How Casey's corporate chef starts his day

Being the chef behind Casey's menu involves more than just appealing to Midwesterners' ( and now Southerners' ) palates.

• You have to consider how food stays hot in warmers and how easily customers can eat breakfast pizzas in their cars.

Why it matters: "At the end of the day, everyone wants the food to taste good, no matter how you're eating it," Casey's corporate chef Andrew Kintigh, tells Axios.

How it started: Kintigh grew up cooking and baking with his grandmother as a kid in Cherokee. He went to culinary school in Minneapolis and then moved back to Iowa where he worked as a retail chef for Hy-Vee.

• He joined Casey's in 2017 and was promoted to corporate chef in 2022.

Now, he's helping the fast-growing convenience store company continue to dominate the food scene with items like that beloved breakfast pizza, as well as the return of its waffle breakfast sandwich .

Here's how Kintigh starts his day:

⏰ Wake up: 4:30am. He walks his dog, works out and starts "playing" in the Casey's kitchen by 8am.

🍳 Breakfast: Water, two over-easy eggs and toast with freshly ground peanut butter.

📱What he's reading: In the mornings, he tries to stay off his phone and reaches for magazines lying around his house like "Food & Wine," "Bon Appetit" and "Taste of Home."

💡 His advice for aspiring chefs: Kintigh, who's done everything from tablecloth dinners to convenience store foods, encourages people to be "open" to the journey.

• "Everyone needs to eat and at the end of the day, everyone wants to feel proud and happy about that," Kintigh says. "You can contribute in your own way."