Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonah Vandel.
Hi Jonah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I love to eat food, and I really love to eat good food. I’m sure I was always a pain in my parents’ side every time we ate out at a restaurant because not only did I not know what “the kids menu” was, but I typically ordered the largest (and likely most expensive) item on the menu. I wasn’t just a gluttonous kid, I also had a clever streak in me – so I came to the realization early on that the quickest, most efficient way to eat good food was to learn how to make it myself. So from then on, I was always in the kitchen looking of my mom’s shoulder and helping her out in any way I could. I even would have my mom drop me off at my grandma’s house a day before Thanksgiving so I could help her prepare the big meal for everyone the next day. That fascination grew through high school at West Platte High School in Weston, Missouri and followed me to college at Kansas State University where I studied Horticulture and Landscape Design. In college, students have a lot of free time, or at least students that are actively trying to procrastinate their homework do. So I filled that time by consuming a lot of food media on YouTube and Netflix and became incredibly motivated to try to replicate the dishes I was watching the chefs of the world create on my screen. With my roommates Jack, Alec, and my now wife Alexa as my guinea pigs, I’d test out recipe after recipe with whatever I could afford. And by the time I had graduated from college, I had a pretty decent self-taught culinary education. Alexa and I moved to Holland, Michigan to start our new lives together as newly weds. In Holland, I started an Instagram page called “My Experimental Kitchen” dedicated to highlight the things I was cooking – not only to share with family and friends, but as a way to push myself creatively to come up with unique dishes that are pretty to look at. After a few months, I was getting some interest from friends and colleagues in the area – people wanted to try my food! So Drunchies (I changed the name to be something a little catchier) officially launched on November 4th, 2023 with our first Supper Club hosted by our friends Amber and Cal Bauer. The dinner was themed around “the history of barbecue” and featured smoked brisket as well as twists on some classics like mac and cheese and burgoo. After two years (and a few more dinners hosted by other friends of ours) we moved back home to Kansas City and quickly established a great customer base. Today we operate in two main areas: Drunchies Supper Club, a private dining service focused on local, haute cuisine in more intimate settings like dinner parties, micro-weddings, or private events. Drunchies Street Food Co. pops up at festivals to deliver fast, casual eats like smashburgers with our signature creative flair. Regardless of which side of Drunchies we’re operating on, we try as hard as we can to source our ingredients from local farms and suppliers.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has definitely been a rocky road, I have zero experience working in professional kitchens, I don’t have any sort of formal education in the culinary arts, and I have very little experience in the hospitality industry as a whole. So to combine all of my experience (or lack thereof) and open up a business that specializes in high-end cuisine with white-glove service, I’ve had my share of lessons learned the hard way.
Our first dinner we were set up in the garage (I was afraid to cook in front of the guests) and being that we had no sink, we decided to put all of the dirty dishes we created (from the 5 course meal we just served) into a big tote and wash them in our apartment after we got home. Alexa was up until around 3 am washing every dish – I’m still trying to make that up to her.
There are many things to consider when serving a multi-course dinner like this. You not only have to create multiple unique dishes, but you have to source the ingredients, portion the courses out properly so everyone feels satiated but not over-full, get the timing correct between courses, serve the plates so they all get to the table at the same time, and many other factors. Not to mention preparing all of the food or all of the things on the business side like food cost, taxes, etc. With every event we do, the more we learn and the better we get at our jobs.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Drunchies is where craveable food meet creative culture. It doesn’t matter if we’re at a festival in our tent or we’re cooking a 5 course meal in one of our clients kitchens – we try to hold true to our values of creative, locally sourced food. My inspiration for dishes and menus come from a lot of places, and I try hard for it to be that way. It may be a video that I see online that shows me a new technique, an art piece that gives me new ideas on plating, a chapter from one of my cooking reference books that highlights ingredients that work well together, or just simply eating at some of Kansas City’s best restaurants and seeing first hand what great food and service looks/tastes like. I am constantly thinking about how to improve the business as a whole but specifically the star of our business, the food.
We’re most known for our annual pop-up at Applefest in Weston, Missouri. For the past two years we’ve had a really popular booth in the food court selling Apple Smashburgers with apple fritters, cider donuts, apple slaw, apple-spiced mayo, and a bunch of other appley stuff. They’re super tasty and the patrons of Applefest seem to really love them, it’s a ton of fun!
We strive to create a brand that everyone can enjoy. Local, creative cuisine shouldn’t be exclusively for the rich and wealthy so our Supper Club prices are much lower than your average private chef. But even if those are inaccessible for some, our Street Food Co. events provide more opportunities for people to try our food. We also have a very small line of merchandise that provides yet another opportunity to people to consume our Drunchies product.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Learn and draw inspiration from everything. Food is a really unique art medium as it’s equally enjoyed in so many different forms. The dollar menu from Taco Bell and a chef’s tasting menu from The French Laundry exist on extremely different ends of the spectrum but bring a similar joy out of its patrons. And because of this, every dish is a blank canvas with unlimited opportunities – so the more I can consume creative content, the more creative I can be for my customers.
Pricing:
- Supper Club: $100 per person plus fees
- Street Food Co.: $10-15 per person
- Merchandise: $30-70 depending on the item
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thedrunchies.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drunchies?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094930561223
- Other: [email protected]
