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(Michigan's West Coast)
187 Monroe Ave NW
Grand Rapids, MI, 49503
616-774-2000 OR 800-253-3590
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A Fashion Designer of Food Executive Pastry Chef at Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
I imagined Scott Hunter, Executive Pastry Chef for the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids as serious man with glasses and a perfectionists demeanor. That would have been consistent with his exacting skill creating beautiful desserts for all of the restaurants at the Amway Grand Plaza including the AAA 5 diamond 1913 Room. I had enjoyed specialties such as the Chocolate Toffee Torte, the Raspberry Royale, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Carrot Cake and Flourless Chocolate Cake. I had savored bites of seasonal breads and lavosh with flavored butter during occasional dinners at their restaurants, and had tasted assortments of Danish pastries, muffins and other amazing breakfast breads during overnight stays at the hotel.
So I didnt expect the down to earth man with a casual air who greeted me with an easy smile. To say that Scott Hunter is relaxed and natural is an understatement. We walked to his office on the lower level of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel where an entire city block is hidden away with multiple kitchens, an immense staff dining room and myriad tunnels leading to the DeVos Place Convention Center nearby. It dawned on me that I had never stopped to think about the infrastructure that is needed to keep a 4 diamond hotel with six restaurants and a 200,000+ square foot convention center in top notch order. In their underground center, the hustle and bustle surrounding the creation of thousands of daily culinary masterpieces is not apparent to the hundreds of guests that enjoy the upscale environment of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.
Scott Hunter oversees all of the baking for all the Amway Grand Plaza operations. When looking at his resume, it becomes clear that he is relaxed because he has natural ability and mountains of experience. He has earned his reputation as one of the most talented pastry chefs in the United States, with numerous awards to his credit for pastry. Hunter has been active in culinary competitions, earning Accredited Culinary Federation Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals and two best of Show awards. He was a member of the 1992 Team for the USA Southwest Region. While in Michigan, he has won Michigan State Universitys Chocolate Competition five times and was invited to compete in the 2007 National Pastry Challenge in Nashville, Tennessee.
He didnt plan to be a chef and, in fact, never had any professional chefs training. Instead, he has acquired his skill working in the kitchens of some of the finest resorts and pastry kitchens in the United States. His career as an Executive Pastry Chef spans more than 30 years and has taken him to several of the countrys top 5 star properties.
Hunter started out rather simply as a dishwasher and helper in the kitchen at a little place in Carefree, Arizona called the Black Mountain Café back in the 1970s. His next job was at a trendy resort called Inn of the Mountain Gods. While he was in the main kitchen, the executive pastry chef watched his piping skills for some of the main dish preparations. Keeping a close eye on Hunters attention to detail, the executive pastry chef asked for help one day in the pastry department. The executive pastry chef appreciated that Hunters exacting skill in piping potatoes and rosettes as the finishing touches on main dishes would be a valuable asset for a pastry chef.
From there Hunters success as a pastry chef began. His next job was as Pastry Chef at the Mauni Lani Bay Hotel in Hawaii along the Kona Coast of Hawaii. After that, he became the Executive Pastry Chef at the Adams Mark in Kansas City where he met his current boss Joe Tomaselli. From Kansas he went back to the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale and on to the Beverly Hills Hotel in California, which was owned at the time by the same management as the Phoenician. Wanting to move back home, Scott began interviewing at the Scottsdale Princess when a call came from the Grand Plaza Hotel in 1996 to join their pastry department as their Executive Pastry Chef. After seeing the operation, Hunter knew that this job sounded much more exciting, and made the leap to a place hed never lived - Michigan. Since 1996, Scott Hunter has developed a strong team and now manages 18 staff members. Hunter simply says, This is as good a team as Ive ever been with .
During our interview Hunter showed me dozens of photographs of his pastry creations. I was delighted with the exotic designs and the gorgeous color of the desserts. I began to see that this Executive Pastry Chef is like an international fashion designer of food. I reviewed his work showing vivid greens and reds, pearls and whimsical colored dots, luscious berries dripping across a chocolate mouse, towering layered cakes with intricately crafted butter cream and fondant. All of his creations were designs both mouthwatering and beautiful; each was a unique and distinctive creation of art.
A fashion designer of food, Scott Hunter reveals a side to his personality that is hidden when you first meet him. When you see the results of his work and talk to his staff you understand the high esteem that they have for this man who is both a teacher and a friend, someone that is unique in his field, a creator of artful food and a master award-winning artist.
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