Brothers Alex and Chris Manos are Greek chefs with over 20 years of combined professional experience who founded Gourmaze, a private dining company that services the greater Los Angeles Area. The brothers started their culinary journey as children in their fathers pastry shop and from there they developed a passion for food and making customers happy. Chris and Alex each created their own careers in the culinary world, working in some of the finest restaurants and hotels in Greece and the Los Angeles areas. On top of his work experience at five star hotels, Alex has worked at Melisse and Providence Restaurant which are both Michelin star restaurants. Chris also has extensive experience in the kitchen and has worked at the two Michelin star rated restaurants in Athens, Hytra and Spondi. After working together at the renowned restaurant Wally’s in Beverly Hills, their paths as chefs crossed again when they started working together at the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica. While working at the Huntley the brothers were approached by a European restaurant group that asked them to open a Mediterranean restaurant with a heavy emphasis on seafood. Alex and Chris jumped at the opportunity and set off on their next culinary journey.
Building Gourmaze & Creating A Restaurant Experience
Chris and Alex were dedicated to building a successful restaurant with excellent food and a high end environment. In 2020 COVID hit and put many restaurants in a tough position leaving Alex and Chris to find another way they could share their food with the world. They soon opened Gourmaze, their luxury catering company with the vision of providing a restaurant experience to people’s homes and private events. Chef Alex stated: “I never saw myself in the private dining sector, and always envisioned myself owning a restaurant. When the opportunity came I knew it was a great idea and I had to put everything I have into it.” The key to Gourmaze’s success is the way that Alex and Chris deliver an experience to clients that is typically only found in fine dining restaurants. They carefully design and cater to the client’s specific needs to provide cuisine that exceeds expectations every time. When they were cooking in high end restaurants and hotels the brothers often had teams of 50+ people to execute dishes and make sure everything was done, but they had to figure out how to provide the same experience with a smaller staff team.
Gourmaze’s Services & Future
After many long hours spent designing their processes, Alex and Chris are able to provide the desired full restaurant experience to every event and private home that they service. Gourmaze’s primary services are event catering, private dinner parties, and customized meal planning. The meal planning that Gourmaze offers is extremely personalized and they send the client’s dietary restrictions and preferences to a dietician and nutritionist so they can properly plan out meals that perfectly align with their client’s needs. Meals for meal-planning are never mass produced, and they don’t serve the same meal twice unless clients request it again. Gourmaze’s In addition to the unforgettable cuisine that Gourmaze prepares, they also offer other services such as cooking classes, restaurant consultation, and food styling. Alex and Chris are a valuable resource to anyone who wants to take their restaurant or personal cooking skills to the next level thanks to their dedicated attention to clients and decades of combined knowledge. In the future Gourmaze looks to implement delivery services and acquire a dedicated commissary to cook their food. Chris and Alex both share the vision of expanding Gourmaze to other cities like San Francisco to allow as many people as possible to enjoy their food. As dedicated chefs, the brothers will continue dedicating themselves to improving their business in every way possible.
Learn More
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