By AnnMarie Mattila
By all accounts, Chris Hanmer is a success. He was the youngest American chef to win gold at the World Pastry Team Championship. He worked for some of the most famous hotels and chefs in America. He won a popular reality TV show and received his first nomination for a James Beard Award earlier this year. But a change of venue to small Sioux City has proven to be his biggest move yet.
Relocating to South Dakota to open CH Patisserie in 2013 has merely been one of many pivots Hanmer has made in his career. Originally from California, he began his career working at a country club as a teenager. “I just fell in love with working in the kitchen,” he explains. He found his way to culinary school, realizing it was pastry that we wanted to pursue. And that’s when his mentors advised him: “Well if you’re going to do that, the only place you should work is the Ritz Carlton.” And that’s just what he did.
Of course, working for the Ritz was a big change from his local country club. “It was unbelievable just to see the gambit of all different types of desserts,” he recalls. He jokingly notes he worked “on the clock and on the clock” learning sugar, pastillage, and décor for the buffets from the older guard and rubbing elbows with the likes of Norman Love, who was the executive pastry chef at the time.
After five years, a chance to work under Susan Notter as the assistant corporate pastry chef at Albert Uster Imports brought him to the East Coast. It also brought him into the world of competition as her assistant at the Culinary Olympics and helped her as she practiced for the Coup du Monde de la Pâtisserie. He eventually became Ewald Notter’s assistant and placed third as part of the National Pastry Team Championship before deciding another move was worth a shot.
Just as he was about to accept another position, the Bellagio in Las Vegas came calling. “It was the early 2000s, and the food scene was out of control. It was where I wanted to be,” he remembers. Plus, the chance to work under a famous MOF like Jean-Philippe Maury was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Shortly thereafter, he would end up on the World Pastry Team Championship after a member dropped out on short notice and go on to win gold.
Eventually, the Ritz returned to his life, this time in Vegas. While he worked there, he won several Food Network competitions and dipped his toes into teaching, thanks to Paul and Crystal Tabert of Chef Rubber. That relationship proved to be pivotal when the financial crisis of 2008 decimated the area, leaving Hanmer with a house he could not sell and no job when the Ritz closed. “I decided to go for it and make consulting my gig full-time,” he explains, “and Chef Rubber really helped us with that.”
It was the early 2000s, and the food scene was out of control. It was where I wanted to be.
Another competition win followed in 2011—this time on season two of “Top Chef: Just Desserts”—all while his newborn daughter was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. He couldn’t explain to even his closest family members where he was in those first few weeks. But eventually, his daughter’s health prognosis improved, and he came out on top. “That was very challenging but a huge blessing as well,” he says.
After all the acclaim and success, South Dakota might not seem like the next big step in a pastry chef’s career. But Hanmer and his wife Caryn decided they wanted to build their own business, and the bright lights of Vegas were already aglow with high-end pastry. “We really wanted to bring this level of pastry to South Dakota and bring something that nobody’s experienced before,” he says. And so they did. Thankfully, the local SBA loan officer was a fan of “Top Chef” and funding came through. “That’s the kind of experience we’ve had being in this community, and I think why we love it so much.”
Rather than hock trendy cupcakes, Hanmer’s CH Patisserie offers the chef a chance to do what he loves best: make French-style pastries. “We really believed Sioux Falls was ready for it. It’s been years of education in a positive way,” he explains. While the area is admittedly a few years behind major cities in terms of trends, he can still push the envelope. “It’s also been years of education for us to also know people’s preferences,” he adds. “Our mantra is ‘We’re not here to change the food in Sioux Falls; we’re here to change Sioux Falls through food,’ I am trying to bring new things and European flavors here, so we try to balance that experience with making things approachable.” He jokes that even apricot seemed like a stretch at first. But offering familiar regional flavors, such as seasonal rhubarb, in French-style pastries had the customers “absolutely bonkers.”
We’re not here to change the food in Sioux Falls; we’re here to change Sioux Falls through food.
So, while salted caramel and vanilla bean macarons are the top sellers at CH Patisserie, customers are also challenged to try new tastes, with menu changes three to four times per year. Recently, Hanmer offered a collection of botanical petite gateaux with a mix of flavors including herbs such as sage and oregano, which received rave reviews. And at the end of the day, no matter the flavor he says, “quality is quality.”
Though his place of residence may be far away from the hustle and bustle of large city life, his regular day-to-day in the shop is often the same: long hours in the kitchen, producing the best possible products. The difference is the impact that he feels more acutely in a smaller city. His business is part of a close- knit downtown, and Hanmer sits on several community boards to continue to bring vitality to the city. “I feel much more a South Dakotan than I ever did a Californian,” he notes.
Rather than expanding elsewhere, he has chosen to grow his business in a local farmers’ market rather than another city. It helps strengthen his ties to the community and expand his customer base, quite literally from the ground up. “People drive in from 30, 40, 50 miles just to come to the market to get fresh product,” he says. “And 90 percent of those people have never heard of us before.” Once they try his products, he has new customers hooked.
We really wanted to bring this level of pastry to South Dakota and bring something that nobody’s experienced before.
After more than a decade in business, Hanmer has a new accolade to add to his impressive résumé: In January, the James Beard Awards selected him as one of its 20 semifinalists for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker. They’ll award the top prize in June. “I started shaking. I couldn’t believe it,” Hanmer explains. “It’s just such an amazing recognition of so much hard work regardless of where it goes from here.” Hanmer has already seen new customers come to his shop after hearing about the nomination, just to try his popular macarons and petit gateaux.
While this new distinction could gain him popularity elsewhere, he has chosen to expand to a local farmers’ market rather than another city. For Hanmer, the true reward is seeing his customers happy. “Food has changed my life,” he says, “so to see someone try something for the first time at seven or at 70 is just so humbling. For all the hard work we do and the hours and the stress of being in hospitality, to see that happen in front of your eyes, is life-changing.” No doubt given his upward trajectory, whatever Chris Hanmer decides to pursue next, it will be a winner.
Photos by Ashley Beguin
(This article appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)
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