Richie Brandenburg
Biography
Richard Brandenburg embraces the potential in projects, places, and people. His passion for food launched him on a journey that started in the most celebrated kitchens and lead him to create innovative dining experiences. He is now driven to enhance the collaborative experience of dining to a community where people thrive through food.
Growing up right outside of Washington D.C., a Reston native who started in Restaurants at the age of 14, found a love for the excitement and energy. After attending the CIA in Hyde Park, he worked in New Orleans for a chef with the Brennan Family Restaurants who inspired him, guided him along the way. More importantly, he learned the importance of relationships and mentorship by great chefs and operators.
His first foray in to opening new concepts was in London, where Richie joined a young chef, coming from Raymond Blanc’s Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, to open his first place in London; an experience that made him expect everything to be done right.
Richie’s education and experience in kitchen operations and recipe creation continued in DC under Nora Pouillon who inspired the importance of great ingredients. Mark Miller at the Red Sage taught him to geek out on the research of ingredients. In New York. as sous chef alongside Eric Ripert at Le Bernardin, he was taught valuable lessons of how organization leads to excellence.
In San Francisco, he worked with Next Century Group, now renamed Mina Group, under Chef Michael Mina. Other positions included sous chef under Laurent Gras at The Fifth Floor and heading the kitchens of One Market Restaurant and The Bohemian Club. He returned to DC to become the opening executive chef at the Palomar Hotel. In 2008, Richie joined multi-award-winning Chef José Andrés’ ThinkFoodGroup as Kitchen Director. His projects included the inaugural Bazaar brand in Los Angeles. It was the first collaboration with Andrés' R&D chef, Rubén García.
As a seasoned chef and operator, he evolved to become a creator as the Director of Culinary Strategy for a national real estate development group, EDENS. He became a leader in development, design, and operations efforts in the culinary portfolio on behalf of a growing multi-city portfolio, including DC’s culinary epicenter, Union Market and La Coshecha.
Creating UNFOLD Hospitality is the culmination of his experiences and knowledge and the beginning of a partnership with his best friend, Rubén García. As they have seen their children grow together, they hope to foster the same sense of family, community and thriving. He hopes to parlay his relationships to enhance the next generation of restaurant industry leaders.
