Ryan Rogers is the Founder of HiCotton Hospitality, a chef, restaurateur, Southern nomad, and Americana enthusiast. His earliest food memories are of boiled peanuts at roadside stands and spending time sneaking peaks and smells from the pots in his Cajun grandparent’s kitchen. Ryan landed in New York, graduating from New York University and then the French Culinary Institute. He began his professional culinary career in NYC before the South dragged him back to the bourbon-soaked streets of Louisville, Kentucky.

In 2012 at the age of 26, Ryan opened Feast BBQ in a carefully rehabbed a 130-year-old brick storefront in downtown New Albany, Indiana. The restaurant recalls his childhood memories of Southern barbecue and is built upon a foundation of refined culinary technique. Feast landed on Eater National’s Hottest BBQ Restaurants, and in 2014 Ryan opened a second location in downtown Louisville. He followed up with Royals Hot Chicken, an ode to Nashville Hot Chicken featuring scratch made sides. This fall Ryan and executive chef and partner Andrew McCabe opened bar Vetti, a neighborhood Italian spot featuring fresh housemade pasta, brick oven pizza, and shared plates. Ryan is an Eater Young Gun and his restaurants have been featured in The Chicago Tribune, Travel & Leisure Magazine, The New York Times, USA Today, and Garden & Gun Magazine.