Chad Houser

Cafe Momentum - Dallas

After 17 years as a chef, Chad sold his partnership of Parigi Restaurant to devote his full attention to the role of Executive Director of Café Momentum in 2012. In 2020, Chad co-founded Momentum Advisory Collective, a non-profit organization built to scale Café Momentum and a new model for juvenile justice across the country.

Always one to add a little levity to the conversation, Chad often describes Café Momentum as “taking kids out of jail and teaching them to play with knives and fire.” But levity aside, it’s this charisma and passion to teach life, social and employment skills to Dallas’ most at-risk youth that makes Houser a hit with everyone from philanthropists and dinner-goers to the young people participating in the program.

In 2017, Chad and Café Momentum were  featured in the Starbucks production of Upstanders Season 2, a series created to shine a light on stories of everyday Americans who are doing extraordinarily courageous things. In March of 2018, Houser was named a CNN Hero. He has also appeared on The Rachael Ray Show, The Chew, The Hero Effect,  and Pickler & Ben, The Steve Harvey Show and Good Morning America.

Additionally, Chad has received multiple nominations from D Magazine for “Best Up-And-Coming Chef” (2010) and “Best Chef” (2011 and 2012). In 2015-2018 and again in 2019 Chad was named one of the Best 500 Business Leaders in Dallas by D CEO.