Chef who served Uhuru traces his rise to top

Lukas Alvin Maiyenga’s catering career has taken a sharp trajectory, from cooking chapatis at dowry ceremonies just after high school to recently serving hundreds of State guests at the launch a digital portal to outline government achievements.

The 24-year-old is the person behind Muncheez Catering, a South B-based business which is quickly making a name for itself in the extremely competitive industry.

Maiyenga says he mainly caters at private functions, including weddings, birthday parties and barbeques, but has also done work for corporates including Family Bank and Coca-Cola.

But he has come a long way.

After completing his secondary education at Highway Secondary School in Nairobi, financial constraint cut short his dream of studying astronomy. However, he opted to pursue a career in cooking — one of his hobbies.

He enrolled in Top Chef Culinary Institute in Westlands, Nairobi in 2011 and graduated in 2013. However, he did not immediately secure a good job.

“After college, the only job I could get was helping cook chapatis at local events such as dowry ceremonies or when my neighbours had large number of guests at home,” he told Enterprise.

For a day’s work Maiyenga would earn between Sh100 and Sh150 per packet of flour used. On the plus side, however, this experience revealed an untapped market.

While most caterers target large events such as weddings, there were underserved customers in the lower end of the value chain.

“Whenever people have a function at their homes the biggest headache is usually food. The hosts will need to feed many guests but do not have the manpower to prepare good food,” he says.

Maiyenga, who later briefly worked at Boma Hotel and Sankara Hotel, says he promoted himself to this niche market and was soon landing repeat assignments for home catering.

“At first, the orders were simple. Normal rice meals, some stew and chapatis. But with time, we have come up with our own menus that go well with specific functions,” he says.

Maiyenga adds that he now gets a lot of business from dowry ceremonies and home barbeques which vary in cost. Some of his biggest customers are women’s self-help groups and churches.

A simple luncheon during dowry ceremonies, popularly known as ruracio, costs Sh250 per person with a menu consisting of rice, beef and mixed vegetable stews and chapatis.

This is usually more popular than a second higher end menu which has mashed potatoes, chicken and fruits at Sh350 per person.

Garage sales are also catching on. Maiyenga charges Sh700 per person and serves either roast chicken, beef, goat or pork served with deep fried potatoes or ugali.

Following the expansion of his business, he hires about seven chefs and four waiters to help with the cooking and serving at any given event. They are his former colleagues in college and other chefs from various restaurants around the city.

“The presidential event was my big breakthrough. It proved to me that people appreciate what I do and that the Muncheez brand is growing,” says Maiyenga.

However, he says the business has its own challenges, especially bookkeeping and dealing with clients who do not honour payments. Maiyenga says he draws inspiration from Kevin Barron, the executive chef at the Ole-Sereni Hotel in Nairobi.