.jpg)
Now Gold is co-owner, along with Philip Tappan, of Tappan & Gold LLC of Little Rock, which owns two Purple Cow Restaurants in Little Rock.
Gold and Tappan bought the restaurants in December 2007, and since then sales have been up every month except for two, Gold said.
Before buying the restaurants, Gold was corporate executive chef for Acxiom Corp. for eight years.
Gold, 36, dived into the food industry because "I was really good with my hands," he said. "And it was a way I could express myself."
Gold's skills in the kitchen have won him several awards, including the American Culinary Federation Central Arkansas Chapters' Chef of the Year in 2003 and 2006. And in 2008, he became only the fourth Arkansan to be inducted into the American Academy of Chefs.
Outside of the restaurant, Gold is the director of programs at Pulaski Technical College's Arkansas Culinary School, which he helped develop.
Gold also is willing to put on his apron to assist a nonprofit. Between 1997 and 2002, Gold was the chairman of the Kidney Foundation of Arkansas' Great Chefs event.
"I like to go after things that may seem impossible and achieve those," Gold said. "And then feel real good about doing that."
