation for Butterlamp Bread & Beverage. They opened in 2024, and brought their vision for a down-to-earth neighborhood spot centered around bread, wine, and elegant small plates to life. At the East Nashville wine bar, Tyson hosts meetings for Together Hospitality, a nonprofit devoted to collectivizing industry folks, and donates bread to Trinity Community Commons, a neighborhood community-building nonprofit.
