The Propergander Story
Meet Darren Conole — The Knife Behind the Name
I’m Darren — a bald bloke with a beard, a sharp tongue, and sharper knives. I’ve spent over 30 years sweating it out in kitchens across the globe — from luxury hotels in Hong Kong and India to high-end joints in Melbourne, Christchurch, and beyond. I’ve fed princes, cooked with rebels, opened restaurants, closed a few too, and led food operations for some of the biggest names in the business.
Along the way, I learned that great food isn’t just about fancy ingredients or perfect plating. It’s about people. Systems. Guts. It’s about telling the truth on a plate — and off it.
That’s why I started Propergander Cuisine. A consultancy? Sure. A culinary think tank? Sometimes. But more than anything, it’s my way of helping others cut through the industry noise and do things properly — whether you’re revamping a bistro menu, mobilising a campus kitchen, or fixing a food business that’s on the ropes.
Propergander stands for:
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Straight talk, not smoke and mirrors.
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Bold flavour, backed by operational know-how.
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Strategic support, led by someone who's actually worn the whites.
This isn’t “consultancy speak.” I get in the trenches. I help leaders, chefs, and business owners build kitchens that work and teams that care. And if you’re after someone to rubber-stamp your mediocrity — you’re in the wrong place.
So, if you're ready for fresh thinking, real talk, and results you can taste — welcome to Propergander.
Our history
Propergander Cuisine was founded in 2024 by Darren Conole—a chef with knives worn from real kitchens, not just theory. After three decades running high-performance F&B operations across five-star hotels, international event and education contracts, Darren saw a gap in the market: most consultants didn’t understand the daily grind of hospitality.
This wasn’t theory—it was survival. From Melbourne’s fine dining rooms in the ’90s to mega-preopenings in Asia, from launching student dining systems to overseeing mobilisation projects in remote New Zealand, Darren has cooked, led, and strategised at every level of the industry.
In 2020, the pandemic changed the game. Tech, burnout, and reinvention collided. By 2023, Darren began integrating AI tools into kitchen leadership—not to replace people, but to empower them. Propergander was the next logical step: a consultancy built to help hospitality operations think faster, lead smarter, and deliver without losing soul.
Since launching, Propergander has worked with education providers, hospitality groups, and startup venues—bringing practical, bold, and no-fluff solutions to the table.
We’re proud of where we’ve come from—and even prouder of where we’re going.
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