She ‘does math’ only after a strong cup of coffee. Her taste in music ranges from Vivaldi to 50 Cent—with several genres in-between. She’s passionate about learning, her children, and not surprisingly, food. Meet Chef Yvette Hirang, Manager of Corporate Culinary Services at MGP.
When did you start at MGP, and what was your first position here?
I started at MGP in July of 2020 as R&D Chef, then became Foodservice Culinary Manager after two years, then Culinary Innovations Manager a year after that. I became Manager of Corporate Culinary Services in 2024.
What is your educational background?
I have a Bachelor’s degree in Communications with a focus on filmmaking, advertising and public relations, a Master’s degree in Management technology with a focus on Marketing and Strategic Management and an Associate degree in Applied Science, majoring in Culinary Arts.
How did your career path evolve from communications and marketing to the culinary world?
There was a time when I was younger that I was for sure going to be an astronomer for NASA or a CIA agent but I’ve loved cooking and food since I was a little kid. My whole family is business- minded, so my parents expected me to take up business management or accounting or medicine. But I am more right-brained and that’s why I chose communications. I loved learning about the technical aspect of the movie industry and I guess I needed to make sure that I studied something related to business, so I went into advertising. But I couldn’t shake my love for food and cooking. And my epiphany came during the worldwide phenomenon of The Food Network: I am going to be a chef by hook or by crook. That’s why I relocated to the United States with three small children so I could go to culinary school and learn from the best. I am just really blessed to have a job that lets me use the knowledge I gleaned from school. My communications skills I use for the videos we made for ProTerra® and our Straight Talk About Smart Food podcasts, my marketing and strategic management knowledge I use for the new product development process and my culinary skills for making our applications taste good.
Why do you do what you do?
I do what I do because I am passionate about creating and food in general, and I have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
What part of your job do you consider crucial that others might overlook?
Math skills. There’s a reason why I wanted to be a chef, because numbers make me dizzy, but guess what? Numbers are crucial to creating the best formula for the best applications using MGP products. (But I don’t do math before my first cup of strong coffee.)
When you’re home cooking, what album do you listen to?
I am very eclectic. I like collecting vinyl records. When I am baking, I play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, but when I am cooking, I listen to Chris Stapleton, any 80s band, or 50 Cent.
What’s your favorite dinner?
The kind that I didn’t have to make! Just kidding… …Pasta with homemade marinara and lots of fresh herbs from my garden.
What blog, podcast, website or book do you go to for education on the industry?
I like listening to Milk Street podcasts, and for the food science-y stuff I go to Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking” and books by David Julian McClements. My go-to for trends is Datassential’s webinar series.
What do you do exceptionally well?
Wing it! I am a good problem solver. A lot of things happen in a busy kitchen and one of them is when there is a missing ingredient that someone forgot to order (ahem usually me) or we just realized the ingredient does not have that usable quality. Chefs have to think on their toes, do something “on the fly” because we do not have time during busy service to stop and think of an alternative plan. Winging it just isn’t a struggle for me. I can create a new menu or dish based on what’s in front of me, just like that.
What are you passionate about?
Food and my children.
Who has had the most influence on your career?
My children. I keep doing the things that my children are proud of. If my kids, who are picky-eaters, will not eat what I have created, then I feel like I have failed and I work harder to do better.
What has been the most rewarding part of your time at MGP?
The chance I got to showcase our ingredients during a board of directors meeting where I created dishes paired with our premium brands on the alcohol side. I put my whole heart into that project.
What’s the biggest difference in your career today versus when you started?
I think I am wiser and have learned my lessons so I would like to think I am more decisive now (I think lol). I can feel and see my fullest potential now, I see that the path is clearer now. When I first started my career as a chef, we did not have the technology that exists now that makes menu planning so much quicker, and holy moly you can get the nutritional data of a dish or a food ingredient in seconds!
How would you describe MGP to someone who is unfamiliar with us?
I was at a chef’s conference and someone asked me who is MGP? I replied, “Do you drink whisky?” and proceeded from there with “There’s a big chance that you are drinking one of our products.” I should’ve said something like: “MGP is in that sweet spot where the alcohol and the food industry intersect and I am right smack in the middle of that spot with the coolest job ever!”
What’s the biggest misconception about your job and MGP?
A lot of people don’t really understand my role for an ingredients company like MGP. I am here to help customers who use our products when they have questions about flavor or how to add flavor to their products and make them palatable. Our R&D team makes prototypes and analogues using our ingredients and it is my role to make them taste good, and the flavors or just simply to add the “chef’s flair” to the applications.
What is something great about MGP that no one knows about?
That MGP has this cool test kitchen where employees can visit and try what the R&D department is working on using MGP Ingredients. And that MGP has an R&D team comprised of rock stars!