Chef John Pannell stops by the Smoke Ring Syndicate for this weeks podcast episode. I’ve been patiently awaiting our schedules to align since our cook together for comedian Burt Kreischer’s tour with leading men and women of comedy. Even adding Jelly Roll to the list of recipients of the food. This week we dove into his early years peeling potatoes as a “sous chef” to his mother, and assisting his dad on the grill. John found his personal passion early in life with food. Working his way through restaurants eventually under a great French chef who encouraged him to take the next step into becoming a chef. Fresh out of Le Cordon Bleu he worked in nearly every world cuisine’s kitchens. Eventually landing back in Ga & with his business partner in tow they created a restaurant that captured the attention of local entrepreneur and fan of a great Philly cheese steak, Ray Carnes. Ray co-owns Recteq grills and frequently enjoyed Chef John’s creations. Even requesting to meet the chef to praise his work in food as a foodie himself. When the grill company announced they were looking for personality for their social media Chef John threw his hat in the ring. Unbeknown I him they had history in John’s restaurant, so Ray knew having that steak sandwich sculptor on staff was a great idea. Beginning as a part time endeavor Ray soon realized it wise to have such a majestic show pony for the grill company and captured Chef John. Building recipes around the grills, on air personality, cooking for celebrities, news casts and even movie sets and shows Chef John grew. His personal brand as well as the grill company’s chef de cuisine personality stroll hand in hand as the same food expert person. Authenticity is huge in Food based social media and his work on both his personal and Recteq content is seamless in the content space, allowing Chef/Pitmaster John to grow both. An important aspect if you’re going to be saddled with a branded saddle, you need to be the brand, or good with being the brands idea, or be with a company that allows you to be you on all fronts. Which lucky for Chef is option 3 with Recteq. Fresh off a TV program cook, gearing up for out of state cooking for the likes of Warren Sapp maybe even Coach Prime out in Colorado this fall. Chef John is living a dream many in the content creation world have aspirations for with the high caliber team in the folks at Recteq. Videography sound folks, marketing professionals and so much more for bouncing ideas tasting recipes and generally pushing the love of bbq to the world, what it’s all about. We could definitely do another hour or more but you just pulled up to your destination and it’s time to go to work.