As the first glimmer of a new morning takes shape with the sun peeking over the verdant horizon in the Village of Downs in Central Illinois, Ken Myszka is already hard at work at Epiphany Farms Estate, putting together a wood frame for what will be a new shed to store food at this idyllic working farm. The farm is part of the footprint of the Estate and the foundation of Epiphany Farms Hospitality Group, which includes a thriving network of four restaurants founded by Ken and captures his passion for developing a sustainable signature of farm-to-table dining rooted in delicious, nutritious food.

“This property is a catalyst and an inspiration for our hospitality group,” noted Ken, for whom a simple job title defies conventional wisdom. He is a highly-accomplished chef, a dynamic, outside-the-box visionary, an indefatigable farmer, an avowed agricultural researcher, and an exuberant environmentalist and entrepreneur all rolled into one. “The magic all starts here,” Ken said as he pointed toward a field of organic celery being harvested. “Here we are at Epiphany Farms Estate. It’s a 70-acre diversified organic farm where we raise hundreds of varieties of vegetables, chickens, eggs, pork, and wine.” The produce from the farm is also sourced to roughly 40 to 50 restaurants in Chicagoland every week as well as 100 local families.

“I love being out at the farm, because it really nourishes the soul and allows me to be grounded and connected to the local environment and ecology. And it’s just beautiful out here,” said Ken as his gaze pulsed with excitement, a wide smile never far from his face. “It recharges my batteries, and there is just so much inspiration and nutrition everywhere you look.”

The farm was founded in 2009, two years before Ken’s first restaurant opened in nearby Bloomington in 2011, with three more restaurant concepts following suit. Each restaurant in the Epiphany Farms Hospitality Group carries the essence of the farm, offering diners a unique experience rooted in healthy, delicious and locally sourced ingredients.

An Epiphany Takes Shape

The seeds were planted by Ken for his career trajectory when he was a teenager. He started cooking in eighth grade.

“I just really fell in love with cooking and providing for others. So, I started decorating cakes and making pies. That was kind of the story throughout my high school career.

“I had an attention for detail, and it was just something about the instant gratification of putting your heart and soul and passion into something, and then being able to gift it to change someone’s day and to put a smile on their face,” noted Ken about his love for cooking and hospitality.

Ken decided at a young age that he needed to get a job in culinary arts in order to pursue his dreams. So, he got a job at a restaurant down the street not far from his home in Downs and set his sights on attending The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in New York, which is widely regarded as one of the best schools for culinary arts.

“I was working Sunday brunch, making omelets, working a pantry station, just learning the general side of culinary arts and cooking. I fell in love with the environment and the people and being on a team and providing hospitality.”

After graduating top of his class at CIA, Ken’s culinary career led him to some of the most prestigious kitchens in the world. He trained under the team at the highly esteemed Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado as well as under a Who’s Who list of renowned chefs including Thomas Keller, Bradley Ogden, Guy Savoy and Joël Robuchon.

“At the time, I thought I was moving up the ladder, providing for a better experience, getting promoted, producing better cuisine,” Ken said. “I realized that all I was doing was scouring the globe for the rarest resources and serving the elite.”

A seminal moment in Ken’s life came after reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. “I had an epiphany,” explained Ken who noted that his “epiphany” led to the eponymous naming of his hospitality group. “I realized I could actually come back home, steward the land, raise a crop, raise the food that I was actually writing into my menus, and use the dinner tables of my restaurants as a platform for social change.”

Ken returned to central Illinois with a highly decorated menu of culinary talent and a bold vision to reshape farm-to-table dining in central Illinois.

“Everyone said I was crazy. Even my family didn’t see the vision. They thought it was ludicrous that I would think I could handle running restaurants and running an organic farm,” said Ken with laugh.

Ken and his team worked doggedly to prove the doubters wrong. “We were pretty relentless the first decade or so, doing everything we possibly could to get this off the ground and make it work,” Ken said. “Slowly, over time, we acquired our first restaurant, then we remodeled and got our second concept, and then our third. It was like we were picking up momentum and steam, and the community was really supporting us.”

That momentum led to the acquisition of a dream property in 2017, the 70-acre estate in Downs that is now the north star of the Epiphany Farms Hospitality Group. For Ken, his journey has always been about more than food, encompassing a pursuit of connection, community, and change.

“What keeps me going is the impact that I have,” Ken reflected. “I look around, and we’re in a food desert. Our grocery stores are stocked with food that has no nutrition. Seventy-eight percent of our diet is
ultra-processed. You can’t find access to local, nutritious food. The more I learn about cooking and being a chef, the more I realize that all I’m doing is basically putting together nutrition and nutrients and flavor. I just really want to inspire change and allow other people to learn and understand that food is our medicine, and medicine is our food. We should be taking it seriously and producing as much of it as we possibly can.”

The Growth of a Dream

Our two days spent with Ken would not have been complete without dining at the first of his four restaurants, Epiphany Farms Restaurant, twenty miles northwest of the Epiphany Farms Estate. In a comfortable country setting, Ken and his team served up sublime, colorful, fresh dishes, with the majority of the menu items coming straight from his farm. Ken showed us that he still loves to stretch his unimpeachable cooking talents in the kitchen.

“My favorite food to cook is whatever I’m into in the moment,” said Ken. “I love going through the gardens and foraging, pulling out products that are in season and nature provides for us. I love looking into wild edibles and finding hidden, delicious items that are also super nutritious superfoods.

“The guests that eat at our restaurants can be confident that a vast majority of the product comes from our own farm and is acquired or procured locally,” Ken said describing what his restaurants serve. “It makes you feel great because I’m changing the world, and I’m setting an example for hospitality groups to maybe take a little bit more ownership of the way they procure product and buy local goods.”

In the same building as Epiphany Farms Restaurant, there is a diametrically different restaurant concept showcased by Ken and his team, Anju Above, which is a modern casual eatery that dishes out high-end eats for those who cannot decide what to eat. Want chicken, sushi, ramen and pizza? That and then some are available at Anju Above.

“I get bored doing (cooking) the same thing over and over. And so, I love to have a delicious bowl of ramen or an amazing Neapolitan style pizza or sushi or hand rolls or sashimi. I love to have fine dining and a tasting menu, French prepared risotto and seared scallops and summer squash,” noted Ken about his eclectic variety of dishes served at his restaurants.

A half-mile away, Ken runs The Bakery and Pickle, a prohibition-era speakeasy that feels like you are stepping into another world.

“You enter a closed antique shop slash bakery,” said Ken with enthusiasm in his voice. “They’ve got bread and pickles for sale. If you know the code, you can push the book, the wall will open up, and there’s a hidden modern eatery in there serving chef-driven, fun food.”

The team’s fourth and final concept in Bloomington is Harmony Korean Barbecue, which is a modern Korean steakhouse, and serves as the group’s corporate office.

“Harmony means grandmother. There’s a real fusion or blending of cuisines and lifestyles between my American upbringing and Nanam’s (Ken’s wife) Korean upbringing.”

Running a multifaceted, around-the-clock operation requires a dedicated team, and Ken is quick to credit the employees who bring his vision to life.

“We’ve got a team about 175 strong,” Ken explained. “There are 14 or 15 leaders who all contribute, and we articulate this vision of creating a more sustainable, more regenerative business.”

Leadership, for Ken, is about trust, delegation, and collaboration.

“I’ve got a lot of amazing people around me who help me lead the company,” said Ken with pride. “I’m just blessed to have so many teammates who see the vision and believe in what we’re trying to accomplish.

“We’re using the restaurants as the catalyst and the fuel to build this,” Ken explained. “It’s a regional place where people can come and learn about regenerative organic agriculture and maybe see a different way of providing nutrition and food for restaurants anywhere in the world.”

Ken’s face lights up when discussing the future trajectory of his hospitality group.

“Maybe ten years from now, I’d love to take this concept all over the world and inspire communities everywhere to think differently about how they produce food, how they steward the landscape, farm, how they live healthier and have more delicious meals at the same time.”

Home Cooking

For now, Ken seems perfectly at home in Illinois. He is proud of his hometown roots in The Land of Lincoln and the fact that he is feeding diners all across the state every day.

“We’re able to provide so many other restaurants in Chicago and the area with our product, because there’s a huge demand for not only regenerative organic food but local food,” Ken noted. “The communities understand the importance of clean ingredients and not having a huge footprint. We’re trying to increase our production and step up to the demand, while also inspiring other local producers.

“Illinois is a great place to be,” Ken said with a smile. “It’s a great place to do business. I’m super excited to be a part of the landscape of Illinois and Illinois retail.”

For Ken, the decision to build his business in Illinois was about more than just convenience. It was a deliberate choice to invest in the community and the land he’s always thought of as home.

“I think what makes this unique is the fact that we did come back home, and we want to be here in Illinois,” Ken added. “We’re planting some super deep roots when I’m out there planting trees, brambles and grapes that are going to be around for 100-plus years.”

The Retail Side of the Farm

Before agreeing to participate in this project, Ken conceded that he did not think of himself as a retailer, but after spending time with the team at Illinois Retail Merchants Association, he confessed that his opinion had changed.

“Retailing I think can look differently, and I think we could think about it differently than just selling goods,” stressed Ken. “We could be providing goods that change the future of the world and provide health and nutrition that our benefit to society. Retail is really important. Local retail is even better, but benefit retail would be great if everyone could be providing products that don’t just self-disintegrate or self-destruct the moment you pick them up and use them, but provide for the future that’s going to be clean and healthy and delicious. I’m super excited to continue to be a retailer and provide amazing goods to the community.”