Meet Chef Hamm
Chef Hamm has been in the hospitality industry his entire working life. Now a retired Culinary Arts instructor he spends his days crafting dishes for you to enjoy in the comfort of your home through his Chef's Pantry meals or private catering, when on the run with a morning biscuit from the Buttermilk Biscuit Bar, or an afternoon sip in one of his Libations locations.
Chef Hamm's Story
As a young child, I was surrounded by a family of great cooks. Throughout my school years, I would always prepare class projects using food anytime possible. I also enjoyed school and had a young dream to become a kindergarten teacher. This was inspired, I believe, by having great teachers throughout my younger years.
Upon entering middle school, I participated in every event possible that involved food. I was never into sports, but one day I stumbled upon the concession stand featured food prepared by our local foods and occupational classes, overseen by two very inspiring teachers whom I had yet to get to know: Patricia Werth and Mickey Todd. Over the next few years, I became eligible to take Mrs. Werth’s Food Service class and I jumped on the opportunity to learn all that I could about the foodservice industry. With her support and guidance, along with the support of my family, I continued to study foods and entered a recipe contest that was in its second year from Johnson and Wales University. I had never heard of the school, but Mrs. Werth assured me it was a great one!
After much work on recipes, with again the guidance of my family and teacher, I created and submitted a recipe into the contest. Much to my surprise, I became one of the top 10 finalists and was off to Rhode Island for the live competition. I later won 1st runner-up for this event and landed a scholarship to JWU. The rest is history! I continued to learn foods and enjoy education. At this point I had transformed my dream of teaching kindergarten to teaching culinary arts.
In 1994 I completed my culinary arts education training at Johnson and Wales University and began my journey into catering and restaurant management, as well as Culinary Arts Education. I've always had a passion to follow in the footsteps of my inspirational teachers, and now, 31 years later, I am a retired Culinary Instructor spending my days in my one of my restaurant kitchens working with my own culinary team.
I hope you enjoy your visit to chefhamm.com, and I look forward to sharing my stories and culinary experiences with you soon.