A bit about myself
I am Ope Okunbor, also known as Chef Mulligan, a practising doctor, chef and a lover of good things on a zig-zag journey to greatness. I currently work as a dental surgeon and a budding chef every now and then. I am the chef behind ‘The home cookout’.
How did you birth the idea?
The cookout started in December 2017. My flatmate and friend, Anu Scott, who is also a co-partner was planning how to enjoy the Yelutide for the festive period without going out because many places would be crowded. So, we first decided to do a movies night, invite our friends and then we just decided to also cook something nice. Before we knew it, he designed and poster and soon, many of our friends got interested.
That’s how we added a price tag and turned it into something more defining. That’s how ‘The home cookout’ was birthed and thanks to God, we just concluded the “seasoning III”.
How I combined medicine and cooking over the years
Combining dentistry/medicine with another entrepreneurial skill is quite challenging, I have to plan way ahead to fit all schedule within a particular time frame but with friends and family, we have been able to pull through all the time.
Results from the cookouts
The main idea of the cookout is to enjoy good cuisine meals, network with people and have fun; it wasn’t profit-orientated at the beginning and till now, the second edition wasn’t as good as the first due to logistics problem then but that didn’t deter us to get back and better and thank God, the outcome of the third edition was great and we have been getting good reviews from attendees and even those who weren’t able to attend. Now, our Lagos and Abuja friends want one.
Creating my niche…
We want to create a chain of hosting events in homes and hence the name of the event, doing it like a tour and right now we are already drawing up our plans for the next edition. However I see ‘The home cookout’ in the nearest future as a brand that will be talked about amongst young people as an avenue to meet cool people, network, have fun and eat good culinary meals at ridiculous prices. My niche is centered around Italian and Chinese cuisines.
Challenges I have faced
Investment has been a great challenge to our business, you can’t approach the banks and get a favorable deal neither can you easily find investors who will believe in the crazy things we do but we hope to find soon; if you are out there and want to invest, we are ready.
How I have coped despite challenges
Currently, we don’t run our event as a profit-oriented business, we use our finances and resources to bring the quality and credibility that is needed to get people interested in what we make.
My other hobbies
Other hobbies I enjoy are photography, writing, hanging out with my boys and watching movies or television series.
My recipe for today
Basmati rice and Butternut squash soup.