About Us

Chef Chris Ingram has loved food since childhood when his earliest memories were creating his own food combinations at the buffet restaurant after church. As a boy, his mom had him help measure ingredients in the kitchen to boost his math aptitude and he watched his dad and uncles chef it up on the grill, experiences which both guided his trajectory to a career in cuisine. He graduated from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Atlanta in 2015.

 

Simultaneous to earning his culinary degree, Chef Chris, a Marine Corps veteran, was accepted into the Atlanta Fire Rescue Training Academy.  To this day he maintains his duties as a firefighter.

 

In the fall of 2020, Chef Chris and Karis (Chef Kash) Walker, Le Cordon Blue classmates who bonded over a shared musical passion, launched Bando Verde, an Atlanta meal prep and catering company. Together, the Bando Boyz have become legendary over the past few years for serving up fresh, hand selected, quality ingredients to bring catering and meal prep to Atlantans.

 

Chef Chris possesses an innate ability to confidently wield spices, herbs and ingredients from Latin America and apply a Southern twist, a nod to those courageous early buffet combinations. He infuses dishes with a symphony of sensations, marrying the zestiness of jalapeños and cilantro with the comforting embrace of fried chicken and grits. His creations bring together seemingly disparate ingredients, resulting in dishes that dance on the palate and evoke a sense of nostalgia while sparking a sense of adventure. Barbacoa Tostones is Chef Chris’ signature dish.

 

Bando Verde’s signature “Bando Sauce,” a sweet and spicy blend of peppers and other secret ingredients, was birthed out of Chef Chris’ love for sauces and adventuresome pairings in general. Chefs Chris and Kash wanted to satisfy all tastebuds and palates and tested countless iterations ideas, recipes and combinations, finally landing on Bando Sauce, which will soon be found on shelves around the world.

 

Chef Chris has had three appearances on The Food Network and is planning to add a food truck concept to Bando Verde in the near future. He finds inspiration from the following culinary experts: Chef G Garvin, Marcus Samuelson, Tobias Dorzon, Kardea Brown, Tiffany Derry, Chef Carla Hall, Emeril Lagasse, and Antonia Lafosa. He served in the Marine Corps from 2009-2013 with two combat deployments to Afghanistan. Chef Chris lives in Atlanta with his wife and three-year old daughter in whom he’s cultivating kitchen curiosity.