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Considered the top chefs in their friend group, Cayne Mandell and Garrett Schwartzberg have started a cooking business out of their apartments on Comstock and Walnut avenues.

The two Syracuse University seniors cook for customers through their business 2 Guys 1 Kitchen, which they started in March. Their business has its own Instagram page, where customers can order food such as pulled pork sandwiches and chicken parmesan. They also made a remake of a sandwich called the Godfadda, which is from the popular Millburn Deli in New Jersey.

The pair always loved to cook, and they prepared meals for their friends during weekdays. For them, the business is an opportunity to start selling food to other students on campus and make money.

“It was kind of just based off of our culinary skill. We thought we were pretty good together,” Mandell said. “And we had a kitchen between us, too.”

When the cooking duo started their business they had about 20 clients. But through their first month, Schwartzberg said they have doubled their clientele to 40 customers.

The Instagram account is the main way the duo interacts with their customers, and it’s where customers place orders through direct messages. By engaging with their followers on Instagram through polls and posts, Mandell and Schwartzberg can gauge what their customers want them to make.

Swartzberg and Mandell get the supplies for their meals from Wegmans and Trader Joe’s. For meat, they go to Liehs and Steigerwald, a deli and butcher shop in Syracuse, and for bread, Pastabilities is their main source.

“It’s been really overwhelming, growing with the amount of customers messaging us throughout the day,” Schwartzberg said.

SU senior Max Moss’ favorite meal to purchase from 2 Guys 1 Kitchen is the pulled pork sandwich. Moss ordered from the business because he wanted something different from the usual places he goes to in Syracuse.

“They’re both really good chefs,” Moss said. “And they just said, ‘We just went to Wegmans, Venmo a few dollars and you could have a meal.’ I could never turn that down, and it turned out to be unbelievable.”

Schwartzberg and Mandell have expanded their business in the last couple of days to accommodate a 10-person birthday party. While their typical orders are usually friends and individual clients, the two look forward to doing more catering in the future.

“Things have been growing great,” Schwartzberg said “And we are going to continue this business up until graduation. We’re both seniors. So, hopefully, one of our friends who is a junior or a sophomore can continue to run the business under the same name and keep the tradition going.”

Published on April 13, 2021 at 9:46 pm