Matt Horn is the chef and creative force behind Horn Hospitality, whose first two restaurants were Horn Barbecue and chicken-centered Kowbird in Oakland, California, expanding thereafter to include a second outpost of Horn Barbecue in Napa, California, Matty’s Burgers in downtown San Francisco, and a second outpost of Kowbird in Las Vegas. He was honored in 2021 as one of Food & Wine magazine’s ten “Best New Chefs in America.” In addition, Horn Barbecue earned the Michelin “Bib Gourmand” and “New Discovery” designations in 2021 and was renewed as a Bib Gourmand for 2022 and 2023. It also was named to Esquire’s 2021 list of the “Best New Restaurants in America.” Matt has earned hundreds of accolades from the New York Times, Sunset magazine, Forbes, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other outlets. His first book, Horn Barbecue, is a finalist for an International Association of Culinary Professional (IACP) Cookbook Award. Matt’s charitable arm, the Horn Initiative, has provided thousands of free meals to needy people in and around Oakland. He lives with his wife, daughter, and son in the San Francisco Bay area.

Matt Horn is a rising star in barbecue and, as one of Food and Wine's ten "Best New Chefs for 2021," in the US restaurant scene generally. Matt grew up in the agricultural breadbasket of North America, California’s Central Valley, where he built his own smokers from discarded oil barrels and abandoned propane tanks. His barbecue education included extended stays with his grandparents in Oklahoma, where he picked up their secret BBQ recipes and learned the basics of the German-inflected Texas-style BBQ that prevails in that state. As his interest in barbecue grew, he studied with the Texas legend Robert Patillo, of Patillo’s BBQ in Beaumont, but he remains to this day largely self-taught. About eight years ago, Matt started doing pop-up restaurants just about anywhere that would have him, from breweries to wineries to churches and farmer’s markets, and he became a San Francisco Bay Area legend as a result. In September 2020 he opened his first restaurant, Horn Barbecue, in Oakland, which has been getting rave reviews in both local and national media and where lines to get in regularly stretch for a block or longer; the restaurant recently landed a coveted "Michelin Guide Restaurant" designation. Matt is beloved in the Bay Area and is the founder of the Horn Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to food equity and social justice, which daily feeds people in need free lunches of barbecued brisket and other dishes. He lives with his family in the Oakland area.