YUAN, FOUNDER & CEO

Yuan is a serial entrepreneur, former diplomat, professional chef, and university lecturer specializing in Entrepreneurship and Marketing. Her life is a testament to a profound and enduring obsession with food, one that began in childhood when she would fall asleep with cookbooks – a habit she maintains to this day. Her earliest memories are sensory snapshots of culinary experiences: the first taste of ice cream, the anticipation of waffles, making jiaozi with her family, a painful burn from a pot of popcorn, picking berries, or her infamous attempt at baking bread in a gas oven that nearly set the house on fire.

If Yuan is not eating, she is thinking about what and where to eat next. After years of working in international relations and building start-ups, Yuan moved to Paris at age 31 to study at Le Cordon Bleu. It was here, where she became really obsessed with food: She would spend hours after class deconstructing the science of cooking, research culinary history, hone her techniques through YouTube videos or sketch her plating ideas for the next day until 2am. 

Yuan graduated with diplomas in both cuisine and patisserie from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, London, and Wellington. She has further pursued professional training in over 20 countries, including 200h private classes on pasta-making in Bologna or a 1-month chef’s course in Bangkok. To gain hands-on experience, she completed stages in a Michelin-starred restaurant in London, a bistro in New Zealand, and with a cheesemaker in Switzerland. She is also a certified tea sommelier, has studied the art of gelato-making, and maintains an endless list of skills she intends to learn next.