Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher (Chef Chris) Ingram and Karis (Chef Kash) Walker.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Christopher and Karis. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We originally met back in February 2014 on the campus of Le Cordon Bleu in Tucker, GA. (This is back before the campus unfortunately closed). We both came from cooking families and decided to hone our skills among some of the best Chefs/Instructors in the country. Although we were in foundations one (the beginner’s course) together, cooking isn’t what originally bonded us. It was music, more specifically a rapper name “Gucci Mane” another Atlanta legend.
Fast forward to December 2014 we were both at a crossroads with school, Chef Chris was accepted into the Atlanta Fire Rescue Training Academy starting immediately and Chef Kash is deciding whether or not to take the following semester off. Chef Chris decides to finish the second year of his studies online, and Chef Kash decided to return the following semester. We stayed in touch over the following years to see if we were both still cooking, and we both still were. 2018 arrives we both have our degrees and we realized that neither are in the field of culinary any longer, Chef Chris is a firefighter and Chef Kash works in communications. That November, we had the idea of joining our skills and starting a meal prep/catering company called ” Bando Verde”. The name derives from the word A(BANDO)NED VERDE (meaning green in spanish, and is a symbol of freshness). Here we are two years later, still growing, thriving and creating amazing food.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Any business that you start from the ground up is certain to come with hiccups. Fortunately for us, we have been able to keep them to a minimum. We have had people back out last minute on logo design, people back out on catering contracts at the last second, particular grocery stores close down on us,time issues because we both have full-time jobs, and lately, this covid19 pandemic.
Bando Verde – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Bando Verde is a meal prep/catering company. We take classic French techniques and put a modern twist on them. We are known for our signature “Bando Sauce” a sweet and spicy blend of peppers and other secret ingredients. We are most proud of building this from the ground up with no investors, no business loans, just two men with an idea. What sets apart from others is our creativity and freedom of expression through food, we look at every culinary opportunity as a chance to be different.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Our proudest moment thus far has been the turnout for our initial tasting. We went back and forth about location, menu items, price for ticket entry. The event was an overwhelming success and we sold out of tickets in a matter of days.
Pricing:
- 10 meals for $100
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bandoverde.com
- Email: bandoverdeatl@gmail.com
- Instagram: @bandoverdeatl
Image Credit:
@kingtynelson on Instagram
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