Bill Leavy, co-owner and chef of East Ender has shared plans to leave the restaurant for a new career outside the hospitality industry at the end of this month.
Leavy’s business partner and co-chef/owner Karl Deuben will continue operating the restaurant along with GM Janet Webber.
After 20 years in the industry, 16 of them in Portland, ME, I’ve decided it’s time to try something new. The lessons I’ve learned from the chefs I had the pleasure to works under will undoubtably assist me in future endeavors. From my beginnings at Hugo’s and Rob Evans, to Back Bay Grill with Larry Matthews to Masa Miyake, I will always feel incredibly fortunate to have spent time in their kitchens and learn from their experience.
I am grateful for all the wonderful people I’ve the chance to work with throughout my culinary career (looking at you Camille Mann). Most importantly my wife Janet Webber and my business partner and friend Karl Deuben. I am delighted with what we have achieved at the East Ender over the past five years and excited to witness the continued success from across a table.
Leavy and Deuben co-founded the Small Axe food truck in 2013 as part of the first crop of entrepreneurs to launch mobile food businesses after the city approved the ordinance the prior year. They expanded their business and built on their prior success by taking over the East Ender in 2015.
