Mike Norton began his career as a chef at Pizza Hut when he was 16 years old.

Then, later, he cooked at Chic-fil-A, before joining the United States Navy. While serving his country in the Middle East, he learned how to cook a variety of dishes from different cultures, mainly thanks to the diverse range of teammates he served with who were willing to teach him.

After an honorable discharge, he worked at Bonefish Grill and Friendly’s while pursuing a college degree with his GI Bill benefits.

Due to a series of unfortunate events, Mike Norton ended up living in the Chinese wilderness for four years.

Surviving almost entirely alone in the extreme seasonally changing temperatures and high altitudes of the Shaanxi mountains with little more than a knife, bow, and arrow, Mike applied his knowledge in the culinary arts to harvest all-natural ingredients and convert them into highly delicious, nutritious, and unique dishes that didn’t belong to any particular culture but his own.

Enter Norton's Gourmet, now a family venture.

After bouncing back to become an entrepreneurial world traveler, Mike started Norton’s Gourmet to pass down his culinary knowledge and skills to the next generation of Nortons, while teaching his children entrepreneurship.