Logan Guleff

Logan Guleff was born on July 20, 2002 in midtown Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. He started cooking at the tender age of two, when he used to make coffee for his mother. He admits that he has spilled coffee all over a few times, even though he did a good job often. At the age of four, he started making pasta with his mother. A fan of Chef Gordon Ramsay, he used to watch all of his shows since he was a kid.

While watching the first season of ‘MasterChef Junior’, he told his father that he thinks he could win the prize. When the next season was starting, his father bought an application form and enrolled him as a contestant. He spent six weeks in Los Angeles with his mother during the shooting of the show, and also got the opportunity to meet his idol, Gordon Ramsay. He is homeschooled by his mother Kim. Apart from cooking, he enjoys hiking with his Boy Scout troop, playing Minecraft, and scaling the climbing wall at Bridges.

Noticing his lack of interest in writing, Logan Guleff’s mother came up with the idea of a food blog, ‘Order Up! With Logan’, when he was only eight years old. In his blogs, he started writing about his experience of visiting local restaurants. As his blog grew in popularity, he got the opportunity to visit the kitchens of local restaurants to meet the chefs, notably Ben Smith at Tsunami, and learn about their cooking styles. It is his passion for experimenting with different flavors that helped him become a young chef with his own recipes.

At the age of nine, he entered the ‘Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest’ with his very first recipe of Chomp Burger with broccoli slaw. He was one of the finalists to win $2,500 and a trip to New York City to participate in the final round of the contest for a grand prize of $25,000 in college scholarships. In the following weeks, he made appearances on local TV shows including ‘Good Morning Memphis’, ‘Extra Credit’ and another show on WREG-TV.

After he failed to win the grand prize, his mother suggested that he enters another contest. In 2012, he participated in the ‘Epicurious Healthy Lunchtime Challenge’ with his Tuna Schooner which was among the 54 winning recipes and gave him the opportunity to join the Kid’s State Dinner at the White House, representing the State of Tennessee. However, he reached a new height after his appetizer of grilled shrimp prawns won the $100,000 grand prize at the second season of ‘MasterChef Junior’ on December 16, 2014. He was one of the finalists of the 7th annual ‘Short Awards’ in the ‘Food’ category.

Logan Guleff has been so passionate about being inventive that he doesn’t like to bake as it provides little opportunity to improvise. In his constant experiments, he attempts to achieve unexpected flavors from simple ingredients. He considers himself a perfectionist, but is not intimidated by the idea of cooking under the pressure of a tight timeline. He also hosts Underground Supper Club events in Tennessee.

Logan, who has achieved most of his dreams at the age of 15, is already focused on giving back to the community. The number of charitable events he has attended exceeds the number of birthdays he has had so far. He has represented charitable organizations such as Make-A-Wish Foundation, St Jude's Children’s Research Hospital, Humane Society Virginia, Giant of Generosity NJ and more. In 2015, he was the spokesperson for the ‘Get Kids Cooking’ campaign in Canada.