Dragons’ Den's ‘affordable’ £100-a-night private chef company hits Manchester

01.02.2022 - 16:17 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

A private chef company which can be hired for £100 a night launches in Manchester today.

Pitched at being an ‘affordable’ way of getting the private chef experience for parties and dinner parties, the company, called Yhangry, were featured on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den last year.

Customers will be able to book in a chef from the company as little as 24 hours in advance, with a minimum spend of £100, or an average of £17 per head.

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The company then takes care of the menus, the shopping, the cooking, the service and the clearing up afterwards, and is currently only operating in London and Manchester.

It was set up by former Barclays bankers Heinin Zhang and Siddhi Mittal in 2019, who wanted to bring down the cost of private chefs catering to homes.

The pair succeeded in securing £1 million in funding last year, including a chunk from Made In Chelsea star Ollie Locke.

Then just a couple of months later, they appeared on Dragons’ Den, and scored £100,000 in additional funding from Peter Jones and Tej Lalvani.

“We both visited Manchester for the first time when we came to pitch in the Dragons’ Den and we were so impressed with the city that we joked on the spot that Manchester would be the next city to launch in,” they said.

“After analysing demographics, preferences and socialising habits we’ve corroborated our gut feel and found Manchester to be a place where people would really enjoy spending more quality time with their friends at home, over for amazing food cooked by a yhangry chef.”

Since its launch, it has catered for more than 15,000 diners, with celeb fans including Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore and singer Ella Eyre.

Made In Chelsea’s Locke was a former customer who then decided to invest in the company.