“Take the chance, without a doubt.”

For South Coast chef Ryan Smith, moving regionally has not meant stepping away from serious hospitality. It has meant finding a place where high-standard food, leadership, regional produce and lifestyle can sit together.

Now Executive Chef at Cupitt’s Estate, Ryan’s career has taken him from the Sutherland Shire to Circular Quay, London, Sydney, the Central Coast, Mollymook, Ulladulla, Tasmania and back to the Shoalhaven. He has worked in hatted restaurants, Michelin-star kitchens, high-end catering, cafes, clubs and regional venues. He has cooked for royalty and celebrities, led teams through pressure, and built a career around consistency, training and quality.

But returning to the South Coast has given Ryan something different: a serious hospitality role with space to build a life around it. For Ryan, that lifestyle is not just beaches and views. Being on the South Coast has also allowed him to keep his horses with him, something that would be far harder to maintain in a city-based role. It is a small detail that says a lot about the difference regional work can make. The career is still ambitious, but the life around it has more room.

A Career Built in Serious Kitchens

Ryan’s career started in the Sutherland Shire, where he began his apprenticeship in a small 20-seat restaurant. It did not take long for his head chef to give him a piece of advice that changed the direction of his career.

“He said, now is the time to decide what you want to do,” Ryan says. “Do you want to be a cafe chef or do you want to be a restaurant chef?”

Ryan chose the hatted restaurant path. Soon after, he was working in a two-hat restaurant in Circular Quay, where the standard was high and the expectation was simple: keep pushing to be better.

“It was about striving to want to do the best you can,” he says.

That foundation carried him overseas. At 23, Ryan moved to the United Kingdom, where he spent nearly a decade in London. He was initially connected with The Ledbury in Notting Hill, but when the opening was delayed, he was placed in The Square, a two Michelin star restaurant.

It was intense.

“That nearly killed me,” he says. “It was 80-hour weeks.”

The pressure sharpened him, but it also showed him the kind of kitchen culture he wanted to carry forward, and the kind he did not. After about a year, Ryan moved into high-end catering, where he spent six or seven years working events connected to royalty, celebrities, film premieres and red-carpet functions.

“It was so much fun,” he says.

Eventually, Ryan found a pathway home through Bill Granger’s expanding restaurant group. He joined the Notting Hill restaurant as Senior Sous Chef, then transferred back to Australia into his first Head Chef role. One lesson from that period stayed with him: consistency.

“I have sort of prided my career on consistency,” Ryan says. “Customers want to come back for that same dish all the time. It should not matter who cooks it.”

The South Coast Calls

After returning to Australia, Ryan worked in Sydney, including at a brewery bar and restaurant in Manly. He later returned to high-end catering, bought a house on the Central Coast and eventually ran a cafe.

Then the South Coast called.

Ryan moved to Mollymook to be closer to family, but the move also made professional sense. He knew the reputation of Bannisters and its connection to Rick Stein, and when the opportunity came up, he took it.

“I knew about Bannisters and what they represented,” he says.

He spent around three years there before COVID changed the hospitality landscape. From there, he helped take on the lease at Ulladulla Bowling Club, where the goal was to shift what club food could be.

“We wanted to change the whole concept of club food,” he says. “Not just do your normal stuff.”

The idea worked. It showed again that regional hospitality did not have to mean ordinary hospitality. Ryan later moved to Tasmania, where he spent four years working in Launceston and deepened his appreciation for produce, climate, wine and the way food connects to place.

“The quality of food and the wine are just next level down there,” he says.

Leading the Kitchen at Cupitt’s Estate

Ryan had stayed in touch with Tom at Cupitt’s Estate. When Tom asked whether he knew any Executive Chefs, Ryan put his hand up.

“What about me?” he said.

That conversation led him back to the Shoalhaven. Now, as Executive Chef at Cupitt’s Estate, Ryan is leading a kitchen in one of the region’s most recognisable hospitality destinations. Cupitt’s Estate is a family-run winery, restaurant, wedding venue and accommodation destination on the NSW South Coast, located in Ulladulla. Its restaurant also positions itself around South Coast food and wine, minutes from Ulladulla, Milton and Mollymook.

“Location is amazing,” he says. “I like the style of food. It is that Mediterranean feel, Italian sort of thing.”

He also sees the quality available in the region.

“You can still get good quality food down here,” he says. “The guys in the kitchen are great. We have really built a good little team.”

The role at Cupitt’s is different from many of Ryan’s previous kitchen roles. It is less about being on the tools every minute and more about leading the whole operation.

“This job for me is more management than on the tools,” he says. “It is a hard transition because that is all I have ever done.”

For a South Coast chef, that leadership role matters. It shows that regional hospitality can offer progression, management responsibility and team development, not just service shifts.

Building a Brigade, Not Just a Team

For Ryan, a kitchen is not just a workplace. It is a place where young people learn how to work, communicate, respect others and take pride in what they do.

“It is not just teaching them how to do things or cook or cut,” he says. “It is trying to set them up for life.”

That approach shapes the culture he is building at Cupitt’s. He wants a brigade where people have each other’s backs, where young chefs feel supported, and where attitude matters as much as skill.

“You always want a can-do attitude,” Ryan says. “Try and look at the positives.”

He loves training apprentices, especially when they are open to learning properly from the ground up.

“I love getting new apprentices in and teaching them the right way,” he says. “As long as they want to learn.”

The skills being taught at Cupitt’s are practical and precise. Recently, the kitchen has been working with whole fish, breaking them down, skinning them and preparing them for sashimi. The team is also learning knife skills, different cuts, workstation discipline and the small habits that make a chef reliable.

“If they can get all that right, when they move on it holds them in good stead,” Ryan says. “It shows that we are doing our job here. They are getting trained well.”

Why the South Coast Chef Pathway Matters

For chefs in Sydney wondering whether a move to the South Coast would limit their career, Ryan is clear. The region has changed. The opportunities are growing.

“Go back 10 years and you had a couple of places like Bannisters or Cupitt’s,” he says. “Now there is so much going on down here.”

He points to the growth of restaurants, accommodation, catering and high-quality hospitality venues across the region. Places like Jackson Ranch and Willinga Park have added to the depth of the local scene, while new restaurants, takeaways and food businesses continue to appear.

“There are so many little restaurants in town now, and they are really good quality ones,” he says. “It is building.”

That growth needs more skilled people.

“We need good chefs to come down and keep that standard up,” Ryan says.

For Ryan, working regionally does not mean losing quality. It means doing high-standard work in a place where the pace of life feels more human.

“If you are working and living in Sydney, it just seems stressful,” he says. “You can have the same calibre of place down here, but it is more relaxed. You can breathe.”

That is why the South Coast chef pathway matters. It gives skilled hospitality workers the chance to keep building serious careers in a region where food, produce, tourism and lifestyle are all part of the local economy.

A Career with Room to Breathe

For Ryan, the South Coast has offered the balance many chefs look for but do not always find. He can work in a serious kitchen, lead a team, train young chefs and stay connected to strong produce, while also living in a place that gives him more space outside work.

That includes being able to keep his horses with him, a meaningful point of difference from a city-based hospitality role. It connects directly to what regional living can offer: not less ambition, but more room to build a life around the work.

For someone in hospitality, that matters. The hours can be long. The pressure can be high. The mental load of leadership can be real. Having space, animals, community and a landscape outside the kitchen changes what life can feel like after service ends.

Returning to the Shoalhaven has also given Ryan a sense of community. People have welcomed him back, recognised him and made him feel like he has settled straight back in.

“Everyone I have seen has been very welcoming,” he says. “It has been good. I have just settled straight back in.”

Take the Chance

For young chefs, experienced chefs or hospitality professionals considering a move from Sydney, Ryan’s message is simple. The South Coast is not a fallback option. It is a region with momentum, quality and room to grow.

“There is so much going on down here,” he says. “Take the chance, without a doubt.”

Ryan’s career has taken him from the Sutherland Shire to Circular Quay, London, high-end catering, Sydney, the Central Coast, Mollymook, Ulladulla, Tasmania and back to the Shoalhaven. Each step has added something: discipline, consistency, creativity, resilience, leadership and perspective.

At Cupitt’s Estate, those experiences now come together in a kitchen that is training the next generation, lifting local standards and proving that serious hospitality careers can grow outside the city.

For Ryan, the South Coast offers the balance so many chefs are looking for: strong food, strong teams, strong opportunity and a life that gives room to breathe.

For more regional hospitality and career context, explore the South Coast careers page, the Shoalhaven careers page and the Ulladulla careers page.