Since the launch of Chef Shanners, how has the brand evolved? I officially started “chef shanners” back in late 2014/late 2015 when I started uni. I shared some of my homecooked meals; then, I began to develop it for small events catering purposes. I am yet to establish myself, but it’s something I’m still considering working towards and I hope to achieve. I intended to go to culinary school after uni, but I couldn’t raise enough funds to afford it. Someone encouraged me to take short courses instead and practice my craft in my kitchen. So many chefs/restaurateurs started without formal training or education in culinary arts so that I can do it too. Shanners’ Brownies was born as a means to get my food out there, meantime while I focus on my job. It’s manageable and doesn’t need me full-time just yet. Many people admired my food on pictures, but people had no way of knowing if they taste as good as they looked unless they tried it. In short, I’ve been trying to be as versatile as possible to improve my skills and get my name out there. What made you change your brand name from Just Shanners to Chef Shanners? I didn’t change it. Just Shanners is for my non-food blogging, and Chef Shanners is strictly for food-related content.
Drop’n’Go at the post office, so I never have to queue up to send parcels to customers, and this has helped to reduce the pressure. One thing you would like to learn or improve? I want to branch out to actual cakes now. I last baked last summer, and it was pretty decent, but I feel like if I kept working on it as consistently as I’ve been working on the brownies, they’d have been on another level. What are your favourite ingredients to cook with? Ginger, garlic, shallots, butter, red wine and more recently, tamarind and dates What are some of your most significant accomplishments so far as Chef Shanners? I think launching Shanners’ Brownies under my official brand name “Anesu Imperium” has been my greatest accomplishment so far. I’ve had a food hygiene inspection at my premises and got a 5-star rating, and I registered for Trustpilot, and it seems people love my brownies. Besides this though, it’s when people who usually don’t like chocolate or brownies message to tell me they’ve loved them. My heart melts each time, and I’ve had a few consistent customers coming back and raving about my brownies, promoting my brownies to friends, family, and colleagues, which is fantastic and encouraging really.
What made you decide to add a variety of new foods to your menu? As I mentioned before, I’m trying to be more versatile. I’m a naturally artistic person, and I thrive when I’m learning something new and killing it. I used to be terrible at baking, but now I’ve found something that I’m good at which people enjoy, and that’s pretty awesome. How do you work under pressure? I keep pushing myself through the pressure, and then I collapse after all the work is done. It’s bad. I haven’t found the best way to keep calm and NOT burnout at the end, but I’ve found that preparing in advance helps me to minimise the amount of work I have to do on the day. So my packaging stays prepared and ready for the freshly baked brownies to be sent off. I also signed up for
KADE CULTURE | 2019 AUGUST