GALLERY: Ryan, not your conventional chef
With his knowledge and international experience in fine dining kitchen he said going out to food outlets can be a thing of the past.
Ridgeway chef Ryan Chinnappen (23) promises to bring a solution for ordering gourmet food in the comfort of your home with his Brown Bag franchise.
With his knowledge and international experience in fine dining kitchen, he said going out to food outlets can be a thing of the past. While going out, you could risk contracting or spreading coronavirus.
“My business is a trendy and community-orientated fast food venture that has been born from my extensive experience in fine dining kitchens all around the world.
“With the current state of my industry, it is unfortunate that I was unable to carry on my work in Michelin-starred kitchens such as Jordnaer (two Michelin star) and Geist (one Michelin star) in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“I decided this business would be of the community’s best interest for a fast food alternative that is tasty and affordable, but more importantly cares a lot for the customers’ well-being, especially with the lockdown. It would be of our community’s best interest to still take the right measures to flatten the curve and my business concept provides that as I have always been an advocate for caring for those people in our community,” explained Ryan.
Ryan, who had a secluded childhood, without many friends, is not your typical guy. Growing up, he excelled in junior rowing.
He then exposed himself to the kitchen and the rest is history.
“I did not go the mundane route in life. I went to International Hotel School in Sandton, where I graduated top of my class and that’s where I met my partner, Nicole Francis, who is also a great chef. “We’ve been together for five years, and we were fortunate to go and work in Dubai where there is a diversity of culinary foods, especially Italian food.
“Also, going to Europe added much-need experience, the exposure we received there was amazing. However, with the pandemic we had to go back to Dubai and ultimately back home,” he said.
Ryan said he saw how people dine and the amount of love and time they put in food, and that’s how he sees Brown Bag offering this service in the south.
This and that
• He specialises in five foods: classic American smash burger, fried chips, butter chicken, salt and egg chicken and vegetable burger.
• He wants to uplift the food scenery in Johannesburg.
• He once worked at Michelangelo Hotel as an intern.
• He has national, international and managerial stripes as a chef.
• He picks his vegetable from a local farm.
For more information, Ryan can be contacted at brownbagsa@gmail.com or on 072 884 5140.
