Chef Ned Bell Inducted into the 2026 BC Restaurant Hall of Fame

Client Release
Written By Kate Colley

For Immediate Release
JULY 2, 2026

CHEF NED BELL INDUCTED INTO THE 2026 BC RESTAURANT HALL OF FAME

Okanagan-born chef and sustainable food advocate is among
24 industry leaders being recognized this year


VANCOUVER, BC - Leading Canadian advocate for sustainable food, Chef Ned Bell has been named to the 2026 BC Restaurant Hall of Fame as a Local Champion .Bell is one of 24 inductees who will be honoured at a gala in Vancouver on Monday, October 19, 2026.

Established in 2004 by the British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association, the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame recognizes people who have helped shape the province’s hospitality industry. This year’s 24 inductees “represent excellence across all corners of B.C.’s food and restaurant industry,” said BCRFA President and CEO Ian Tostenson.



Born in the Okanagan, Bell has spent more than two decades connecting food with environmental responsibility. He founded Chefs for Oceans, cycling 8,700 kilometres across Canada to advocate for sustainable seafood, and helped make the Four Seasons Vancouver Canada’s first luxury hotel to earn full Ocean Wise certification during his time as executive chef of YEW Seafood + Bar.

His career has also included co-ownership of the Naramata Inn and leadership of the Planetary Health hospital food transformation that began at Vancouver General Hospital. Today, Bell is Creative Advisor for Okanagan College’s $61.3-million Centre for Food, Wine and Tourism, a Buy BC Champion and Ambassador, Co-Chair of Sustainability at the Chefs’ Table Society, and the only Canadian chef on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Blue Ribbon Task Force.

“I’m incredibly honoured to be recognized alongside so many people who have shaped hospitality in British Columbia,” said Bell. “This industry has given me a life and a community, and it has also given me a platform to push for a healthier, more sustainable food system. That work is far from finished.”


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Kate Colley

Kate Colley has worked across nearly every format hospitality offers — destinations, resorts, hotels, restaurants, wineries, and major events — and she brings all of it to every engagement. She led the host property communications strategy for Canada’s G7 Leaders’ Summit at Kananaskis and spent a decade as Director of Communications for Four Seasons Vancouver and Whistler. She has also been an operator — co-owning Naramata Inn, tripling revenue during a pandemic, and doing the kinds of risky, exciting things that look obvious in hindsight. She is a strategist, a marketer, an operator, and an advisor — and oftentimes the person who walks into your business, spots the gap between where you are and where you could be, and helps close it.

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