ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Kiondre Kenner’s family is his greatest inspiration. And the chef said they’re rooting for him as he moves on – and moves up – in the 2023 Favorite Chef competition.
Kenner, an alumni of Northampton Community College, advanced by grabbing a spot in the group finals after more than a month of voting.
- Allentown resident Kiondre Kenner is moving on in the 2023 Favorite Chef competition
- He made it through several rounds of voting and grabbed a spot in the group finals
- If he wins the group finals, he advances to the final rounds of voting in the contest, with the overall winner named at the end of August
He’s now aiming for the top prize — $25,000 and a two-page spread in Taste of Home magazine, along with a one-on-one cooking experience with “Top Chef” all-star, author, philanthropist and television personality Carla Hall.
“I’ve passed Top 25, 15, 10 and now Top 5 with the help of many people from my life from several encounters,” Kenner said Monday while thanking “friends and family alike from the Culinary Institute of America, Northampton Community College, East Stroudsburg University, Grille 3501 and my current internship site of Philadelphia Country Club.”
‘You really oughta be a chef’
Kenner grew up in Brooklyn and said he realized at an early age just how much he loved the kitchen. A lot of that came from watching his grandmother.
“It definitely started when I was very young. Around the age of 4 or 5,” he said. “I would wake up on the weekends and remember smelling this really delicious food and it was my grandmother in the kitchen.
“I would wake up on the weekends and remember smelling this really delicious food and it was my grandmother in the kitchen."Kiondre Kenner
“I would hang around with her and see how she did things. I would taste things and taste things and eat a lot of food. So my mother said to me one day, 'You really oughta be a chef with all that food you’re eating.'”
Kenner’s exposure to ingredients was limited as a youngster, but he’s worked to expand that access — and his palette. He’s a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, and later attended Northampton Community College as a hospitality major.
“The reason why I went to NCC after graduating from the [Culinary Institute] was that I was missing part of a bigger picture,” he said.
“I was working at Grille 3501 [in Allentown] and I enjoyed cooking, but I felt like my personal interaction with people was fading a little bit because I was in the back of the house so much. NCC was an amazing experience.”
The competition
The Favorite Chef competition runs entirely by public vote, with groups whittled down week by week. The public can vote for their favorite chef once every 24 hours, or make a tax-deductible donation to the James Beard Foundation – the contest sponsor – by purchasing champion votes.
Kenner said his next step is to land the top spot in the group finals round, which will be decided by Thursday, July 20. Second place winners from the group finals will compete for a chance to get back in the quarterfinals.
After quarterfinals, there are semifinals and finals to determine the overall winner.
Final voting runs from Aug. 11-17, and the chef who earns the top prize will be announced the following week.
'I need to just go for it'
Kenner said his dream is to use the prize money to develop a catering service — and one day, perhaps, open his own restaurant.
“I was recently offered a great position at another restaurant I used to work at,” he said. “I would love to take a part-time job and I’ve done a little bit of research looking at kitchen equipment. I also have an established LLC, and I’m planning to use that as a platform to start catering.
“I would like to stay in the Valley. My professor at NCC would always talk about Allentown around the PPL Center. I think it’s a good area.
"I would like to stay in the Valley."Kiondre Kenner
“I know it won’t be as easy as it sounds. I’ve been told, you know, be prepared and get experience from other chefs before you try and go out and do your own thing. But at some point I just need to go for it. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll learn from it and move on. But I have the passion.”
Another Allentown-based chef, Janaja Harris, is also in the contest. Harris opened a private chef and catering business, Fireskitchen, during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the business' Facebook page, she recently moved to Florida to be part of the Disney Culinary Program.
If she wins, Harris' goal is to start a non-profit organization through culinary arts to help inner city youth and adults build character and sustainability.
