Showcase

In case you need a unicorn with 9 legs – Johnny is at your service! If you are running a business that revolves somehow around food, there is most probably one way or another in which I can be of value to you. I’m always looking for interesting opportunities to collaborate!

Underneath you’ll see a snapshot of my broad set of skills and track-record:

• Food styling and food photography
• Recipe development, flavor pairings, and two cookbooks
• Food social media, and online marketing
• Food collaborations
• Food: science, data, and consultancy
• Market research, consumer insights, data analysis

My LinkedIn and professional resume (CV) are living proof as well.

Ever since I started cooking, I became fascinated with food! In the last years, I taught myself more and more relevant skills to professionalize my passion. Some employers would call me T-shaped – I consider myself just curious to learn! Recipe development, writing (culinary and scientific), marketing, food styling and -photography led to countless collaborations with other professionals and enthusiasts in the wider food industry. My background in research, data analysis, and insights management makes for a very interesting mix of opportunities. Scroll down to see some of the highlights.

I’m currently looking for opportunities to help small food brands and restaurants grow and make a name for themselves. If you or someone you know could benefit from my skills, don’t hesitate to get in touch via johnny@injohnnyskitchen.com

Food styling and food photography

I wanted to be able to create photos that make your mouth water when you look at them. After a workshop in food styling and one in food photography, I started to learn how to use a DSLR camera and do my own post-processing in Lightroom. 

Most photographers have a certain style that is reoccurring in their work. Probably because of my background in marketing I like to do closeup shots of the dishes, much like you would see in product photography and ads. Underneath you can find some photos of dishes that I personally quite like.

FoodGawker.com is one of the #1 food-porn sites out there and known for featuring the best food blogger recipes from around the world. I’m of course very proud to say that my recipes found their way there too. Next to FoodGawker, I regularly share my recipes on Dishfolio.com

Recipe development, flavor pairings, and two cookbooks

It started with one small recipe, but somehow I ended up writing two cookbooks. Several years ago, as part of a competition, my recipe for Thai noodles with fish and pineapple was featured in the German cooking magazine “Lecker” and their website Lecker.de, which is one of Germany’s biggest food sites. It was later translated and featured in the Belgian cooking magazine “Foodies” which is owned by the same publisher.

As I always had the dream of one day writing a cookbook I decided to start doing that sooner rather than later. It took me in total about 2 years to finish “In Johnny’s Kitchen: The food I love to make for my friends and family“. As the title suggests, this book is my personal journey through food with all the dishes that I love to cook for my friends and family in my humble home. The main reason why the project took so long, was because I decided to do all the photography of the over 70 recipes myself – all while juggling my 40+ hour day-job. My friend Erwin Spil did the layout of the book and I ultimately self-published the book via an on-demand printing service.

Even while I was still busy with my first book I couldn’t help myself and started drafting my second book “Flavor Math” which revolves around flavors and food pairing. Contrary to the first book, the second one is a comprehensive and easy-to-understand guide that teaches on 110 pages how to balance flavor better and combine ingredients in more creative ways. It is based on flavor combinations that have proven themselves all over the world, as well as science and chemistry. Especially the latter results in exciting and daring new pairings that spark the creativity of professionals and amateurs alike. Both books are available as paperbacks worldwide through Amazon. Digital copies of the second book are available on my website as well.

In September my recipe for cookies with black olives and white chocolate ended up in the finals for an innovative cookie contest.

Food, social media, and online marketing

Nowadays, if it’s not online, it doesn’t exist! That was the reason why I build this website, in which in consequently integrated a webshop where I sell the digital copies of my second book “Flavor Math”. When I started with food photography in general, I also set-up my Instagram account @InJohnnysKitchen which by now has around 5,500 active followers. More recently I started using various other social media channels to successfully market my website, recipes, and books. For example, my recipe for a Thai coconut pulled chicken sandwich was rated ‘Best slow-cooker dish of February’ on Reddit.

Japanese knife manufacturer Kamikoto approached me for a sponsoring deal with their Kanpeki knife set and I became social media influencer for them. I featured their knives in several of my Instagram posts helping them to further grow their business in Europe.

With my background in communication science, consumer psychology and marketing I am able to come up with marketing strategies, -plans and execute tactics – online, as well as offline. I really enjoy persona building for a brand’s- or website’s audience in order to make sure marketing is spot-on. My experience working in market research has greatly helped in perfecting this skill set.

Food and collaborations

My food skills, expertise, and travels have allowed me to collaborate with a lot of interesting and talented people. Next to several creative online contests, that I held with other food bloggers, I worked together with different websites, companies, and agencies over the years. A few of my personal highlights were definitely:

Having my own little pop-up restaurant in Faro, Portugal at Casa d’algarve, serving a 3 course Mexican feast for 14 paying guests

Rating all kinds of different Dutch craft beers to help www.BierHopper.nl select the winning selection for their next beer subscription box

Writing how I as a foreigner experience the Portuguese food in Porto to help www.Tugabox.pt create content and exposure for their site

Working together with Dutch fashion and lifestyle community www.Fashionlab.nl on various posts, recipes, and a contest

And of course, the time I was in Poland and got interviewed by local newspaper Panorama about food, travels and book writing, resulting in a magazine article that I still to date can’t read as I don’t speak a single word of Polish…

Food, science, data, and consultancy

Food is my passion, but I’m also a man of science and data. When I was busy with the research for my master thesis I decided to combine the two. It always intrigued me why some German people go to Thailand and eat McDonald’s rather than local delicacies. This phenomenon is called Food Neophobia – the fear of novel foods. My several different parts of surveys and focus group interviews about the perception of unknown foods resulted in two scientific publications – one peer-reviewed journal article and one poster presentation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Afterward, I worked in market research for 5 years advising several of the worlds leading food companies. Understanding consumer needs, segmenting consumer groups, shaping brand strategy for years to come, and tracking brand growth have been the cornerstone of my work there. Putting complex data and situations into easily understandable words was what I excelled at. I’m also a very confident public speaker and have presented in the boardrooms of some of the worlds biggest brands. You can find out more about my professional life on LinkedIn.

I have recently quit my day-job in market research and am now looking for opportunities to help small food brands and restaurants grow and make a name for themselves. If you or someone you know could benefit from my skills, just send me a mail to johnny@injohnnyskitchen.com

Cheers and I hope to hear from you soon!