Food

Andy Feasts! In conversation with Andy Cooks

Andy Hearnden – better known to the world as Andy Cooks – has every reason to celebrate. 

Humility in the face of growing success shouldn’t be underestimated. Over decades of writing about chefs on the rise, I’ve met some who could stand to learn this lesson – and others who talk a good game – but the whispers are that humility isn’t in their knife roll. 

As a Kiwi, maybe Andy Hearnden is predisposed to modesty, but either way the whispers about him are only ever good. Chefs in his orbit credit him as not just a solid chef, but one with real care for an industry that isn’t for the faint hearted. I speak to chefs at a global level, steeped in the accolades of Michelin and the World’s 50 Best, and their view is respect for the Wellington-born chef, his media Midas touch, but also the fact he’s found an exit plan of sorts. In an industry where many age out, he’s able to keep on cooking. 

Across TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, Hearnden has racked up around six billion views, with close to sixteen million subscribers and followers. To some he is one half of “hey babe, what’s for dinner?”, a video series that became a calling card with his partner Katelyn Flood, who as managing director of the growing Andy Cooks brand is more than just a foil to Hearnden’s onscreen persona. More recent long-form content follows him behind the scenes at restaurants like Attica in Melbourne, helmed by his friend and fellow Kiwi, Ben Shewry. 

Arriving in front of a low-rise commercial building, I’m not sure what I’m expecting. Maybe a one-room kitchen studio, picture perfect on one side of the camera and a fight for space on the other. I’m buzzed into a courtyard, the Andy Cooks logo emblazoned on the window but not visible from the street. There’s a modern viewing room and a large communal workspace where a growing production team of five are working. Sometime canine star, Duck the French bulldog, makes his rounds. I know there’s at least one fridge stocked with Suntory Boss coffee.

The image of Hearnden holding a can had passed me on the side of a bus 24 hours prior. There’s a slightly pained smile and a little nod when I mention it. There’s that humility. Then upstairs, a purpose-built studio, prep kitchen, offices and more space. When I comment that this wasn’t what I expected, Flood smiles, saying they’re planning five years ahead. 

Andy Hearnden has enjoyed extraordinary success with his Andy Cooks YouTube channel.

Andy Cooks finds himself

Overnight or exponential success is rarely what it seems, especially in industries where you can predict longevity. Hearnden’s potted history in food reveals a lifelong foundation that he comes back to as we talk. “I was always surrounded by food at a very honest level,” he says of growing up around his mother’s family of poultry farmers. “Food was what I always wanted to do. I have photos of me at three years old playing with plastic food and at any point in my life, asked what I was going to do, it was always to be a chef.”
 
A year of culinary college followed school, then commercial kitchens and experiencing the good and bad of hospitality. At 21, London called, a well-trodden path for antipodean chefs who had a reputation as hard workers. A few years at Tom Aikens’ casual-modern eatery Tom’s Kitchen was a springboard to other experiences, from Richard Branson-owned The Roof Gardens, to a first head chef gig at Great Eastern Dining Room during Shoreditch’s heyday. 

At 27, it was too young, he says. Hearnden has talked openly about his addiction to alcohol, common in an industry that demands so much, and cemented early on for many young chefs. Returning to Australia in 2012, initially to Sydney and then Melbourne, Hearnden started to admit that there was an issue. 

When people like Rene (Redzepi) follow me, I must be doing something right. I can’t be just completely bastardising this career that I loved.

Now, sober and just turned 40, he’s comfortable with alcohol. “We’ve got a wine fridge in the studio,” he says. In moments of celebration or when out in the hospitality world, there are drinks of choice. “I’m not a huge fan of non-alcoholised drinks,” he says. “I think some people in my position find it triggering but I just don’t think that beer is tasty enough to warrant drinking it in non-alcoholic form. I don’t think they’ve nailed non-alcoholic wine either.” 

Hearnden, as you might expect,  views the matter of choice on the beverage menu from a culinary perspective. 
“I think any restaurant that’s worth its weight in gold has a non-alcoholic programme,” he says. “I had a great beverage experience when we ate at Ikoya in London. They have this range of teas which was a cool way of doing it... I’m happy just drinking sparkling water, to be honest.” 

Andy Cooks and his faithful companion, Duck.

Andy Cooks' butter beans, grilled zucchini, preserved lemon and mint.

A vision splendid

Looking back to the early days of Andy Cooks it’s clear that there was a vision from the first TikTok. It wasn’t accidental, Hearnden says, the goal being long-form YouTube content. “As soon as we started figuring that out, then it was just a matter of time until the revenue we were getting in was covering my wage and I could go on it full-time,” he says. “But it was obvious pretty early that I had something that not many people had in this space, and that was 20 years on the pans.” 

Was he ever concerned that industry people would think he was selling out? “I’ve been self-conscious about it since I started but I’ve never experienced it to my face,” he says. “It’s actually the opposite. Now I’m getting recognised by people that I’ve looked up to, and they ask me questions, which is a cool feeling. When people like Rene [Redzepi] follow me, I must be doing something right. I can’t be just completely bastardising this career that I loved.” 

Becoming a celebrity chef was looked down upon when Hearnden was coming up. “It was like, ‘oh, you couldn’t make it in the Michelin kitchens of London,’” he says. While he perceives that there can be an attitude of ‘those who can, do, those who can’t, teach,’ he’s both using his decades-long experience to teach millions of people, while also teaching himself. “My food knowledge has grown exponentially,” he says. 

Entertainment is clearly part of the mission, but Hearnden is laser focused on an overarching purpose. Without hesitation he tells me it’s to “inspire people to cook better food.” He hasn’t worked in three Michelin-starred or three-hatted restaurants because “that’s not my jam, it’s not what I love.” 

What he does love is “good honest food, nicely sourced ingredients, that’s accessible to most people.” Going back to purpose, he says that if there’s another sentence after inspire people to cook better food, it would be, “and tell the stories around the people that make that food happen.” 

Hearnden and Flood have a vision that will cement household name status. As you’d expect, there’s a book deal in the works, to which Hearnden allows himself to say that he wants a New York Times bestseller, and that he sees the “literacy pillar” releasing a book every 18 months. Could he see himself emulating the Jamies and Gordons of the world with cooking schools and physical restaurants? 

“Well, we have a cooking school which is done on YouTube, but a physical presence, yes,” he says. “It would never be a ginormous operation, but maybe a 100-seat restaurant in Sydney that I’m close to as far as what’s happening, an extension of Andy Cooks, run by people who I trust. I wouldn’t do it to make money. It would be there I guess as a vanity project, to kind of say, yeah, I can walk the walk.” 

Maybe it’s less vanity, more staying true to the kid who played with plastic food dreaming of being a chef in all its forms. Hats off, then, to Andy – here’s to many more years showing others how dreams can come true.