#MANday Exclusive: Reggie Milligan of Mantry Talks Food & Start-Ups, And Why You Should Get Hip To “The Modern Man’s Pantry”

ANTHONY HANCOCK & REGGIE MILLIGAN OF MANTRY

MANday is back and we have a special feature interview for you guys! I had the opportunity to speak with Reggie Milligan, co-founder of food start-up Mantry, affectionately named after a play on words of the modern man’s pantry. They search for the best artisan and small-batch foods around the country, and deliver you the goods every month.

Their latest project is a special box catered towards cocktails, specifically high-quality cocktail mixers. Read on below to get the lowdown, and how you can get involved!

What is your personal experience with food and drink?

I grew up working in restaurants from the age of fourteen, specifically fine dining. I started working when I was fifteen years old, at a restaurant that was called Lumiere, and I actually apprenticed at the ages of seventeen and eighteen down at The French Laundry which is out in Napa (that’s a three Michelin star spot). I was really much the driven guy that was super-interested in owning the next best restaurant by a really young age. So I was really deep into fine dining between the ages of fourteen and twenty, and learned from chopping onions in a back hallway to apprenticing in kitchens and bumping around. I was always very passionate about food; I was a part of that generation that might have been plunked out in front of The Food Network, and absorbed a ridiculous amount. I remember growing up watching Emeril and stuff for hours on end back when The Food Network was based on teaching, opposed to building sugar castles and running around chasing food trucks, or whatever they do now [laughs]. In short, the same way a young boy would get interested in sports, I was always drawn to cooking.

How did the idea for Mantry come about, and why did you decide to make it a subscription-box service?

I actually ended up going to university and doing business school, and once I left fine dining kitchens around twenty, I burnt out a little bit. But back at school, just living the college lifestyle and doing a business degree, I kind of saw how people cooked and would eat at home more, especially living with a bunch of guys, and that’s where the seed for the concept kind of started in a sense. I was just thinking, ‘is there a resource for food that really speaks to guys as much?‘. There’s the GQs and the Details, and that sort of thing, they write the very rare food article, so that’s what planted the seed. Ultimately didn’t know if we wanted to do a men’s food magazine fully, as opposed to just product. Those magazines write about “top sauce to try” and “five artisan makers around the country”, “four products that use bourbon”, and we just thought, let’s hedge our best, put this stuff in a box and send it to guys blind and hopefully they’ll dig it, cuz they can’t read about it when it’s right in front of them.

Mantry came out of just trying to find a cool resource that was tailored to guys. We have lots of female subscribers, most of our subscribers are couples who just like getting six cool products to accessorize their shopping at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods or whatever throughout the week. The true concept to why we wanted a subscription was just cuz we wanted to take people on more of a journey. We focus on American small-batch makers, but there are so many stories to tell. Maybe a box would be just focused on different Mexican-inspired foods made throughout the U.S., or different people making Thai foods throughout the U.S.; we did a box called Thai Game which was kind of game-night feature, wings recipes and nachos recipes, and that type of thing, but using different makers that had Thai influence around the country. There was this amazing Thai chili sauce from Virginia of all places, there was Thai basil pickled jalapeños from Washington, from a maker up there called Gordy’s, this supercool Thai curry coconut peanuts that this person was making down in Texas…so we’ve done boxes like that, or we’ve done boxes like “Six Amazing Makers From Georgia” and trying to tell a little bit of a story of food culture in Georgia, we included an amazing small-batch grits from down there with a shrimp & grits recipe, there’s an olive oil company that’s the first olive oil farm east of the Mississippi in 100 years, so there’s so many stories to tell around the U.S.

#MANday EXCLUSIVE: A Chat With Menswear Designer, Waraire Boswell. The Man Behind The Brand & His Style Gems For You!

If you are not yet familiar with the face, the name is one you will be sure to remember.

The man behind the brand, Waraire Boswell.

Waraire Boswell is a Los Angeles-based menswear designer whose eponymous line was built out of pure necessity. Standing at a towering 6’7, Waraire began making his own suits whilst working as an agent in the entertainment industry.

Thirteen years later, he clothes some of your favorite celebrities and athletes, including NY Knicks player Tyson Chandler, and the Miami Heat’s Chris Bosh.

We love Waraire’s aesthetic, and in our first MANday exclusive interview, we chat with the man behind the brand, and open our ears to his gems on achieving unique personal style.

It’s a great feeling of empowerment to know that you can walk into any boutique or big box store, and know that you can find something that’s gonna fit you.

This statement, said by Mr. Boswell, is one that rang true to me. As a woman of a certain waist-to-hip ratio, I know how frustrating it can be to find proper clothing, and how amazing it feels to find that outfit that fits just right, and makes you feel like a million bucks.

The profile

In earlier years, Mr. Boswell was not afforded this luxury, given his slim and tall build, but in building his brand over the years, he gives this opportunity not only to taller men, but those of all statures.

“Your entire swagger is built on how you look, and how you feel.”

Don’t you agree? Let’s get into more from our chat with Mr. Boswell…

Some of the brands you admire right now?

In terms of suiting, I love Tom Ford, I like Thom Browne (what he does). In terms of casual, I like Supreme, I like Kith, I like Undefeated. In terms of middle-of-the-road, I like ACNE, I like Rag & Bone. There’s a brand out of Brooklyn a good friend of mine owns called The Brooklyn Circus, they do great stuff. And also Art Comes First, they’re fellow gentlemen who do suits as well.

Upcoming collaborations?

There’s a collaboration with Grover. They’re a great California-based brand that makes casual basics. We’re collaborating for something in that vein, but more contemporary with a darker template.

Then there is the re-up of the Del Toro x Waraire Boswell velvet slipper. There’s the Garrett Leight collaboration that launched a couple of days ago with glasses. And then there will be Boswell in the fall; it’s gonna be an extension of what Grover will touch on, but it will go deeper in reference to the pieces.

What are you listening to?

I love Daley, he’s awesome at what he does.

Style advice for young men who are looking to build their wardrobe?

Always start with the basics. In reference to suiting, black suit, navy suit, grey suit, khaki suit. In terms of shirts, make sure you have plenty of white shirts. 80% of my wardrobe is white shirts, they go with everything. And in reference to casual, that’s more of an open-end. Once you have your basics in any discipline, then you can add other things to that as it applies to suits. You have all the colors I just mentioned, then you can get a pinstripe, then you can get a houndstooth, then you can get a glen plaid and window pane, you can do all that, but you should never start with those colors.

What word of advice would you give to stay true to yourself, stylistically?

No matter what your size is, you should know what works on you. You know what works on you and what doesn’t as soon as you put it on. When it’s good, you know. When it’s counter-clockwise to good, meaning bad, you know that too. 

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It was an absolute pleasure to chat with Waraire Boswell. If you’re digging the feature, let us know in the comment section below, and look out for more every MANday!

 

*Photos by Ashton Barnett