Meet Ryan Harris | Small Business Owner & Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ryan Harris and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ryan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Like many other entrepreneurs I wanted to create something that didn’t exist where I lived. After working in high-end restaurants for a long time my business partner and I wanted to offer high quality ingredients to the most number of people. Fine dining, though fun, proved to be too isolated. We worked with these beautiful ingredients but only a tiny percentage of the population could taste them.

That idea combined with wanting to feel the warmth of community felt around my grandmother’s table lead us to opened a community-focused sandwich shop. We felt sandwiches were one of the most democratic foods and a great way to show off amazing ingredients. Sandwiches are approachable, convenient, and creatively boundless.

We started with sandwiches, added breakfast biscuits, and then people wanted the ingredients themselves so we started offering our homemade meats, pickles, sauces, and heat-and-eat items as well.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My career has been a wonderfully exciting series of stepping stones and turns. I went to college and subsequently quit graduate school to learn to cook. While working in a taco shops, chains and semi-fine dining restaurants to pay the bills while in graduate school a pastry chef gave me The French Laundry cookbook. At that time I’d never heard of a Michelin star and didn’t really understand fine dining. I read the book cover to cover the night I got it and dropped out of school a week later. Five months after that I moved from Tennessee to California and started cooking in San Francisco and staging in any restaurant that would take me on my days off. From there I worked and staged for multiple chefs in some amazing restaurants around the world like The Restaurant at Meadowood and Blue Hill at Stone Barns. I then left to help open a cocktail bar with Josh Habiger in Nashville called the Patterson – this job I didn’t really know would be as impactful as it was. Josh gave me a tremendous amount of autonomy whilst trusting me to keep up with his exceptional level of creativity and detail. It’s a place that really helped cultivate my confidence and forced me to develop systems of operation. After leaving The Patterson House Josh encouraged me to take the job offer at TRAM as he felt it was one of the most creative kitchens in the U.S.A. at the time. He was right, and that job brought me to Napa Valley. They first place that felt like home since leaving East Tennessee at 17. Being open to these changing environments and experiences has allowed me to become well rounded and see the industry for more than just fine dining or more than just casual or just cocktails. It’s allowed me to see the need for all facets of the industry and fill in the gaps that exist. This broad exposure also allowed me find out what really resonated with me and put my energy towards that, and ultimately that resonance came from community.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
That’s a tough one, especially amid the pandemic. I have lists written of my favorite places to eat in nearly every city I’ve spent time in. For the bay area I always send people to Chez Panisse, Burma Superstar, China Village, and El Molino Central. One of the best meals I’ve had in the last year was at Valley Bar & Bottle in Sonoma.

The beauty of living in the bay area is that it’s easy to bop around from city to city and experience new things. Nothing beats a bike ride in Marin and good cappuccino or dim sum in SF and a walk along the water or bread at Tartine and a jaunt through the MoMA.

If I’m in LA I have to eat some Korean food at Soban – and I’m dying to check out my friends Kat & John’s forthcoming restaurant Yang Ban Society. Sqirl is always delicious, and I can’t get over how great the coffee and service is at Go Get Em Tiger. Really if you’re in LA great food abounds.

If it’s not eating I’m doing it’s getting outside. I spent most of my time at Skyline Park in Napa or Tilden Park in Berkeley or Golden Gate Park in SF, or somewhere amid the hills of Marin/Sonoma County. The bay area’s biodiversity is one of it’s greatest attributes and I do my best to be a part of it.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Looking back on how we got here the list of who has helped us is endless. From our families, to our friends and community the list is exceptionally long. Kevin and I were both strongly influenced from our chef mentors like Jeff Murphy, Jason Bond, Isaac Miller, and Patricia Curtan. Their guidance went beyond the kitchen into how to understand sourcing, training, community involvement, communication, and the value and impact of the decisions we make. Without their guidance and fostering of our curiosity we likely would not have had the gumption to start our own enterprise. They helped cultivate the wonder and confidence needed to take the leap.

Website: www.contimonapa.com

Instagram: contimonapa

Facebook: facebook.com/contimoprovisions

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/contimo-provisions-napa

Image Credits
first image photo credit is to: annamaephoto.com