Kanida Chey is a Toronto-based chef with more than 15 years of experience in the restaurant and fine dining industry. Currently, Kanida is the Executive Chef at Branca Restaurant located in the Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale. As the city’s first upscale Argentinian restaurant, Branca was built around the traditional Argentinian philosophy of cooking over a live fire.

At Branca, Kanida Chey manages the large kitchen and waitstaff, the menu and portioning sizes and overall cost analysis. He also designed and implemented an administrative structure that allows Branca to operate efficiently. In addition, he is responsible for the daily butchery of whole animals, a unique feature of the Argentinean menu.

Kanida introduced a daily smoking and roasting program at Branca, a restaurant that was named Toronto’s Most Romantic Restaurant, Toronto’s Top New Restaurant in the West End, and Top New Restaurant all for the year of 2015.

Kanida’s culinary career started shortly after he graduated from Toronto’s George Brown College, an institution well known for its culinary arts program. From there, he went on to hold a variety of positions at Flow Restaurant & Lounge which included: Garde Manger, Entremetier, Poissonnier, Saucier, Grillardin, Junior Sous Chef, Sous Chef.

During his time at Flow Restaurant & Lounge, Kanida developed a deep understanding of the complexities involved in running a successful restaurant through his comprehensive training and working of all stations and facets of the large kitchen, while also developing his robust culinary skills.

At Flow, Kanida was also charged with maintaining the overall cleanliness in all kitchen areas. Kanida also cooked a la carte services for 300 plus and assisted the Head Chef in the opening of a catering division, which executed banquets and events for 100 to 800 guests.

After six years at Flow Restaurant & Lounge, Kanida moved on and held a number of executive kitchen positions in Toronto, including, Sous Chef at Rose Water Supper Club, Executive Sous Chef at Origin Restaurant and Executive Chef/Consulting Chef at Ink Entertainment.

Before coming to Branca in 2014, Kanida was Chef De Cuisine, Executive Sous Chef and Culinary Director for Icon Legacy Hospitality, a Toronto-based full service international hospitality company that owns and operates a wide range of signature restaurants, cocktail lounges, bars and special events facilities.