Chef Von’s Recipe for Success: Hustle, Grit and a Little Bravado

Chef Ryan Von Smith didn’t leave Scranton because everything was lined up. He left because he knew he needed more. More opportunity. More pressure. More of a shot than he felt he could get staying put. So he headed to Los Angeles with a big dream and one mindset: figure it out.

It wasn’t glamorous.

He scraped by at first, doing whatever he had to do to stay afloat. His first real break came at Tao Asian Bistro… not in the kitchen, but at the door. Working security. Watching everything up close. The pace, the expectations, the energy of a real kitchen. Close enough to see what it took. And instead of staying there, he worked his way in. From there, things started to build.

New York. LA. Las Vegas. Macau. Kitchens where pressure isn’t part of the job, it is the job. He learned fast, adapted, and carved out a place for himself in an industry that doesn’t wait for anyone.

And then… everything stopped.

When COVID hit, the world’s kitchens went quiet. The momentum disappeared. And Chef Von came home to Scranton. No big plan. No guarantee of what was next. Just his mom’s kitchen. So he did what he’s always done. He got to work.

He started cooking for people. Real food. The kind that feels like home. And people showed up. Then more people showed up.

What started as a pop-up turned into something real. Chef Von & Mom. Opened on Scranton Parade Day in March 2022, built on family, hustle, and a shared dream that had been there all along. And here’s where the story takes another turn.

After rebuilding from the ground up, Chef Von stepped back onto bigger stages. He competed internationally, placing third at the World Master Chefs Competition and going on to win global titles like the 2024 World Rice Champion. He also appeared on Gordon Ramsay’s Next Level Chef, proving that everything he built, before and after coming home, could hold up anywhere. His food reflects that journey. Bold. Unexpected. No rules. The kind of chef who puts peanut butter and bacon on a burger and somehow makes it work.

In this episode of HarmonyTALK, Greg Frigoletto sits down with Chef Von for a conversation that gets into all of it.

The risk of leaving.

The grind of figuring it out.

The reset no one saw coming.

And the confidence to build something real anyway.

Because Chef Von’s recipe for success isn’t complicated.

It’s hustle.

It’s grit.

And yeah… a little bravado.