Stephanie worked as Associate Food Editor at Chocolatier Magazine and Pastry Art and Design Magazine, before becoming Director of Culinary Operations & Production for Bobby Flay for twenty-three years.
A friend of Stephanie’s wrote a blurb about her that puts it best:
“With a combination of humor, sass and grit (not to mention a deeply unique obsession with food and cooking, and most especially for buttercream), Stephanie Banyas has become one of the industry’s top recipe developers and culinary producers. Her happy place is definitely in the kitchen, where she first started as a baker in NYC restaurants, and then made a name for herself as Bobby Flay’s right-hand-man for over two decades. This entailed appearing as Bobby’s sidekick on television, co-authoring over TK cookbooks, and collaborating on every single recipe churned out of the Bobby Flay machine, whether for tv, books or restaurants. Stephanie’s years in recipe development primed her for product development with companies such as Tropicana Juice/Trop 50 and One Coconut water—perfect projects that echo her proclivity for healthy eating and lifestyle. But her real jam is dessert, and it’s not uncommon to find Stephanie at home, pouring over her extensive collection of baking books to update a favorite childhood dessert—while simultaneously enjoying pounds of candy or even (from time to time)a nice big coconut cake or chess pie”.
On today’s podcast, Stephanie talks about her transition to becoming a freelancer and the work she is currently doing in Boseman Montana as a Culinary Instructor at Galatin College at Montana State University, Pastry Consultant at Rockford Coffee, and a current project she is working on- Vegan Ice Cream!