Thursday, Apr. 01, 2010
Dan Coudreaut
Age: 44
Occupation: McDonald's director of culinary innovation
Previous TIME 100 Appearances: 0
A former high-end chef with a degree from the Culinary Institute of America, Coudreaut now serves a customer base far larger than that of Mario Batali, José Andrés and all those other top chefs combined. From his elaborate test kitchen at McDonald's headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., Coudreaut dreams up new menu items for the 14,000 U.S. outlets of the fast-food giant. If you've had a Snack Wrap, an Angus Third Pounder or any of the salads at McDonald's in the past four years, you should know that they started in Coudreaut's kitchen. He's lovin' it.