Career
He was a runner-up in the fifth season of, Bravo"s cooking competition show. Richter also competed in (season 10). Richter"s hometown is Tampere, Finland, and he spent a majority of his childhood in Germany, where he began culinary training in his teens.
He worked his way through various European kitchens, learning new techniques and collecting many awards along the way.
In 1993 he obtained a Masters Degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management and Culinary Art from the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt. In 1998, he was part of the creative team for the opening of the Bellagio Hotel, Resort & Spa in Las Vegas, along with chefs Grant McPherson, Sotta Kuhn, Jacques Torres, Jean Philip Maury and Marc Poidevin.
Richter held a number of executive chef positions, including at Enoteca Drago in 2004, before opening his own business, Stefan"s European Catering, in Santa Monica. Though he resides in California, he spends the summer months in Suonenjoki, Finland, where he enjoys spending time hunting and fishing.
Richter was a runner-up, along with Carla Hall, on the fifth season of, and lost to Hosea Rosenberg.
Overall, Richter had the strongest track record prior to the finale, winning four elimination challenges and four quickfires. Richter has also appeared as a guest judge in the Finnish version of In (season 10), Richter returned as a contestant. In August 2009, Richter opened his restaurant, Stefan"s at Los Angeles Farm, located at 3000 Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica.
In 2014 he was replaced by a highly skilled team from Craft
He later opened Stefan"s on Montana in February 2010.
By January 2011, Stefan"s on Montana quietly closed, less than a year after opening. In March 2011, Richter opened a restaurant called Stefan"s Steakhouse in Tampere, which was later followed by opening three more restaurants of the same name in Turku (2011), Helsinki (2012,) and Jyväskylä (2014).