Andy Hearnden

Andy Hearnden is a cook, and a popular YouTuber.

He has more than 4M subscribers on his YouTube channel, ‘Andy Cooks.’

Andy was a professional chef.

Introduction-

Andrew Hearnden was born on 5 October in Wellington, New Zealand.

He grew up in Wellington and has a brother.

Since a young age, Andy has been interested in food and wanted to grow up to become a chef.

His mother was a home cook, and at 3, he started helping her in the kitchen.

At 10, Andy along with his mother, and stepfather, Paul, moved to Auckland to run a branch of his grandfather’s farm, ‘Turks Poultry Farm.’

Until 20, he lived in Auckland.

Career & education-

At 13, Andy started working in kitchens in Auckland.

As he couldn’t perform well at school, at 16, in Year 10, he dropped out of school.

Then, Andy enrolled into Auckland Hotel and Chefs Training School, in Newmarket; here, he studied for a year and learnt the basics in the intensive degree.

And as soon as he turned 20, he moved to London and started working at Tom’s Kitchen under Tom Aikens, a popular chef and learnt cooking from him; he has been a very hands-on learner.

Andy suffers from dyslexia and struggles with writing.

From June 2009 to May 2011, he worked as a Head Chef at Ricker Restaurants in London.

Then, from May 2011 to August 2012, Andy worked as a Head Chef at Cubitt House Ltd. in London.

From September 2012 to April 2013, he worked as a Senior Sous Chef at Merivale in Felix Sydney.

From April 2013 to September 2015, Andy worked as a Head Chef at Gills Diner, Melbourne.

Then, from September 2015 to September 2016, he worked as a Head Chef at Entrecôte in Melbourne.

From September 2015 to September 2017, Andy worked as an Executive Chef at ST. ALi Coffee Roasters in South Melbourne.

Then, from September 2017 to May 2020, he worked as a Head of Food and Coffee at Emirates Leisure Retail – Australia and New Zealand (ELRA/NZ).

From August 2020 to November 2022, Andy was a self-employed Managing Director at Duck & Olive hospitality solutions.

His chef career spanned over two decades across New Zealand, Europe, Australia, Singapore, Middle East (Dubai).

Since January 2022, Andy has been working as an Executive Chef at Kilcoy Global Foods, which produces beef in Australia; here, he runs a test kitchen.

Losing his job & becoming a content creator-

Andy lost his corporate job at ELRA/NZ due to COVID-19; at that time, his wife, Katelyn, also lost her job.

Then, they moved from Melbourne to Sunshine Coast, Queensland.

Andy started watching a lot of videos and started feeling confident that he too can produce such videos; at that time, Katelyn inspired him to produce and publish videos.

At that time, he realised that even though he was a proficient chef for over two decades, he wasn’t a decent home cook.

So, Andy started filming home cooking and published it on TikTok.

As he published easy-to-cook meals, his videos on TikTok became viral.

Andy also wanted to publish long-form videos, so he started publishing on his YouTube channel.

Even though he worked as a professional chef in many restaurants, he focuses on home cooking in his videos in order to help the average home cooks, who are plentiful.

His YouTube channels & cookbook-

Even though Andy started his YouTube channel, ‘Andy Cooks’ on 28 July 2008, he published his first video, ‘St Ali visits Uncle’s Smallgoods,’ only on 13 May 2017.

He started seriously working on his channel only from 2022 with an intention of becoming a full-time YouTuber.

As of November 2023, Andy has 4.08M subscribers on his ‘Andy Cooks’ YouTube channel, 3.4M followers on Instagram and 1.8M followers on his Facebook page.

He earns from a variety of sources like advertisements and ‘Super Thanks’ on his YouTube channel, affiliate marketing, and sponsorships.

Initially, he started shooting his videos with a Sony Alpha 6100 camera and later, upgraded to using multiple cameras including a GoPro.

Andy uses Adobe Premiere Pro for editing his videos.

In addition to his primary YouTube channel, he also has a second YouTube channel, ‘Back of House,’ for showcasing his behind the scenes.

In 2023, Andy published his cookbook, ‘Andy Cooks: The Cookbook;’ this book has more than 70 recipes; as he is a fan of hardcopy cookbooks, he launched his book only in hardcover and not as an eBook.

He also has a website and has a team for helping with his YouTube channel consisting of a videographer and editor, Mitch Henderson; production manager, Dazz Braeckmans; and editor, Caleb Dawkins.

Andy’s wife helps him as a Managing Director; he also has a couple of contract editors, Luke, and Nick.

Personal life-

Andy met his wife, Katelyn Flood, through his friend.

She visited his restaurant in Melbourne, and this started their relationship.

Katelyn (nicknamed babe) hails from Sunshine Coast, Queensland and is an Australian.

Andy lives in Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Some interesting facts-

His favourite recipes are burrata with blistered tomatoes, biryani, and seven-hour lamb shoulder; he loves the cuisines of India and Italy.
Andy hates Okra (lady’s-fingers), thanks to its sliminess.
While working at restaurants, few of his notable diners were Bill Gates, and George W. Bush; he also met Gordon Ramsay, a British celebrity chef.
Andy worked as a Breakfast Chef for a long time in Melbourne; he loves cooking all cuisines, his favourite ones are Southeast Asian and Central Asian ones.
He named all his social media channels as ‘Andy Cooks,’ as it is catchier than his full name.
Andy teamed up with ‘Foodbox,’ an online food delivery company delivering locally sourced whole foods; and he is Foodbox’s brand ambassador.
His dream is to cook for Fergus Henderson, Stephen Fry, and Samuel Leroy Jackson.
Andy also likes kimchi fried rice, sandwiches, and burgers and is a cynophile.
Mandolin is his favourite culinary kit.
Andy’s popular line in his videos is “Hey babe, what do you want for dinner?”

So, how are you inspired by the success story of Andy Hearnden?

Share with me in the comment section below.