By Peter Ndoria
He has seen it all in the hospitality industry from being a waiter, chef, to at one point hawked food.
He has also held various positions in the hotel business but now runs his own consultancy firm.
When Allan Githinji talks about food, his face lights up. He says he finds it mystifying how people who look down at those in the hospitality industry and perceive hoteliers as servants.
"It is a profession and people are actually trained in schools and what they offer is a service, just like other professionals," Githinji says.
Despite a relatively tender age, he has more than a decade of experience under his belt. He remembers loving cooking so much that he stood out like a sore thumb in his high school years at Chania High. He was the only boy in the entire school who took Home Science as an exam unit.
Allan Githinji.[Photo: BONIFACE THUKU/Standard]
After secondary education, he studied Culinary Arts and got a job in 2000 as a chef based at a petrol station that had just been opened. He used to prepare Portuguese delights at the petrol stationâs convenience store restaurant along Parklands Road, all for Sh7,500 per month.
After some time, he quit and started hawking juice to people in offices around the city. His clientele came from his siblingsâ contacts. A cup of juice would go for Sh80.
His siblings would come in handy again when in 2004 together with his sister formed Chefs Inc., a company that used to organise barbeques, from where he cultivated his clientele.
He had by this time expanded his repertoire of skills into baking cakes, thanks to the efforts of a neighbour, Mrs Kingâori or Mama Julia, who mentored him in making cakes. This year also saw him go back to school to study Food and Beverage Management.
