Four days a week, Ryder Manske pulls 10-hour shifts at Hen of the Wood in downtown Burlington. The 22-year-old line cook rotates through different stations but frequently mans the live-fire grill at the heart of the open kitchen. His one-night record for the restaurant’s popular hanger steak with basil rub is 55.
And about four times a week, Manske does a different kind of cooking in the kitchen of his New North End rental. He props his cellphone at one corner of the gas stove and sets up a ring light to illuminate his home set. The light is melted a bit on one side where it got too close to the heat of the broiler when he was filming a butter chicken video. “But it still works,” he said recently as he prepped to film himself making a crispy fried egg, starting with a couple takes of his standard intro: “Here’s what I actually cook at home as someone who works in fine dining.”
From planning to filming to editing, each three-minute video takes Manske up to two hours to produce. He cross-posts on Instagram (@rydermanske) and TikTok (@manskeat) to around 60,000 followers on each platform. Those numbers aren’t huge by influencer standards, but they’re impressive for a young cook who posted his first video less than two years ago. Manske’s gangly puppy energy and self-assured declarations that he’s about to share the best way to fry an egg, cook bacon, make a steak or season a burger have earned him an agent and some sponsored posts, with more projects percolating.
In late 2022 the Burlington native was just 18, with only a year of full-time professional cooking experience, when he drove cross-country two weeks after responding to chef Brandon Dearden’s TikTok call for a couple of junior cooks to help open Ember restaurant in Montana. An April 2024 video starring Manske making Ember’s signature 24-hour potato pavé went viral, with more than 20 million views across the restaurant’s robust TikTok, Instagram and Facebook accounts. Before ably demonstrating the laborious recipe, the cook uttered his top compliment with an emphatic shake of his shaggy head: “That’s money!”
Manske’s social media trajectory got a serious leg up from his two years working with Dearden. But it’s Manske’s style and content that have kept his following engaged and growing, according to Lucas Wohl, his agent at Viral Nation.
Wohl saw the financial potential when he first spotted Manske while scrolling TikTok. The agent said Manske stood out for his fun, genuine style and cooking demos that are “educational without trying too hard to be educational.” The young chef soon joined the agency’s roster: Of its total 1,000 clients, there are about 40 culinary content creators.
“It’s almost like you’re in the room with him,” Wohl continued. “It’s not too doctored, not overproduced. I think it makes people feel like they’re part of his life.”
The agent also noted that Manske has a strong follower community, as evidenced by the number of comments, shares and likes, and relatively few negative interactions. A creator with Manske’s stats, Wohl said, can earn from $3,000 to $6,000 per sponsored post while also generating income from creator incentive programs run by social media platforms.
Wohl understands that his client has no interest in leaving restaurants to become a full-time influencer — or in being labeled an influencer at all.
“There shouldn’t be any shame in that,” Manske said, “but I actually cook professionally, and I really love it.”
Seven Days chatted with Manske about how the fast-food chain Popeyes helped him fall in love with cooking, how he combats online trolls and whether he ever gets tired of posting.
What got you into cooking?
I was a really picky eater. I would eat, like, five things until I was probably 14 or 15. Then one day I made fried chicken because there was this big craze. Popeyes made a fried chicken sandwich, and you couldn’t get it here. Compared to how I’d make it now, what I made was terrible, but I ate it, and I was like, Wow, I put time into this, and this is so, so good. I kept making fried chicken, just doing the same thing different ways, and eventually that turned into cooking different things.
It was the first time I found something that I could totally fixate on. I wasn’t a good student in school. I wasn’t going to class. But when I found cooking, my drive and motivation was there.
How do you handle negative comments?
If you let negative comments slow you down, you’re never going to do anything good on social media. Unfortunately, that’s just the harsh reality. I honestly feel the worst thing that a content creator can do is respond to hate comments by calling them out, like, “Look at this hater. He has no idea what he’s talking about.” I either don’t respond or I just say something silly because I feel like that’s what separates me.
If you let negative comments slow you down, you’re never going to do anything good on social media.
RYDER MANSKE
Some guy will be like, “This is raw and burnt, and you fucked everything up.” And I’ll be like, “Hell, yeah.” When I worked at Ember, I had this thing I said: “That’s money.” So some guy will be like, “You’re terrible at this.” And I’ll be like, “That’s money.”
Ninety-nine percent of the time, when I respond in a friendly way, they say, “I like your content, man. Keep doing what you do.” They switch up immediately because they just want a reaction. I want this to be a good source of income and keep working for me. However people comment, no matter what they say, the number is important.
Do you ever think, Oh, God, what am I gonna post this week?
I’m currently in that week. I’m burnt sometimes, you know? I love to do this, and I bust my ass at it. But I also bust my ass at work. Sometimes I get home, and I’m like, Dude. I just want to eat a giant bowl of cereal and fall asleep.
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
The original print version of this article was headlined “That’s Money | Three questions for Burlington line cook and social media up-and-comer Ryder Manske”
This article appears in The Media Issue • 2026.
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